This week for my English class we read The Ghosts May Laugh by Stuart D. Lee. The Ghosts May Laugh, is a short play about several men at the frontline of World War I. The play’s three main characters that I will be focusing on are Jones, Jenkins, and Lewis. These three men have been on the front for about two years and each man is trying to cope with what they are going through. This play connects so well with my earlier post that I thought that I would continue my examination of coping and masculinity.

The character Jones’s defense mechanism is to be cynical about the things he encounters. He becomes like this especially because of his war experiences. Jones experienced shell-shock and accidently murdered a man who was trying to save him. In Jones’s case his masculinity is in question because he breaks down and becomes weak, and because of his weakness an innocent man dies. To cope with this murder he builds up walls around him to keep himself safe. Jones is cruel to the other men, not because he dislikes them, but because he knows that caring for a man at the front will only lead to more pain. Also, with his cruel behavior he is really punishing himself, because he feels he doesn’t deserve comaraderie. Shutting himself off from the world is similar, but more extreme, to what Roland does in Testament of Youth. While Jones is alone with the new soldier Saunders they talk about surviving the war, and Saunders mentions that Jones has lived through the last two years.

“JONES: You call this being alive? (Pause.) I don’t think I can remember what real life was like (p. 15)”

Jones tries to forget his past life because that is “something” and Jones is obsessed with the “nothingness” of the world. Jones sees the pointlessness in the war, dying, training, and orders but I don’t think he sees the pointlessness of his wife and sons. Their existence threatens the walls he has protecting him. He is a shell of his former self, shell-shock fits him, I have always known that shell means bombs but I have always thought it as a person puts a shell around themselves to deal with the shock. Jones happens to be my favorite character of the play because he does have so many layers and he slowly unfolds them throughout the play.

Jenkins escapes, he escapes into a bottle and into the stories the men tell. All the men use escapism in some way but with Jenkins it is very obvious how he accomplishes this. He thinks himself as being a literary aficionado of sorts and quoting poems or passages is one way he escapes. Joking, talking, and drinking are other ways, but I think he purposely tries to be lively because of his fear of dying. All the men fear this but Jenkins seems more bothered by the afterlife then his mates, he changes Saunders story, his own story has ghosts, and he wonders if there are ghosts in the dug-out with all of them now.

“JENKINS: Because that’s what we are trained to do. That is what we have been trained to do since we were young. Never look back, never show emotion (p. 51).”

Jenkins’ joking and constant talking is his way of talking about the issues that haunt him, but in a masculine way. Men do not show emotion but they can joke about it.

Lewis also escapes but he uses his work and his orders to escape responsibility for things he has to live with. He sent a man to his death because he would not change his orders. Jones calls Lewis out on his extreme devotions to orders.

“JONES: That orders are just bits of paper. They can be destroyed a damn sight easier than the men we lose everyday. Can’t you see? Can’t either of you see? Only a couple of hours ago you calmly went out and selected a party of men with orders for them to blow the brains out of some poor fool who just couldn’t take it anymore. And you didn’t bat an eye. Yet when some tins of jam go missing, well that’s horrendous. Don’t you see? It’s the same bit of paper, issued by the same idiot back at base. But if you had just ripped it up, then some poor sod would be alive in a week’s time and eight men wouldn’t have to live the rest of their lives with walking nightmares.

LEWIS: It’s an order. They were both orders (p. 75).”

Lewis feels the guilt like the rest of the men but finds relief in the fact that these were all orders, not his choice. I find Lewis to be very interesting because men are supposed to be thinkers and independent. Yet Lewis is completely dependent on the organization of the military to act and react to his environment. Does this diminish his masculinity? Maybe it could be put this way, a man who fights for what he believes in is a patriot and a man that follows orders is a soldier. All the men are just following orders but they don’t know what this war is about so they can’t believe in it.

Although these men have unhealthy ways of coping a few vetrens have found a way of coping with stress from the military and stress from everyday life through writing and art. Very similar to the authors of the books we have read this semester. Through creating something maybe it will serves as an outlet for people. An anti-war veteren blogger wrote this…

“This is the first time I’ve shown my work since college. I have a BFA and do not use it professionally. After finding Sassoon’s poem I made drawing upon drawing, even a sculpture, and wrote and wrote and wrote about it. I do not think my classmates understood my interest. I don’t think they understood my obsession. Part of my personal problem with it is while I am creating something, the drawings are essentially about the opposite of that. It is hard to find balance in that light.”

If this man and others like him can find an out let like this maybe so many would not suffer internally.