In the essay "Dead Man Laughing," Zadie Smith likens her father to a comedian named Hancock. Zadie explains that Harvey, her father, is like Hancock in many ways, as Hancock was "quintessentially English, poorly educated, working-class war veteran with social and intellectual aspirations." This explanation of Hancock, as well as a few other lines in the essay, shed some light on who Harvey was and how we may perceive him. First and foremost, Harvey comes off as being somewhat of a tragic figure, as Smith explains him to be much like Hancock by being unable to "pull himself out of the hole he was born in." The fact that Harvey was such a fan of this character shows that he could in some way connect with him, that he understood and loved the endless hopefulness and imminent disappointment of Hancock's sitcom life.
Other moments in the essay point toward Harvey being a proud man, though he did not have great standing in social class. He sounds like he is very blue-collar and hard working, but he does not have much to show from all the work that he has done. Aside from successfully raising a family, which is very noteworthy, it seems like he probably never went very far or did too much. Because Harvey could probably see all these traits in himself, whether consciously or subconsciously, he fell in love with the character on television that mirrored him, that he could connect with.
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I agree that Harvey seemed like a tragic figure. He had a lot of failures in his life, but tried hard to see the humor, no matter how dark, in the situation.
ReplyDeleteI liked your take on Harvey. There's a part where the narrator comments that she used to think it was odd that her father could laugh at a character so similar to himself. Goes who share similar troubles can often relate.
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