The Man Made of Smoke

The fictional book by Terrence O’Hare functions as both a motif and symbol in the novel, tied in with the themes of The Complex Silence Between Fathers and Sons and Survivor’s Guilt and the Search for Redemption. The book complicates the relationship between John and Dan, as John doesn’t want his son to delve obsessively into the account, believing that Dan’s preoccupation is keeping him from moving on in life. This is partly true, as Dan admits to using the book to feed his sense of guilt. Weighed down by the guilt, Dan has shut down, unable to engage with life. Dan’s unhealthy relationship with the book is obvious in the flashback to when he brought it to an end-of-school party with the intent of burning it. However, he was unable to do so or declare his love to Sarah and thus remains stuck in the past.

As a symbol, the book represents the power of storytelling and the subjective nature of truth. Although it’s considered the definitive account of the Pied Piper killer, the narrative swiftly reveals that the book contains only the partial truth. Thus, the book undoes the myth that there can be a singular, authoritative version of any story. Partly true as it may be, the book is also a record that preserves the memory of the Pied Piper’s victims. Thus, it keeps them alive in memory, illustrating the power of stories. The titular man made of smoke refers to both the Pied Piper and Craig Aspinall and is a symbol of society’s tendency to mystify evil. Both men are described as possessing an aura so evil that they appear shadowy and are figures that one doesn’t want to look at, yet the truth is that they’re regular-looking people. Aspinall’s spooky facelessness is a result of donning a white, featureless mask. Furthermore, the Pied Piper is “made of smoke” since he slips through the cracks in society, leaving behind little identification. The smoke is also an allusion to the fire set by James that consumes the Pied Piper.

The motif of monsters highlights the theme of The Ordinary Face of Evil. Characters often refer to serial killers as “monsters” since their horrendous crimes appear beyond the pale of humanity. In their capacity to metaphorically devour people, sex offenders and serial killers seem straight out of a cautionary fairy tale in which a monster eats a child. Viewing evil as monstrous is a trait of childhood in the text, such as when Dan thinks of the man making the whistling sound as a monster about to emerge from the toilet stall. After James is abducted by the Pied Piper, he reflects that his mother’s reassurances about monsters being fictional were wrong; James has landed in a monster’s lair. Even the adult Michael Johnson refers to Aspinall as a monster who spirited him off to a liminal space and made him experience horror.

However, Dan maintains that evil is committed by human beings, not monsters. Dan’s belief doesn’t imply that one should downplay the monstrosity of human actions; rather, it seeks to demystify evil. By recognizing that evil is human and ordinary, society can better protect its vulnerable. The realization that monsters are human is the key to resisting them, as James shows in his final moments. As the Pied Piper killer walks toward James, the boy notes that the man isn’t “a monolith, a demon, a monster […] it’s clear that he’s only ever been a man” (359). Since the Pied Piper is human, he, too, can be killed, a thought that ignites hope in James.