Point of View

The novel is written from the first person point of view of the main character Oliver Harding. The Laughter is a representation of Oliver’s attempt to “revisit the events of these past weeks, in particular, the matter of the boy” (1). In the wake of murdering his colleague Ruhaba Khan, Oliver feels desperate to control the narrative of what happened. In penning his account, however, Oliver is confessing to the crime he committed but has framed Ruhaba’s nephew Adil for committing. He knows there are risks involved in “spilling [his] thoughts in ink” and daring to “reveal the workings of [his] heart in some clumsy assembly of words” (1). In spite of these associated risks, Oliver’s guilt makes him desperate to confess. He feels controlled and consumed by what he did. He therefore wants to record the events that preceded and thus led up...