Abernathy, Robert,  1924-1990 <br/><br/>
The laugh 

 - 1 online resource :  multiple file formats 
 - Produced from Fantastic Universe, June 1956 (Vol. 5, No. 5.) .
 - Produced from Fantastic Universe, June 1956 (Vol. 5, No. 5.) .
<br/><br/> Release date is 2026-02-15 
<br/><br/>Tom Trussel (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)  Tom Trussel (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) 
<br/><br/> The laugh by Robert Abernathy is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. It explores a technocratic society’s effort to suppress spontaneous emotion, focusing on the pathologizing of laughter and the shaping of children into obedient, efficiency-driven adults.<br/><br/>A small boy named Dicky watches ants in his backyard and, delighted by their antics and a memory of a frog, bursts into uncontrollable laughter. His shocked mother rushes him to a towering clinic, where a calm psychologist tests him and explains to the parents that laughter is a wasteful “emotional outlet” to be corrected so the child’s energy can be channeled into productive action. After treatment and guidance, Dicky returns months later to the same slope; the weeds are mown, the secret thrill is gone, and his wonder has thinned into indifference. Remembering a tongue-twister from the clinic, he methodically crushes the anthill under his new heel and walks back to the house without a flicker of feeling, a quiet sign that the system has done its work. (This is an automatically generated summary.) 
<br/><br/>
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Index Terms: </label>Science fiction Short stories Psychological fiction Boys -- Fiction 
<br/><br/><label>LC Class. No.: </label>PS