The Ridiculous Man

In a dystopian future, detective Paul Brown comes across a ridiculous man in tweed, preaching to a flock of pigeons, who introduces him to life the way it was meant to be lived.

Paul is a detective charged with the return of two 17-year-old boys who have run away from home. Over the course of three days, tweed-wearing Ambrose guides Paul over one-hundred miles on foot from New York City to a small town where the young men place their hope. During the walk, Paul observes the destructive impact of his world’s ideology, contrasted with the meaning and joy that characterizes his destination.

The Ridiculous Man by Frank J. Connor grapples with the struggle between progress and tradition in an effort to understand what gives life meaning. This story shows the sanity and importance of a way of life that the modern world has come to view as ridiculous.