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The Laugh on the Pont des Arts from "The Fall". While walking on the Pont des Arts in Paris, feeling a sense of power and completion, Clamence hears a sudden, inexplicable laugh behind him.

one autumn evening, a few years before the story

The Laugh on the Pont des Arts

While walking on the Pont des Arts in Paris, feeling a sense of power and completion, Clamence hears a sudden, inexplicable laugh behind him. He turns but finds no one. The laugh seems to come from the water, and it deeply unsettles him. Later that evening, he hears the same laugh under his window and sees his own reflection smiling doubly in the mirror. This event marks the beginning of his psychological unraveling, shattering his self-assuredness and forcing him to confront the duplicity of his nature.