A burst of singing drifted from the music classroom. A girl was singing. Pomona stood at the doorway and listened, but did not go in and disturb her. She had heard Flitwick say that some children were very shy. Singing in a choir was one thing, but solo performances made them unable to loosen up.
As she adjusted her breathing, she thought of the "Joker" again. Arthur was not afraid of performing in front of people; it was how he made a living. But after work, he was quiet and unnoticed, and his clothes were nowhere near as brightly colored as when he played the Joker—except for that night on the subway.
Even when someone already had a great deal, they could still suffer. That suffering could even be greater than that of someone who had nothing and gained only a little.
Others might not understand. How could he still suffer when he had so much?
"He only lacked one thing." As long as he had that one thing, he would be "perfect." What Thomas Wayne, who possessed so much, lacked was the support of the public.
On television, he told the talk-show host that he had lost everything. Yet he did not look like those who had lost everything in a disaster. He was not wearing a bitter expression; he said it with a smile.
Arthur's mental illness was not aggressive. He merely laughed when he became nervous. But later, violence appeared in him. That was clearly a worsening of his condition.
Mental illnesses could improve and worsen, and they needed treatment. In Durham's case, he went from having an abnormal personality to a psychotic personality, and before his arrest, he even began having hallucinations. Those were symptoms of schizophrenia.
The place where Arthur met the social worker was