'I Think I'll Be a Clown'

I recently reread To Kill a Mockingbird. It's just one of those books I reread every once in a while; it's sort of like going home or talking to an old friend. This passage stood out this time:

"I think I'll be a clown when I get grown," said Dill.

Jem and I stopped in our tracks.

"Yes sir, a clown," he said. "There ain't one thing in this world I can do about folks except laugh, so I'm gonna join the circus and laugh my head off."

"You got it backwards, Dill," said Jem. "Clowns are sad, it's folks that laugh at them."

"Well I'm gonna be a new kind of clown. I'm gonna stand in the middle of the ring and laugh at the folks."