Thomas describes the hunchback as, " a solitary mister drinking water from the chained cup that the children filled with gravel (he) slept at night in a dog kennel- (lines 2-9). The children, perhaps unknowing of the anguish they exact, relentlessly make a mockery of the hunchback. Thomas writes, "And Mister they called Hey mister the truant boys from the town running when he had heard them clearly on out of sound past lake and rockery laughing when he shook his paper hunchbacked in mockery dodging the park keeper" (lines 15-23). The tragic cycle never relents - each day is the same as the last, one dreadful day of suffering followed by another - making his existence one of absurdity. .
Indeed, nighttime, even though it functions as a lull in the hunchback's otherwise continual war with society and allows him temporary escape, represents an even worse form of suffering for the hunchback - an absurd teasing. Each day nature teases him into thinking he can gain an unattainable freedom. Granted, when the lights go out and the park is closed he does gain momentary autonomy, but each morning he is condemned to face more misery. (This cycle calls to mind the myth of Sisyphus, a story of a man condemned to eternally roll a large stone up a mountain, only to have it fall back over him and roll to the bottom each time.) Throughout the poem, Thomas never passes on the opportunity to immerse the reader in the hunchback's pain, as each stanza's language dramatically describes the hunchback's tragic life. For instance, Thomas writes, "A woman figure with out fault straight as a young elm straight and tall from his crooked bones that she might stand in the night after!.
the locks and chains all night in the unmade park had followed the hunchback to his kennel in the dark" (lines 32-42). The passage reveals the stunning reality of the hunchback, as this "woman figure" is his nighttime companion (whether figurative or literal, Thomas leaves open to interpretation) and his only friend.