Despite Art Baker being a relatively simple and straight forward character (baby faced, red striped shirt, blonde, poor rural kid), it surprises me when I come across a variety of interpretations of him. I recall seeing this one post that described him as giving ugly lanky country boy vibes which is the exact opposite of how he is described in the book:
- "The boy to his right was much chubbier than Art Baker." Insinuating that Baker is chubby (All the beautiful TLW fanart I've seen draws him as an eternal skinny twink)
- "In the fading daylight, Baker's face was soft and young and beautiful."
Baker's over represented traits are his innocence, kindness and suicidal tendencies. Him being a mid to late 60s rural Louisianian boy who is referred to as a cracker by Stebbins and Barkovitch also subtracts the spotlight from his implied intelligence and knowledge:
- "Pearson and Baker were talking about chess."
- "And I usually don't match dimes with guys that call me that." Get fucked Abraham
- "The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins... that's my favourite book." I don't know what the literacy rate is in a totalitarian, post WWII, rural southern state is like, but I doubt that it is exceedingly high. Even as of the 21st century with USA being a highly developed, capitalist nation; some sources report the overall literacy rate at only 79% and for Louisiana at 84%.
And I've read a few excerpts of how Baker talks in Pat Coston's fanfic with a super exaggerated Southern accent despite it being stated in the book that it was rather faint.
- "He spoke with a very slight Southern accent."
All the characters in TLW were straight forward and simple, not overly detailed imagery which I vibed with and is in tune with the nature of the book. I can not contribute to TLW fandom with fanart but I have more detailed headcanons of what they look like which have been influenced by both canon descriptions and fanart.
Personally, as simple as he is, I don't perceive or like Baker as an innocent and melancholic character. Hell, why is he depicted innocent? He is a former night rider. Because we knew those boys for a brief episode and their lives condensed into an infinitesimal space of time? Although he now has the reputation as the Sweet One, it's a shame because he is a more varied character than he is given credit. The pity with him - actually, ALL TLW characters - is we just don't know what they could have been had they not been subjected to participating in a death march. I could and am capable of arguing on the behalf of every boy that he was a bud nipped too early. We only perceive a very short, intense section of who they are in those few days. And in ode to their existence, I would like to acknowledge them and who they are beyond their state assisted suicide.
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