The Significance of 1 as a Clown

Why do you think they chose to make 1 a clown?

For a show rich in symbolism, I thought that was particularly striking.

When he first revealed his clown face, it felt awkward and unnerving. Then his performance made it joyful. There was a flicker of his clowning in the warm scene when they mimed eating noodles, but it didn't return full force until his dreamlike, fantastic, and horrific suicide.

It's almost sinfully perfect to make the lowest floor a clown, part of a class that has always needed to entertain wealthier people to survive. More recently, there's a cultural association of clowns with horror, so it felt right to make him the culprit for the mutilations of 4 and 6. And there's the association of carnies, fair folk, etc., with madness and tragedy.

1 is clearly the character who suffered most, and who was the most willing to suffer. His life on the outside was a mixture of the bleak desperation that often comes with poverty, and attempts to paint a happy veneer for his family and audiences -- even if he had to lie. A crippled clown is just about the most perfect poster child for "bottom of the rung" in a macabre game reflecting society that I can imagine. He fit right in with the carousel and the plastic hot dog stand.

Curious about others' thoughts.