The first similarity between these two stories is that I found them both very intriguing and fun to break down. They were both witty, gruesome, suspenseful, and quite hardboiled. But my favorite part of both stories were the main characters, Tommy from “Millers Crossing”, and the Continental OP from “Red Harvest”.
Tommy and the Continental OP have very much in common. They are both incredibly intelligent men, they live in cities and in the same time period, and they like to drink liquor. But the similarities go even deeper than that. Both men start working for the good guy as noble men, but along the way, they start to lose their “ethics”. In the beginning of both stories, the main character is neither a killer nor a murderer. After setting up enough people to die, Tommy and the Continental OP both find that killing isn’t that hard to do. Both characters fall into darkness as their surroundings force morals out of their lives. Tommy kills Vera’s brother while he begs for life on his knees, and the Continental OP throws Chief Noonan, the chief of the police force, in front of heavy fire. Whether they pulled the trigger or not, Tommy and the Continental OP have found it easier to kill people and turn them on one another, than to try and work things out diplomatically. And eventually, they are both wanted by the same law that they work under.
