“Red Harvest” Reflections

Being that I finished the book around a week ago, these are more of the post-thoughts instead of my initial reactions. Beginning with never learning the Continental Op’s name. To me this was one of the more interesting details because he is uncovering such a corrupt underground world without ever have mentioning his name. We do however discover his build, as said:

“My god! For a fat, middle-aged, hardboiled, pig-headed guy, you’ve got the vaguest way of doing things I ever heard of.”

Its pretty funny they use the word hardboiled too, since I had believed that was more of a modern term. Moving on, since we already discussed the first half of the book, I will start from there. We learned of who kills Mr. Willisson, the Continental Op and his team have swapped alliances multiple different times in an attempt to get their mission accomplished, and Dinah Brand is playing all of these men like puppets. The book is filled with some puzzling context. Like when I reached the chapter “The Thirteenth Murder” I couldn’t even believe there had been that many and I had to literally go back and count to ensure it was right. But all of the murder and bloodshed are what the book is titled for: “Red Harvest” meaning it is the time of blood.

Essentially war ensues between the crooked police force, the organized gangsters, and the Continental Operatives. But most interesting is that one of the murders he has to investigate is one which he may have committed himself.  After a night of drinking, the Continental Op wakes with a bloody ice pick in his hand a dead woman next to him.  This demonstrates, the hero facing the possibility that he is also the villain, which set the foundation for similar plot lines in many later Noir works. I have to dipset on my bike to make it to class so I will be back!

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