Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Noonan

Red Harvest is bursting at the seams with bad guys. At least half of the male characters in the novel are on the so-called wrong side (but is there even a right side?). Pete the Finn, Whisper, Lew Yard, MacSwain, Albury, all these men have committed some type of crime, from illegal bootlegging to outright murder.

But since we could only pick one antagonist, we think that Noonan is probably the worst of the whole bad lot because he's a cop, and as a policeman he should be upholding the law. Instead, he's a corrupt official who uses his position to increase his power.

Keep in mind, however, that Hammett doesn't portray these men entirely in black-and-white terms as irredeemable monsters. For instance, Noonan is shown as vulnerable and the Op does set up him to be killed by lying about Noonan's knowledge about Tim's real murderer.

Bottom line: the line between good guys and bad guys isn't always that clear cut in Red Harvest.