The town of Personville is overrun with crime from murder to gambling to blackmail to bootlegging to bribery to racketeering. And that's not even the end of the list. Trust us, we gave you the short version. The criminals running the city would say that rules are made to be broken, but what about the cops who are supposed to make sure that the rules are being followed? Well, apparently the cops share the same opinion as the gangsters because even the Chief of Police is in on the corruption too. Okay, so what about the lawyers, you ask? Aren't they supposed to make sure justice prevails? Sorry to be the cynic here, but there's also a corrupt lawyer in Red Harvest who stoops to blackmail and the legal system is presented as unreliable and prone to error. So if we can't turn to law enforcement and the legal system to keep criminality in check, who do we look to?
Questions About Criminality
- Why can't Elihu turn the gangsters in to the police? In what way is Elihu also mixed up in the criminality of Personville?
- Are the criminals limited only to the male characters, or are the women just as involved in crime as the men?
- Does the Op succeed in eliminating criminality from the city? Does he keep his hands clean in the process?
Chew on This
In Red Harvest, Hammett examines the failure of society to maintain justice and order, ultimately exposing the discrepancy between how legal institutions are supposed to work and how they actually work.
Personville has become so corrupt that it takes a complete outsider to blow everything up (figuratively speaking) and cleanse the city of its crime.