Quote 1
"I knew the dick—MacSwain. […] He had been a pretty good guy, straight as ace-deuce-trey-four-five, till he got on the force. Then he went the way of the rest of them. (11.25)
Dinah tells the Op that MacSwain started off being an honest man but quickly become crooked as soon as entered the police force. What is it about being in Personville that turns a cop into a criminal wearing police uniforms? Do they see too much corruption and become disillusioned, or is the lust for power contagious?
Quote 2
"It's Noonan you chiefly want, isn't it? Well, if you'll be a nice darling and lay off Max this time, I'll give you enough on Noonan to nail him forever." (13.12)
Dinah is trying to sell information on Noonan to the Op. What's Dinah's role in this world of cutthroat, dishonest men? How does she bend or play with the rules to get what she wants?
Quote 3
"I can give you the stuff, brother, loads of if, and don't think I can't. I'm a girl who knows her Poisonville." (10.83)
Dinah may be the only major female character in the novel, but she's not too lady-like to participate in some of the money grubbing either. When she sees that the Op is serious about his mission to cleanse, she hopes to cash in on her knowledge about the class workers.
Quote 4
"It's not your fault, darling. You said yourself that there was nothing else you could do." (20.35)
Dinah tries to comfort the Op when he expresses disgust with himself for having set the final cogs into motion that will lead to an explosion of violence. But it's hard to tell whether Dinah really believes what she's saying is true. The Op himself argues against Dinah's comment by insisting he could have done other plenty of other things. But instead he chooses to juggle death and murder.
Quote 5
"Money," she explained, "the more the better. I like it."
I became proverbial: "Money saved is money earned. I can save you money and grief."
"That doesn't mean anything to me," she said. (4.37)
It is comical how Dinah isn't at all embarrassed to sound completely mercenary. There's actually something refreshing about her frankness. She doesn't care if people think she's being materialistic. She is blunt almost to a fault.
Quote 6
"It's not so much the money. It's the principle of the thing. If a girl's got something that's worth selling to somebody, she's a boob if she doesn't collect." (4.66)
Dinah is constantly trying to sell information in exchange for cash. Here we see that Dinah thinks that you'd be a fool for not taking advantage of what you have to get what you want. It's interesting that the word "principles" is tied her, for Dinah, to the corruptive influence of money.
Quote 7
"What's it worth to know?"
"Nothing."
"I'll tell you for a hundred bucks."
"I wouldn't want to take advantage of you that way."
"I'll tell you for fifty bucks."
I shook my head.
"Twenty-five." (16.34)
Notice how quickly Dinah drops down her asking price from 100 to 25 bucks in exchange for giving Op information on Noonan? She is so desperate for money that she's sell her information for whatever price the Op agrees on. Is this greed talking or an unhealthy obsession, or both?
Quote 8
"What's the idea of not wanting any of this information I'm offering? Think you can get it cheaper?"
"Information of that kind's not much good to me now. I've got to move quick. I need dynamite to blow them apart." (16.55)
Dinah is so blinded by her obsession with money that all she can think of who might be selling this information for a better price. But of course the Op is only interested in an explosive situation and isn't willing to shell out money on a lead that won't lead anywhere.
Quote 9
She let go of my lapels, put her hands behind her, and laughed in my face.
"All right. Keep it to yourself – and try to figure out which part of what I told you is the truth." (4.128)
Dinah's pretty good at hiding the truth herself. She lies often to the Op, and carries many of Whisper's secrets, as well as the explosive information about Tim's death which out not to be true at all. Is Dinah's lying different from the Op's lying? In what ways?
Quote 10
"They're saying you turned rat on him."
"They would. What do you think?"
"Ditching him was all right. But throwing in with a dick and cracking the works to him is kind of sour." (17.74)
When Dinah rats out Max to the Op, Dan Rolff calls her out on it and she gets sore. Sometimes when friends lie for each other, a powerful web of trust is created. But when friends turn on one another and begin ratting each other, that's when the bodies really start to drop
Quote 11
The girl scowled and said disagreeably:
"I can expect anything I want. And he's got no right to talk to me that way. He doesn't own me. Maybe he thinks he does, but I'll show him different." (10.40)
Dinah's defiance and self-sufficiency really shine through here. She refuses to let anyone push her around, and even though she's unashamed of her obsession with money, she won't allow anyone to "own" her. This assertive femininity is a key characteristic of the femme fatale figure.