--- JIM DOHERTY <
jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I think Parker's introduction of the
"bad"
> (psycho/sociopathic/call it what you will)
sidekick
> is
> the WORST thing he introduced into PI
fiction.
>
>
> First of all, it makes the hero seem like a
wimp,
> rather than a truly moral or ethical man. If
he
> won't, for example, kill an unarmed man, but
he
> stands
> by and lets his partner do it with only a
token
> protest, then he's complicit in the murder,
whether
> or
> not he was an active participant.
>
> Mike Hammer and the Op may have done things
that
> can't
> be condoned morally or legally, but at least
they
> did
> it themselves, and suffered whatever
consequences,
> to
> their legal status or to their consciences, may
have
> resulted. They held their own water, and
whether
> you
> agree with their actions or not, they earn a
measure
> of respect for this.
>
> If the plot is constructed in a way so that makes
it
> absolutely necessary for those things to be
done,
> then
> it should be the hero who does them. That's
what
> courage is all about. Making difficult choices
and
> weathering the consequences.
>
> The "bad-ass sidekick" is a deus ex mahina
whose
> main
> function seems to be removing the necessity
for
> making
> those hard decisions from the hero.
I disagree. One of the decisions Spenser makes is to allow
others, including Hawk, to abide by their own codes without
interference from him. I can't remember the novel--I think
it's EARLY AUTUMN, but I could be wrong--Spenser makes a
decision to allow a bad guy to live, and he accepts the
consequences of that decision. Hawk, on the other hand, is
unwilling to live with those consequences, and shoots the
unarmed bad guy. This isn't Spenser avoiding a decision--he's
made a decision. Hawk then makes another one.
You can't read MORTAL STAKES or CATSKILL EAGLE and come away
thinking that Spenser hides behind Hawk for the sake of his
moral code--he's killed in cold blood
(well, lukewarm blood, anyway) more than once when the
situation seemed to call for it.
G.
===== George C. Upper III, Editor The Lightning Bell Poetry
Journal http://www.lightningbell.org/
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