JIM DOHERTY wrote:
> 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.
Not always. I don't believe we are ever meant to think that
Mouse is anything but a part of Easy Rawlin's personality. A
part that he would rather have left back home, a part that
needs constant attention when it shows up, a part that cannot
be controlled. In "Devil in a Blue Dress," the movie anyway,
Mouse reminds Easy that he knew better than to leave Mouse
alone with the bartender if he wasn't to be killed. At the
end, Mouse happily tells Easy to call him again because he
"knows how to put money in a nigger's pocket." The use of
violence is rewarded in this world. Further, Mouse practices
violence with a glee that readers are meant to share. The
pace and thrills definitely pick up when he's around.
If Mouse weren't identified as a separate character it would
be too easy for readers to write Easy off as another morally
compromised character. But by giving this part of Easy's
personality a name, Mosely makes it clear that in a morally
compromised world, the only meaningful battle between good
and evil is internal. And there's damned little chance of
victory.
Kerry
-- <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<LOOKING FOR FUN>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The evil that men do lives after them at http://www.murderoutthere.com
Literary events in Ontario's Golden Horseshoe and around the world at http://www.lit-electric.com
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