Line #36 Literature/RedHarvest


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/red_harvest.png]]
2	->''This damned burg’s getting me. If I don’t get away soon I’ll be going blood-simple like the natives.''
3	-->--'''The Continental Op'''
4
5	''Red Harvest'' is a seminal novel by Creator/DashiellHammett, first published in 1929. It is narrated by Literature/TheContinentalOp, a recurring character in Hammett's world. When called to the mining town of Personville (or as the residents more accurately call it, "Poisonville"), the Op discovers that the city is being run down by criminal gangs. The detective is hired to clean up the place, and mayhem ensues.
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7	The novel has had a great deal of influence on later fiction, ranging from noir to samurai films. ''Red Harvest'' is thought to have been an influence on Creator/AkiraKurosawa's film ''Film/{{Yojimbo}}'', and combined with ''Literature/TheGlassKey'' is a heavy influence on the Creator/CoenBrothers' noir film ''Film/MillersCrossing''. ''Red Harvest'' also coined the term "blood simple" (after which the Coen Brothers' [[Film/BloodSimple film debut]] is named); the phrase refers to the addled, fearful mindset people are in after a prolonged immersion in violent situations. An official film adaptation starring Creator/JackNicholson and directed by Creator/BernardoBertolucci was planned in TheEighties but lost favour in the wake of the BoxOfficeBomb of ''Film/HeavensGate''.
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9	''Red Harvest'' is not related to ''Literature/StarWarsRedHarvest'' or ''[[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi Blue Harvest: Horror Beyond Imagination]]'', although the latter's title may have been intended as a ShoutOut to it (Creator/GeorgeLucas was an acknowledged fan of Creator/AkiraKurosawa, who is believed to have been influenced by the novel).
10	----
11	!!This novel provides examples of:
12	* AffablyEvil: “Evil” might be a stretch but Noonan is a dirty cop looking to set up Whisper for a fall whether by legitimate or illegitimate means and has aligned with gangster Lew Yard to get it done. Nonetheless, he is consistently polite and jovial to the Op even while everything’s going to hell for him, though he ''does'' try to have the Op killed not long after their first meeting.
13	* AlasPoorVillain:
14	** [[spoiler:Reno, the last villain to die, is mortally wounded and tells his story to the Op as a way of staying brave. The Op understands and seems sympathetic]].
15	** It's possible to feel somewhat sorry for [[spoiler: Noonan]] by the time he dies, considering that he had a legitimate,[[spoiler: if misdirected]], reason to hate Whisper and genuinely wanted to make peace with other feuding parties.
16	** Dinah Brand is a snaky manipulator who is nowhere near as clever as she thinks she is but it’s still sad [[spoiler: when she takes an ice pick to the chest for her troubles.]]
17	** [[spoiler: Max Thaler]] dies avenging [[spoiler: Dinah's]] death despite being sold out by the latter to the Op and basically all ties between them being severed.
18	* AmoralAttorney: Charles Proctor Dawn is little more than a crook and blackmailer.
19	-->He's the guy that the joke was wrote about: 'Is he a criminal lawyer?' 'Yes, very.'
20	* AntiHero: The Continental Op fights against a rogue's gallery of thugs, but uses brutal and amoral tactics in the process, including lying about a man genuinely wanting to end the violence [[spoiler: which gets that man killed]].
21	* BadCopIncompetentCop: Shortly after coming to town the Op gets a look at some of Personville's finest - one needs a shave, another has a uniform that's missing some buttons and desperately needs washing, and the third one directs traffic while smoking a cigarette. The Op gives up checking them out after that; his opinion does not improve over the course of the book either.
22	* BelligerentSexualTension: The Op and Dinah share this but [[spoiler: she dies before anything comes of it.]]
23	* BigBadEnsemble: The various factions— Whisper, Lew Yard, Pete the Finn, and Chief Noonan— are equal obstacles the Op has to overcome. As characters start getting bumped off, others like Reno Starkey rise up to take their place until there aren't any more thugs left.
24	* BigBeautifulWoman: Dinah Brand, though to the Op she's more of a BrawnHilda (he describes her as large-- taller than him, though he's admittedly on the short side-- and strong, with thick, muscular legs that constantly make her stockings run).
25	* BlackAndGrayMorality: Our protagonist is an anti-hero working for a ruthless industrialist who came to power using unscrupulous means. The antagonists are corrupt cops and gangsters that worked for the industrialist. The Op himself states at one point that he'd love to wrap the whole thing up by sending his client to the gallows [[spoiler: [[KarmaHoudini but it doesn't come to pass]].]]
26	* ChummyCommies: Bill Quint is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, a socialist organization, but this is presented totally matter-of-fact, and never used to characterize him as evil. This marks the book as clearly pre-Cold War, and reflects Hammett's left-wing politics to the point where Marxist interpretations of the book are not uncommon.
27	* CleanUpTheTown: By applying his trademark method of stirring things up.
28	* CodeOfHonour: Despite his rather questionable means, the Op does have his own code that he follows. It is for this reason he refuses personal payment for the job. He insists that Elihu bill the Continental Agency instead.
29	* CompanyTown: Personville, essentially the fiefdom of industrialist Elihu Wilsson, "Czar of Poisonville".
30	* DaChief: The Old Man operates as a private agency version of this, expecting his agents to adhere to a strict code of ethics in the field. The Op notes he appreciates the idea but practically is likely breaking every rule the Old Man has set during his time in Personville. The Op tells his fellow compatriots not to reveal any of it to their superiors for concern the Old Man will object. Sure enough, after the Op gets back to San Francisco, the Old Man apparently gives him “merry hell” for his actions there.
31	* DirtyCop: Chief Noonan and his police force. In fact, they're one of the factions the Op needs to take care of.
32	* DirtyOldMan: The Op discovers love letters written by [[spoiler: Elihu Wilsson]] written to [[spoiler: Dinah Brand]]. Though the reader never gets to read any of the content directly, the Op notes they’re pretty raunchy to the point of being funny.
33	* DivideAndConquer: The Op's strategy-- keep the factions at each other's throats and ideally get them to take care of each other.
34	* DragonAscendant: Reno Starkey, once [[spoiler:he kills Lew Yard when the gangster attempts to eliminate him.]]
35	* EnemyCivilWar: Once he gets enough incidents going, the Op has Elihu's enemies at each others throats.
36	* FirstPersonSmartass: The Op isn’t afraid to tell the reader if he thinks a character is full of it.
37	* AFistfulOfRehashes: Just about any plot in which a character plays multiple unsavory sides against each other [[TropeMaker is referencing this story.]]
38	* FalseFlagOperation: [[spoiler: Noonan and Yard]] conspire to frame [[spoiler: Whisper’s crew]] with a bank heist by having [[spoiler: Reno bring Whisper’s man Jerry along to be killed.]]
39	* {{Frameup}}: Several, including who killed Donald Wilsson, Tim Noonan, and [[spoiler: Dinah Brand]]. The Op does this to Noonan during the "peace conference" [[spoiler: by saying the Police Chief knew all along that Whisper was being framed for Tim's murder. Noonan knew nothing about it at all]].
40	* GambitPileup: While the Op is the catalyst, all the other factions are trying to manipulate each other as well.
41	* TheGhost: Lew Yard is often referred to but never actually appears in person [[spoiler: before being killed by Reno]].
42	* GuileHero: Which no slouch with his guns or fists, the Op’s primary method of attack is manipulating the different factions against each other.
43	* GunsAkimbo: Big Nick shoots at the Op with a pistol in each hand. It doesn't work out for him.
44	* HeWhoFightsMonsters: As the violence escalates the Op worries that the more he stays in the town, the more he'll be too affected by the violence:
45	-->'''The Op:''' Play with murder enough and it gets you one of two ways. [[WarIsHell It makes you sick]], or [[BloodKnight you get to like it]].
46	* IDidWhatIHadToDo: The Op's methods get to him, until Dinah points this out: Since Elihu refuses to aid the detective, the Op has to resort to unsavory means to accomplish his goal.
47	* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Poisonville.
48	* InformedAttractiveness: Zig-zagged. We're told that Dinah Brand is a beautiful woman by a minor character, but the Op is unimpressed when he actually meets her. Later, the Op notes that Dinah has cleaned herself up and actually becomes attractive.
49	* IOwnThisTown: Elihu Wilsson has so much power and influence in Personville that he's known as the "Czar of Poisonville." He initially hires the Op to clean the town up for him after the gangs he used as strikebreakers start getting a bit too unruly for his tastes.
50	* ItGetsEasier: The book coined the term "blood simple" to refer to a state of mind in which violence and murder get not only easier, but downright intoxicating. The Op starts to worry that he's getting that way from spending too much time in Poisonville at one point, and that's well before his job is even done.
51	* MeaningfulName: Dinah the GoldDigger's ex-boyfriend is the gangster Max Thaler. A "thaler" is a silver coin and the origin of the word "dollar." For that matter Dinah's name isn't too far removed from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinar "dinar"]].
52	* MerchantPrince: Elihu Wilsson, the "Czar of Poisonville.". A powerful and rich industrialist, he had influence over half of California and is the de facto rule of a city until he lost control of the corrupt officials and gangs that helped him put down a worker's strike.
53	* MobWar: Two of the factions are traditional mob gangs, and another a bootlegging operation. [[spoiler: Once Noohan gets picked off, the gangs are the only sides left in action.]]
54	* NoIndoorVoice: Elihu, who bellows so loudly that the Op often scolds him for it. At one point he puts his fingers in his ears until Elihu quiets down.
55	* NoNameGiven:
56	** We don't learn the Continental Op's name, nor does anyone refer to him as "the Continental Op."
57	** The Continental Detective Agency's leader is known only as the Old Man.
58	* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Dinah admits freely that she's only ever interested in money. She provides the Op with the intel he needs (even on her former boyfriend Thaler), but only in hopes of him paying her. They bicker over the price constantly.
59	* OutlawTown: Personville isn't the first such place Hammett created, but it might well be the TropeCodifier.
60	* PeaceConference: After a series of incidents, the various factions plus the Op meet in an attempt to end the bloodshed. [[spoiler: The Op uses this as an opportunity to further escalate the violence.]]
61	* PhraseCatcher: The name of the town is Personville, but as the Op says in the first line of the novel, Poisonville is a lot more apt.
62	* PinkertonDetective: The Continental Detective Agency is a thinly-veiled expy of the Pinkertons. Hammett had served as a Pinkerton detective before beginning his writing career.
63	* PlayingBothSides: The Op plays four or five sides against each other.
64	* PrettyInMink: The only time the Op describes Dinah as pretty is when she's wearing a fur coat.
65	* ReallyGetsAround: The men believed to have been involved with Dinah Brand include Donald Wilsson, Max Thaler, Dan Rolff, [[spoiler: Donald’s killer Robert Albury, and Elihu Wilsson himself.]] She spends a good portion of the novel trying to dig her claws into the Op as well.
66	* RedRightHand: Whisper is the most dangerous villain in town. An old injury causes his speech to come out in a hoarse whisper.
67	* TheReveal: Several through the course of the novel.
68	** Donald Wilsson was killed [[spoiler: not by any of the criminals he was investigating for the paper but by the bank clerk Albury who was smitten with Dinah Brand and looking to extort Donald for $5,000 for her.]]
69	** Tim Noonan was [[spoiler: shot in a altercation with [=MacSwain=] who was confronting Tim over an affair Tim was having with [=MacSwain=]'s wife only to leave her for Myrtle Jennison]].
70	** Dinah Brand’s most powerful admirer was [[spoiler: Elihu Wilsson himsef]].
71	** [[spoiler: Reno Starkey killed Dinah Brand]].
72	* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: Elihu Wilsson is constantly making blunt demands.
73	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Charles Proctor Dawn, although given that he's a cheap, crook lawyer, this may be more of a case of DelusionsOfEloquence.
74	* SetAMookToKillAMook: One of the {{Trope Codifier}}s. The whole point of the conflict [[spoiler: is to get the gang leaders (who know Elihu's secrets) to kill each other. Once they're out of the way, the industrialist is set to call in the authorities.]]
75	* SheCleansUpNicely: The Op notes that Dinah actually does look attractive once she's earned some money, gets a fur coat and cleans herself up.
76	* SmugSnake:
77	** Charles Proctor Dawn is a slimy lawyer who looks to take advantage of all the scandals in town to squeeze all the money he can out of people. For all his verbosity and pretentiousness, he’s just a petty blackmailer who a year prior to the events of the novel had just barely escaped jail time himself for his shenanigans. He appears in all of two scenes before [[spoiler: the Op finds him dead of a broken neck in his office.]]
78	** Dinah Brand is a pretty rare example in that she's a fairly sympathetic character - while she is pretty good at stringing her boyfriends along, she's nowhere near as good at keeping them under control as she thinks she is, and when the consequences of her actions start catching up to her her terrified reactions make her quite pitiable.
79	* StoutStrength: The Op stands only 5'6 and states that some of his 190 pounds is fat, but not all of it. He's certainly a capable fighter. And Dinah Brand is a chunky gal who packs quite a punch herself.
80	* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Despite their business relationship as investigator and client, the Op and Elihu spend more time together cursing each other than anything else.
81	* ThrowingTheFight: As part of a plan, the Op contacts a boxer paid to take a dive. Using some blackmail, the Op convinces the boxer to win instead. [[spoiler: And it gets the boxer killed.]]
82	* TownWithADarkSecret: The reason why criminals and dirty cops rule Poisonville-- they worked for Elihu to stop a union strike. Since they know his dirty secrets, Elihu doesn't bring in the authorities to clean up the town.
83	* TyrannicalTownTycoon: In the backstory, wealthy industrialist Elihu Wilsson controlled the town of Personville (known to the locals as Poisonville), including the mayor, police, and local gang leaders. So complete was his control, he was called the Czar of Poisonville. But by the present day, Elihu's lost control: the leaders of the mob factions and corrupt cops rebelled against him, and they know enough about Elihu's dirty secrets to bring him down if he tries to do anything to them through legal means.
84	* TheVamp: Dinah Brand, who's apparently gotten the favors of quite a few men in town. However, the Op is thoroughly unimpressed by her appearance and powers of persuasion.
85	* VillainousGlutton: Dinah Brand occasionally talks about how hungry she is. At one point she demands that the Op take her out for an "enormous quantity of chow mein." In general, she can pack away food just about as well as [[BigEater the Op himself.]]
86	* WarIsHell: The conflict between the various factions gets very violent, sometimes explosively. [[spoiler:It actually gets to be too much for Noonan, who was willing to give in to any demand in the end.]]
87	* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: We're never told where Personville is located. It was based on Butte, Montana.
88	* WoundedGazelleGambit: After spending the last third of the novel presumed dead, [[spoiler: Thaler]] turns out to not be NotQuiteDead and uses this trope to get the drop on [[spoiler: Reno]]. [[spoiler: The two end up killing each other.]]
89	* WretchedHive: Upon arriving in Personville, the Op takes some time to get a sense of the town. Within minutes, he notes from the general decay and lackluster police how crapsack the city is. There's a reason why everyone calls it ''Poisonville'' instead.
90	* WrongfullyAccused:
91	** Not that [[spoiler:Max Thaler]] doesn't have a fair amount of corpses to his name but he didn't actually kill either [[spoiler: Donald Wilsson or Dinah Brand (or Tim Noonan for that matter). He even avenges the latter's death by fatally wounding Reno Starkey.]]
92	** [[spoiler: The Op]] also gets accused of killing [[spoiler: both Dinah and Dawn]] but since he’s the [[spoiler: POV character]], he clearly did neither. Played with quite considerably, as the Op was completely shitfaced on gin and laudanum when [[spoiler: Dinah was killed]] and spends a good chunk of the novel unsure whether he did it or not. [[spoiler: He didn't.]]
93	* YoureCuteWhenYoureAngry: Inverted-- the Op tells Dinah when she loses her temper at one point that she looks "downright brutal."

Context Literature / RedHarvest