Character Clues

Character Analysis

Speech and Dialogue

Hammett is usually seen as the first writer to revolutionize the form of the traditional detective novel. Hammett shatters the cozy, polite world of British detectives like the mastermind Sherlock Holmes and instead sets all of his novels in the seedy underworld of flawed detectives like the Op.

To bring these gritty settings to life, Hammett wants his characters to sound real. To use slang and talk the way normal people talk in everyday life. So you may have noticed that the dialogue in Red Harvest is really fast-paced and electric. The rapid tempo of each conversation makes us feel as if we're sitting in the same room with all the gangsters.