Quote 4
"I promise you nothing," I said. "Why should I? I've got you with your pants down. Talk to me or Noonan. And make up your mind quick. I'm not going to stand here all night." (14.53)
In this exchange, the Op accuses MacSwain of being the real murderer of Tim Noonan. We have yet another battle of testosterones here as MacSwain tries to avoid the Op's questioning, and the Op won't let up on his bullying. Eventually the Op beats the truth out of MacSwain (figuratively speaking, of course).
Quote 5
"I've got to have a wedge that can be put between Pete and Yard, Yard and Noonan, Pete and Noonan, Pete and Thaler, or Yard and Thaler. If we can smash things up enough – break the combination – they'll have their knives at each other's backs, doing our work for us. The break between Thaler and Noonan is a starter. But it'll sag on us if we don't help it along." (15.29)
Red Harvest is a man's world if ever there was one. The whole city is controlled by competing male gangsters, and the Op is counting on their male competitiveness to lead them into a gang warfare. Do you think the Op's method of testing the characters' masculinity is morally acceptable?
Quote 6
"What's your idea of how to go about purifying our village?"
[…] "The closest I've got to an idea is to dig up any and all the dirty work I can that might implicate the others, and run it out. Maybe I'll advertise—Crime Wanted—Male or Female. If they're as crooked as I think they are I shouldn't have a lot of trouble finding a job or two that I can hang on them." (10.76)
The Op jokes with Dinah that Poisonville is so corrupt that all he has to do is put an ad in the paper requesting the services of a criminal, and he'll be knee-deep in crime. But jokes aside, the Op's words here are pretty spot on. There isn't a single character in the pages of the novel who has completely clean hands, except for Donald who is murdered before we even meet him. Can you think of anyone in the novel who isn't involved in any crime whatsoever?