Quote 7
"There was plenty else I could do […]. But it's easier to have them killed off, easier and surer, and, now that I'm feeling this way, more satisfying. I don't know how I'm going to come out with the Agency. […] It's this damned town. Poisonville is right. It's poisoned me." (20.36)
There's that word again. Poison. The Op admits that he feels poisoned by the bloodlust of Personville. He not only thinks that it's necessary for the criminals to be killed off, but he also finds it more satisfying. That's a bit of a red flag, a hero normally doesn't enjoy death and murder. So is Hammett presenting the Op as a kind of antihero?
Quote 8
"You're going to have the mayor, or the governor, whichever it comes under, suspend the whole Poisonville police department, and let the mail-order troops handle things till you can organize another. […] It can be done, and it's got to be done. Then you'll have your city back, all nice and clean and ready to go to the dogs again." (26.40)
At the end of the novel, the Op gives a gangster-free Personville back to Elihu. But the real question is whether the city is truly rid of its crimes and criminals. How long will this state of peace last? The Op does say that the city will probably "go to the dogs again," so does he believe so little in his success that he's predicting the eventual decay of Personville later on down the line?
Quote 9
"You're the damndest client I ever had. What do you do? You hire me to clean town, change your mind, run me out, work against me until I begin to look like a winner, then get on the fence, and now when you think I'm licked again, you don't even want to let me in the house. […] I'm not licked, old top. I've won. You came crying to me that some naughty men had taken your little city away from you. Pete the Finn, Lew Yard, Whisper Thaler, and Noonan. Where are they now? Yard died Tuesday morning, Noonan the same night, Whisper Wednesday morning, and the Finn a little while ago. I'm giving your city back to you whether you want it or not." (26.36)
The Op calls Elihu Willsson out on his hypocrisy in one of their meetings together. Having succeeded in getting the rival gang members to kill each other off, the Op returns Personville back to Elihu, all cleaned up. But what the Op doesn't tell Elihu is how many rules he had to break in order to accomplish this goal. As readers, we're left wondering whether or not the Op feels at all responsible for the deaths that occurred.