Shadow of Abandonment

Meghan Maggio

English 102-02

Dr. Parke

12/8/2014

                                        Shadow of Abandonment

                In the book, “The Confidential Agent” by Graham Greene, Greene focuses a lot on the Spanish Civil War during the 1930's, in a small confidential country. Therefore, with the help of agent D and L who go through a lot of stepping stones through there journey. This novel has more priority in the development of the plot then the characters alone. Greene as an author has paved the way for many other thrillers; his pages are filled with loyalty, deeper plots, secrets, and misdirection of characters.  This novel becomes one that reminds us that we live in a questionable world of fear, more specifically, the shadow of abandonment that leads to the fear, uncertainty such as, terrorism that has occurred  recently and overtime. Therefore, Green's period of fiction series is a relevant way for readers today to understand the uncertain world around them.

        During the Spanish Civil War, D a middle aged, former prisoner of war recently lost his wife in a conflict, then arrives by boat in England. Only having business to conduct with Lord Benditch. He then encounters Benditch's daughter, Rose Cullen, at the customs inspection where she then offers him a ride to London but they are forced to stop for dinner while having a tire replaced. At the restaurant, D spots a rival agent, L, who is working by the rebel faction of his nation. D borrows Ms. Cullen's car, but is chased down by L. D is then beaten, and set loose on foot to find his way to London. On the street, D is fired at, when suddenly he meets Mrs. Cullen again, where she then claims ignorance of the plot. He tells her of his former life as a scholar and lecturer and how he was widowed and imprisoned during the war. They have dinner again and see a show which led to the beginning of feelings for one another. Else, a maid he met at a hotel during his flee on foot to London, also has feelings for D and gets jealous over his relationship with Mrs. Cullen. Manageress and another agent named K, are looking to profit by selling out D's credentials to L and the rebels. By the time D has his meeting with Lord Benditch and several coal proprietors, his papers are missing. He drives with Ms. Cullen and Forbes, a wealthy mine owner to find his papers. They then arrive at the Spanish Embassy where the First Secretary accuses D of having a forged passport. When the police are summoned, D learns that Else, the maid he met, has been murdered and he is implicated. D then resolves to make those who have killed  the girl pay dearly. He flees from the embassy in the fog and finds an unoccupied flat to hide in. He shaves his mustache and evades capture. D then finds out that L has received the coal commission he so badly needed from Lord Benditch for his people. Coal is as valuable in his D's country as gold, and whoever obtains it is likely to win the war. So D then flees to seek out the assistance from the miners hoping to convince them to reject the order to opening the mines, which then led to a series of uncertain outcomes. He speaks out loud to the public, when L calls the police. D runs away and ends up communicating with a gang who helped him through his flee from the police since D was wanted for several charges. D is caught and taken to London due to the lengthy list of charged facing him. He is then bailed out of jail by Forbes, who is acting on Ms. Cullen's wishes, takes him to a seaside resort for his eventual repatriation to Spain. At the bar, D is spotted and is detained until the police can arrive to take him back to London. D is then on a ship heading back to London to face all the charges he has pending for him.

        A theme that remotely this book presents would be a shadow of abandonment. In a 1949 interview, Marcel More noted how Greene had “sometimes been criticized for using the detective novel to express the metaphysical anxiety and anguish in the world today”. I could see this being accurate since school shootings have risen in the recent few years and how crime has gotten worse in areas due to lack of parenting or the feeling of “abandonment”. But, Greene courteously corrected More by saying that the thriller, not detective fiction, was his “favorite form”. Greene then stated, “What we're interested in discovering in the middle of the twentieth century isn’t who the criminal is, but rather to what state of abandon a man hunted down for a crime can be reduced”. (“Table Talk” 24-25).  When Greene states “a man hunted down for a crime can be reduced”, this ties in with his book “The Confidential Agent”. In the book, Agent D was the “hunted man” who, then is backed into a corner, which becomes “in turn the hunter”. A perfect example of the abandonment would be when D is officially taken on the ship leaving, he states “Somewhere far off a light went on and off- Lands End? No, they couldn't be as far as that yet from London..”(Greene 211). Abandonment is to leave completely, therefore agent D is no longer making a return. Instead, he has a long list of charges pending for his arrival to take care of. Agent D, first as a protagonist who discovers the full measure of his location, or abandonment, in the course of pursing a given assignment. But, that’s not all there’s more.

        Fear is another theme talked about throughout this book in many different chapters. Not only the fear of being scared for what happens but the fear of failure. Agent D was  known as a good man who finds himself hunted for his political allegiances. D quickly learns that his own survival, and that his own country depends on the willingness to kill his enemies as he plows through the constant uncertain outcomes that occur. D has an uncertain fear of the world when he states a visual representation of a room he is standing in. “The presentation at Court, his own wife shot in the prison yard, pictures in the Tatler and the bombs falling, it was all hopelessly jumbled together by their mutual relationship as they had stood side by side near Mr. K's body and talked to Fortescue. (Greene 158). This quote specifically when he says “wife shot in the prison yard”, “pictures in the Tatler, bombs falling.” These are just a few things that are terrifying, yet scary to even picture or think about.

        Terrorism is another issue that is brought upon throughout this book, especially one of the main characters. Agent D, who is a citizen of a country, but never identified as whom. In the book, Greene presents that D's papers are missing and he travels with Ms. Cullen to receive them. The First Secretary accuses D of having a forged passport, he's not whom he presents to be due to a lack of photo appearance. Police are then summoned and send him back to London. D then finds a way to sneakily make his way back and run from the police. A good example in the book that shows that agent D was a foreigner is when Mrs. Bennett asks “You're a foreigner, aren't you?” and agent D replies “Yes.” (Greene 166).  In the world today, Terrorism is an issue, 9/11 occurred due to illegal immigrants from the middle east  making there way over without anybody stopping them. They had fake identities and forged passports that got them through to come into America. They then flew planes killing there enemies who are known as us. The immigrants wanted to have power and take over, which they felt like they did by killing hundreds of people. Therefore, the Americans were not aware of the uncertainly fear of what was happening around them until the heartache and horrific tragedy happened.