Talk:The Continental Op

Amoral
On what basis is the Op characterized as being "amoral" and what subjective standard of morality is being applied to draw that conclusion in this article?

A complete reading of the Continental Op stories makes it clear the Op does live by his own implicit moral code and professional ethic - especially in Red Harvest. He's a classic case of a lone judge and jury seeing that justice, according to his own lights, is done.

Hammett's work, especially those works containing the Op, have been critiqued to death and the assertion that he was amoral would be, when compared to mainstream "Hammett scholarship," hard to support.

The essential assertion in the Op stories is that the world he is living in is amoral and corrupt, not the Op himself. Instead, the Op is a man who has to get down and dirty to set things right (see RED HARVEST).

Does he do things an ivory tower moral paragon would frown upon? You bet. But he's far from immoral. In fact, he does what he thinks is right no matter what it takes, and no matter what the consequences. He's doing an impossible, thankless, dangerous job in a world gone wrong.

The assertion that he's amoral is spurious, and ignores the vast majority of literary criticism surrounding the character. This is a wiki article. It is theoretically a scholarly work. The Op is a complex character and his world and actions are not black and white.

I politely propose that the author do some research and not make original, subjective assertions about the character. Also, even if some scholars would characterize him as amoral, the majority do not, and as such, a one-dimensional presentation is incomplete and one-sided. 89.1.6.112 (talk) 13:00, 22 August 2008 (UTC)HammmetMan


 * I agree. In Red Harvest, the Op comes across as an avenging angel. His statements to others that he is motivated by revenge are patently false. 2TMY (talk) 16:44, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

Nightmare Town
"Nightmare Town" does not feature the Continental Op. It features some soldier-of-fortune who carries a walking stick he uses as a quarterstaff. Clayton Emery —Preceding unsigned comment added by 159.142.131.43 (talk) 16:53, 14 February 2011 (UTC)
 * The article never states that the Op appears in the story "Nightmare Town." It says that the collection titled Nightmare Town contains several stories featuring the Continental Op.  There is a difference. ---  RepublicanJacobite  The'FortyFive'  17:49, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Removed Lew Archer, substituted Mike Hammer
The text cited Ross MacDonald's detective Lew Archer as a later hardboiled dick, but Lew Archer was more a thinking detective. He rarely pulled a gun and rarely used violence. Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer is a better example. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.37.171.36 (talk) 20:31, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

The genre was called Hardboiled. Archer fits into the Hardboiled genre therefore he is a hardboiled detective. Also the Continetal Op. is actually a thinking detective too, more so in most of the short stories rather than 'Red Harvest' but 'Red Harvest' involves a lot of crafty thinking from him anyway. 81.145.99.174 (talk) 01:57, 11 July 2016 (UTC)

This needs to be rewritten
From an article about a likely WP:GNG-failing fictional character to one about a likely notable book series. Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 13:38, 19 November 2023 (UTC)