Our Man in Havana First Post

Pages read this week: pgs. 1-99


Our Man in Havana, written by Graham Greene is a novel centered around the actions that happen to a character called Wormold. I consider this book to be literary fiction combined with a sense of popular fiction. I base my conclusions around three central truths to this novel. 
1) The characters are explored in depth, their actions scrutinized by the narrator, and their feelings have an ever increasing impact on the novels plot line. ex "He was a familiar figure near the National Square, where he would sometimes linger and stop his counting long enough to sell a packet of pornographic photographs to a tourist" This indicates the story is more of a character study of certain key and secondary figures within the story. 
2) In keeping with the style of popular fiction this story is also plot based, driven by the choices the characters make within the confines of the main action.
3) The setting is KEY to the structure of the story and plays a heavy part into how the characters act and react with one another, causing the narrator to explore the feelings of these characters based upon the setting in Cuba. 
To start off the first post, I would like to explore the character that is Wormold, for obvious reasons he is the character to meticulously scrutinize because the essential action is centered around him. Wormold, on the surface, is an uninteresting man, selling vacuums in the poor conditions of Havana's streets. One of the big essential parts to his character is the knowledge that Wormold is English and not Cuban. This is important to the reader because it sets up biases for the characters about Cuban's and the Cuban way of life. Ironically enough, his best friend Dr. Hasselbacher is German, although the question arises as to which part of Germany  Hasselbacher hails from, a question he so readily avoids, Wormold finds  a sense of intrinsic value about Dr. Hasselbacher. Perhaps his friend reminds him of himself? Perhaps his friend reminds him of a life better lived elsewhere than poor Cuba. We will never seem to know. Because the narrator is 3rd person limited, we can only infer the true feelings of Wormold, which is real drawback to the essential point of the novel but the exact point Greene implies throughout the novel. " It had been long before Wormold realized that the duenna was not always by her side. Milly as meticulous in her behavior at meals and had never neglected her night-prayers, as he had good reason to know since..." The third person limited POV limits the amount of information we receive from the characters, but because the plot is driven more toward Wormold it makes up for it. Wormold constantly questions his motives and eventually comes to makes decisions he never would have thought to make, were it not for the pressuring nature of his dire economic situation combined with the complexity of his new found spy game. His life now thrust into a downward spiral of lies and deceit, his mind ultimately pays the price as he reaps the benefits of informing but gets into trouble when he starts sending fake reports. But for what purpose? Wormold, in a pragmatic sort of way, sends what the agency wants to hear but in the process could he destroy his ethical and moral code? We wont know until later.