Keyes, Barton Keyes.
In James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity, Barton Keyes
exemplifies the film noir role of the
“hard-boiled detective”. The protagonist
of the story, Walter Huff, says about Keyes, “Keyes is head of the Claim
Department, and the most tiresome man to do business with in the whole
world. You can’t even say today is
Tuesday without he has to look on the calendar, and then check if it’s this
year’s calendar or last year’s calendar, and then find out what company printed
the calendar, and then find out what company printed the calendar, and then
find out if their calendar checks with the World Almanac calendar.” This statement shows that Keyes takes nothing
for granted, and is tireless in his pursuit that all facts are straight before
accepting even something as mundane as the day of the week.
When the claim for Mr.
Nirdlinger came in, Mr. Norton, the owner on the insurance company, believes
that Mr. Nirdlinger’s death was a suicide.
Keyes stated, “I have nothing to go on.
Nothing but those tables and my own hunch, instinct, and experience”. He knew that Mr. Nirdlinger was murdered. He said to Huff, “you know, and you don’t
even know how you know”.
“Hard-boiled, by
definition from Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “devoid of sentimentality: tough”. Keyes personifies “hard-boiled” even further
by showing how tough he is throughout the majority of the story. I say ”majority” because he takes a bit of a
small change towards the end. Or does
he? As we read about Huff’s scheme, we
already know that Keyes is going to find out about Huff’s involvement in the
death of Mr. Nirdlinger. What we don’t
know, and what actually takes us by surprise, is how he finds out. I won’t
spoil it, in case anyone reading has yet to finish the story, but when he does
find out, our perception of his character changes. He went from a hard-nosed justice seeker, to
a friend willing to risk everything to “save” his friend. Or at least it seems that way at first.
I use the term “save”
rather loosely, as he really only saves him from being incarcerated. I believe that Keyes knew, or at least had a
hunch, of what would happen to Huff and Mrs. Nirdlinger following the events of
the truth coming to the public light. It’s
just that good sense of reason, deduction, and gut instinct coming into play
again. At the end of the day, justice is
carried out, and that is all the Keyes really wanted. He wanted his company off the hook for the “accidental”
death of Mr. Nirdlinger, and he wanted those responsible for the death to get
their comeuppance. By aiding Huff after
he knew of his involvement, he achieved just that.
In the end, we have a
man who is jaded by his experience, has a strong sense of justice, and can tell
from pure instinct when someone is being dishonest.
