Graham Greene: "The third man"
Author
Graham Greene was born in 1904. After
Balliol College,
Oxford, he
worked as a sub-editor at "The Times" for four years. In 1935 he made a journey
through Liberia
described in "Journey Without Maps". Then he worked for the Roman Catholic
Church and visited Mexico
to report on religious persecution there. He wrote "The Lawless Roads" and
later "The Power and the Glory". He became literary editor for the "Spectator"
for one year and worked for the Foreign Office in Sierra Leone from 1941 to 1943. He
wrote several collections of short stories, travel books, plays,
autobiographies, biographies and books for children. Many novels and short
stories have been filmed. Graham Greene died in April 1991.
Characters
Rollo Martins. second-rate novelist Herr Kurtz. Lime's
friend
Benjamin Dexter.. Martins' pseudonym Colonel Cooler Lime's
friend
Harry Lime.. Martins' best friend Anna Schmidt.. Lime's
girlfriend
Colonel Calloway policeman Dr.
Winkler Lime's doctor
Herr Koch Lime's neighbour Mr. Crabbin.. porter
of the Sacher's
Plot
Rollo Martins comes to Vienna to meet his old
school-friend Harry Lime. He is not at the airport so he takes a taxi to his
flat. There Lime's neighbour Herr Koch tells him that his friend died because
he was run over by a car and that he died immediately. So Rollo goes to the
funeral at the Central
Cemetery. There he meets
Colonel Calloway. They visit a bar and Martins tells him stories about his
school-time with Harry. Calloway wants to tell him about Lime's problems with
the police but the novelist does not want to hear about them. Another policeman
brings Martins to Sacher's, where he was already expected as the writer
Benjamin Dexter. The porter, his name is Crabbin, tells him about Lime's
girlfriend Anna Schmidt that she is an actress at the Josefstadt Theatre. In
his room he gets a call from a friend of Harry Lime's. His name is Kurtz and he
was with Harry when he died. He tells him that he promised the dying Harry to
look after Rollo. Martins wants to say that Herr Koch told him Harry was dead
as once but he does not. They meet at the Old Vienna in the Kärntnerstrasse.
What he does not like is Herr Kurtz's toupee. They talk about Harry's accident.
Kurtz tells him that there was another man when Lime died, it was Colonel
Cooler, an American. The two men carried Harry to his flat and the doctor came
to prove his death. After that Martins goes to the Josefstadt Theatre to speak
with Anna Schmidt but she was told the same as Martins. Dr. Winkler also cannot
tell him anything new. In the evening he goes to Herr Koch who tells him the
same as before. He is sure that there were three men who carried the dead
friend in his flat. But he cannot say who the third man was. In a bar in the
American zone of Vienna he meets Colonel Cooler. He tells him the exactly the
same things as Kurtz. Martins has drunk to much whisky and so he feels alone
and visits Anna. They want to visit Harry's flat. There are many people in
front of the house because Herr Koch was murdered. A boy, whose father Martins
is talking with, says, that a foreigner has done it. So Martins flees. At
Sacher's a porter tells him that Colonel Calloway is waiting for him at the
hotelbar. But a soldier takes him to a literature-group which is arranged by
Crabbin. He talks a bit with the listeners and gives signatures. Suddenly
Colonel Calloway comes with the MP. Martins tries to escape but he looses his
way and a soldier takes him to the policeman. Calloway tells him about Lime's
problems with the police, that he smuggled penicillin. He sold it and a number
of children died because it was bad stuff. He was the boss and he worked with
Kurtz and a man called Harbin.
After Martins leaves Calloway he goes to the bar and after that he tells Anna
everything about Harry's career as a criminal. In the street he sees a man
looking exactly like Harry and follows him, but soon Lime's ghost disappears in
a solid iron kiosk, not in a newspaper kiosk. Calloway whom Martins tells this
story cannot believe that it was a ghost. He tells his assistant to dig up
Harry Lime because he thinks that Harbin
has been killed, not Lime. He believes that he wanted to see Anna and that he
used the kiosk because there is the entrance to the main sewer. So he visits
Kurtz to tell him that he wants to see Harry. Martins meets his old friend at
the Big Wheel. Lime admits his friend that he is living in the Russian zone.
Sometimes he must give information about people with false papers to the
Russians. Martins goes to the police and tells Calloway everything Harry said
to him. The two men are working together now. They only can catch him if he is
in their zone. Harry always goes through the sewer between midnight and 2:00
a.m. because there is no police in the central sewer. In the night Martins is
waiting in a café near the kiosk. When Lime appears Rollo and another policeman
called Bates are following him. Martins goes before the policeman because he
knows that Harry would not shoot at him. A gunfight begins in which Lime gets
shot. The criminal is dead.
Narrative Art
This novel is written in the 1st
person singular, the narrator is Colonel Calloway. Graham Greene is easy to
read because he was a reporter and he wrote as one. There was no special
vocabulary.
Interpretation
You cannot really get a message from
this novel because it is a crime-story and
it only wants to entertain. But I think it shows very good how people
can change. Two year before your best friend would do anything to help you but
now he would do everything to get money. He would even sell you if you made a
good price. It does not mean that you cannot trust anyone. Harry and Rollo are
living in to cities, one of them is under occupation. When your friend lives near
you one might know what he does.
