The Continental Op

The Continental Op is the character of Dashiell Hammett's stories. He's a nameless detective agency enforcer, who investigates crimes. He makes his first appearance in the 1923 novel Arson Plus.
== Overview ==
The Continental Op appears in many Dashiell Hammett stories. He is an employee of a private detective agency. He investigates mainly serious crimes. The novels and short stories are narrated in the first person, from the point of view of the protagonist. His name is never mentioned. Continental Op is a short, plump man of about forty years old. He is a professional detective who has served for many years in the Continental agency under the direction of his boss, whom he calls the Old Man. In order to achieve his goal, the operative uses illegal and immoral methods. For example, at the end of the novel Bloody Harvest, after he has cleared the city of criminals, he admits: "I spent most of my week in Ogden trying to make it impossible to tell from my reports how many agency rules, state laws, and human corpses I had crossed."
== Personality ==
The Continental Op has, to put it mildly, an ambiguous morality. It costs him nothing, for example, to arrange murders of criminals whose guilt he cannot prove. For example, in one story, he pits the criminals who have taken over the city against each other, and they end up killing each other. Or in another story, he, having learned that one of his assistants is connected with criminals, sets the bandits against him. However, The Continental Op works conscientiously. He will always catch the criminal and bring him to the law. He also repeatedly saves innocent people and will not pass by a person who needs help in a difficult situation. For example, he once helped a young girl escape from a curse (in fact there was no curse, but the evil intent of a man who wanted this girl for himself) and saved her from drug addiction. This means that although The Continental Op can be cruel, he has a kind heart. He also notes that he does not want to become like his boss, whom he considers heartless. He is also very brave. Although he pits criminals against each other to free the city from them, he still remains in this city to save this city from crime. In another story, he is ready to fight off an important witness from a whole crowd of criminals ready to kill him.
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