Human Factors in "The Human Factor"

Greene didn’t’ name the name of the man. I’m still thinking about this man who helped Maurice Castle defect to Moscow even though he is not a communist. (“… I’ll fight beside you in Africa, Boris – not in Europe.”) A few clues Greene provides are, aside from the man’s appearance when he came to Castle’s hotel room, “‘I was delayed by the circulation,’ the man said in precise but rather incorrect English” and “He carried the tools of his trade...” But his appearance cannot be a clue because he can easily change it.

“The circulation” apparently refers to the circular going around among MI6 and immigration authorities about Castle’s escape. Spending a few hours of early morning in bed, I searched the book for anyone who speaks “in precise but rather incorrect English.” And “the tools of his trade” to give Castle a crew cut. This scene inevitably led my mind to the photos of Che Guevara with a bald head with a pair of glasses. Colonel John Daintry, “a compulsive shaver,” strongly despises Doctor Percival, who poisoned Castle’s innocent deputy, Arthur Davis. You are the one, Colonel, aren’t you?

Sarah, Sam and Buller… A rather happy family life in England, even with the remnant of insecurity from the past, results in a separation.

Loyalty, moral, conscience, betrayal, love, family, race, apartheid, the Cold War (Checkpoint Charlie!)… Each one of these involves a deep human factor. Reading “The Human Factor,” or any other like it, compels me to wonder if this fiction, based on the author’s experience at MI6, reflects the reality of politics, international or domestic, more accurately than any poli-sci book.