Kiss Me Deadly Characterization

Mike Hammer is the protagonist of the story. He was once a WWII Veteran, and he fought against the Japanese. Now he is a private investigator. Below I have listed some of his traits (that I see) and given examples of why.

He is definitely rough. I say this because in cases, if there are people out to kill him, when they try he often kills them instead of turning them over to the police. He also has a tendency to get rough with people if they do not give him the information that he wants/needs. A good example is the instance where he goes to a locker room looking for evidence. When he is denied access, he beats up the guy behind the desk and tells him to “be nice next time”. He then walks into the room. I thought there wasn’t any reason for this- I mean, just tell him you are a private investigator! No need to beat the crap out of him!

At the same time, I also think he is compassionate- he takes care of his love interest and secretary, Velda. On her birthday, he gives her a string of genuine pearls, and in return she loves him back- staying at his side when he is in the hospital and helping him with his case. Velda is engaged to him. A good example of his compassionate side is shown in the middle of the book- where he tells his thoughts and how he feels about Velda, saying that she is his everything. So he does have a soft side- the only thing he loves more than Velda is making sure that justice is served and his will to kill.

The only other thing I could call him is a terminator- he knows his job and he gets it done, but not always in the way that abides by law. He is notorious for breaking the law while solving his cases. He tries to have a sense of humor in his killing sometimes- for example, when he kills two hired men, he props their dead bodies up against a dead end sign and leaves them there- a sick, twisted sense of humor. He is also known to use bribery to get his job done- such as bribing the car mechanic to get a few bombs out of a car and also attempting to bribe the guy at the locker room- but to no avail.

You had asked me if I would want him as a friend- no, I probably wouldn’t. I might hire him as a bodyguard, but that’s about it. Just from reading, he doesn’t seem to be the type I would hang out with. I don’t like people who kill- even if it is for a good reason. Maybe if it was to save me, but other than that, I will stick to normal people, thank you.

The antagonist of the story is the young, beautiful Lily Carver. At first, she seems like the innocent roommate of Berga Torn (the victim). It is later revealed that she was behind the death of the original Lily Carver and Berga Torn, and that she herself is not Lily- she is an imposter. She only killed them because her lover, Doctor Soberin, had to cover himself up. She is described as beautiful and “full-figured”.

As for traits, I would say for the first she is VERY sneaky and manipulative. She befriended Mike and played him up only to use in her plan. She only reveals herself in the last pages of the book, after Hammer kills Dr. Soberin. Mike even let her stay with him and kept her safe (away from the authorities, as they would probably know that the real Lily was dead). He kept her up to date on how the case was going- a big mistake.

It is never said who she really is. She is discovered to be horribly scorched from her knees to her neck from fire, but she keeps this masked under a robe the entire book. She shoots Mike with his own gun in the end, but as she leans in to whisper to him, he flicks his lighter against her and sets her on fire, and then escapes. My reason for saying she is sneaky? Well, she gains his trust and betrays him in the end AND she works with the secondary antagonist.

I would also say she is timid (at least when she is acting. Assume that you don’t know she is the antagonist yet.) When Mike is gone, she double locks the doors and when he comes back she is shaking. She also runs away from his apartment when someone tries to come into the apartment. She is found in the basement having a mini panic attack. It is later revealed that this is all part of an act, so I guess you could also say she is a good actress. She didn’t run out of fear; she ran because she thought the two hired men would kill Mike and she wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore. Unfortunately for her, Mike killed them and stuck them underneath a dead end sign.

Mike had to track her down; after Berga’s death she cleared out of her apartment because 1( Berga had been paying the rent, and 2( because she didn’t want to be recognized by the police when they came snooping through the apartment looking for clues. Her appearance (other than what I mentioned above) is that she has platinum blonde hair and scarlet red lips. She often wears a robe.

Would I want HER as a friend? MOST CERTAINLY NOT! I don’t like psychopathic killers that go to jail (if a normal cop catches them) or are brutally murdered (if a made up detective catches them).  She has no good traits in her whatsoever. I wish that the book had gone into more depth with her character, and I wish for once that the author WOULDN’T KILL PEOPLE OFF! I’d love to hear their full confessions, and see them put behind bars- not slaughtered, shot, and burned.

Velda is the supporting character of the book. She is best known as Mike Hammer’s fiancé and secretary. She is described as having dark hair and being very beautiful. She loves Mike very much, and she is very helpful. She often helps Mike out with his cases, gathering evidence and trailing people.

I would she is loyal. She always is helpful and sticks by Mike, no matter what kind of scrape he gets into. She is also a faithful employee, and she always makes sure to do her task. She gathers a lot of information for Mike, even if it means getting kidnapped doing so. She also tails suspects to find out more about them. She also shows loyalty by staying next to Mike when he is in the hospital for 3 days.

The second supporting character is a woman named Michael Friday. She is the kind sister of semi-antagonist Carl Evello, who was involved with the mafia. She is oblivious to her brother being evil, and sticks up for him often until Mike shows her evidence he is a mafia man. This shows she is loyal and loving of her brother.

She is described as having light brown hair and being tall and pretty. She helps Mike a lot, giving him leads on certain people he asks about. She breaks into her brother’s safe and finds the paperwork needed to prove he is guilty. Mike warns her that people like her brother often end up dead, and at first she takes it harshly.

There finally comes a time where she has to make a choice: her brother or doing the right thing. She chooses the right thing and tells Mike she is sorry and that now she knows. This leads to Mike getting struck over the head and getting kidnapped, but he breaks free and kills Evello.

Would I want Velda as a friend? Probably not. There is nothing really wrong with her, but I don’t tend to hang with people like her. I think her best quality is her loyalty. While I DO look for loyalty in a friend, I also look for a sense of humor, which she doesn’t seem to have. She seems to be more the love interest/pretty face of the story more than anything else.

As for Michael Friday, while she is a supporting character she is only briefly mentioned so I couldn’t tell you much more than what I already did about her. I think that she knew deep down from the beginning that her brother was mixed up in something, but didn’t want to believe it. So instead she got angry and went looking for evidence- and then was FORCED to face the truth.

And this wraps up my character paper! The book was an excellent read. Thank you for giving me the project, Dad.