Lookout Cartridge: Analysis of Major Characters
"Lookout Cartridge" is a narrative that revolves around Cartwright, an American businessman living in London, who becomes embroiled in a complex web of intrigue following the theft of an avant-garde film he is producing. Driven by an obsession to uncover the thief and the reasons behind the theft, Cartwright's investigation leads him across the Atlantic and into a diverse array of characters, including filmmakers, smugglers, and members of radical groups. His daughter, Jenny, an intelligent and adventurous teenager, becomes involved in her own quest for answers, putting herself at risk to protect her father amid the chaos.
Key characters include Dagger DiGorro, Cartwright's collaborator whose financial desperation may tie him to the film's destruction; Paul Flint, a young idealist distancing himself from a radical organization; and Claire, DiGorro's niece, who becomes unintentionally entangled in the conspiracy. Sub, a close friend of Cartwright, offers temporary refuge but also faces danger due to their connection. The story culminates in a tense confrontation with Incremona, a menacing gangster, highlighting themes of loyalty, the impact of obsession, and the moral complexities of the characters involved. This layered narrative provides a compelling exploration of human motivations against a backdrop of crime and conspiracy.
Lookout Cartridge: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Joseph McElroy
First published: 1974
Genre: Novel
Locale: London, Corsica, Stonehenge, the Hebrides, and New York City
Plot: Suspense
Time: 1971
Cartwright, an American investor, living in London, who has become involved in the production of an avant-garde film about life in contemporary England. A moderately successful businessman with a wife and two teenage children, he sees the film as a means of adding a new dimension to his life. When most of the film is stolen before filming is complete, Cartwright becomes obsessed with discovering who stole it and why. Following a variety of clues, some of which lead to dead ends, he travels back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean. His quest leads him into a labyrinth of characters and their motivations: filmmakers, international businessmen, smugglers, gangsters, and terrorists. Everyone seems somehow related to a conspiracy that may be exposed by something in the film. Cartwright jeopardizes not only his own life but also the lives of family and friends in his pursuit of the answers.
Virginia (Jenny) Cartwright, his seventeen-year-old daughter. Jenny is an intelligent, attractive, and intrepid girl who learns of the conspiracy through her relationship with a young American man. On her own, she seeks out clues and travels internationally in an attempt to protect her father. Even the mistaken idea that she has been murdered does not stop him.
Dagger DiGorro, Cartwright's friend and collaborator on the film. DiGorro was the technician and cowriter/codirector, but Cartwright discovers that he may have been involved in the destruction of the film. DiGorro needs money and operates on the fringe of the law, as a smuggler or in the black market.
Paul Flint, an idealistic young American. Paul and his brothers, Jack and Gene, are members of a radical organization that is adopting terrorist tactics to achieve their utopian goals. Paul's face apparently has been captured on film at some of the locations. Afraid that he will be identified, he and his colleagues want to destroy the film. Paul, in rejection of the terrorist plans, is leaving the group.
Claire, a young secretary in the film company. She is DiGorro's niece and the first person Cartwright goes to see in New York to get information. Her connection to the conspiracy is circumstantial and unwitting. She looks so much like Jenny that even Cartwright fleetingly mistakes her for his daughter. Eventually, she is killed by mistake, with Jenny as the intended victim.
Sub, a longtime friend of Cartwright. A decent man being divorced by his wife, Sub lives with his two young children in New York. Cartwright stays in Sub's apartment while he is there; thus, Sub and his children are also endangered. Sub may be the only adult in the novel completely innocent of any connection to the conspiracy.
Incremona, a killer who is the apparent ringleader of a set of gangsters. He is a shadowy figure who embodies the immediate threat of the conspiracy. Cartwright finally kills him by dropping a television set on him from Sub's apartment window. His death completes the action of the novel, even if it does not answer all of Cartwright's questions.