The Third Policeman: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Third Policeman" is a novel that intertwines dark humor and philosophical inquiry through its exploration of major characters. Central to the narrative is the unnamed narrator, who becomes obsessed with the fictional philosopher de Selby after the death of his parents. After losing his leg in an accident, he partners with the morally dubious John Divney to commit a robbery, which leads to a series of tragic events, including the murder of a wealthy man named Phillip Mathers. Divney, characterized as both charming and unscrupulous, ultimately betrays the narrator, leading to his demise.
The story also features Sergeant Pluck, a commanding and eccentric police officer who believes in bizarre exchanges between people and bicycles, as well as Policeman MacCruiskeen, known for his inventive creations. Another notable figure is Joe, the narrator's soul, who provides companionship and guidance after the narrator's death. The character of Policeman Fox, shrouded in mystery, represents an elusive force within the peculiar world the narrator inhabits. Collectively, these characters navigate themes of identity, morality, and the surreal, making "The Third Policeman" a rich text for analysis and interpretation.
The Third Policeman: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Flann O'Brien
First published: 1967
Genre: Novel
Locale: Rural western Ireland
Plot: Fantasy
Time: The late 1930's
The narrator, who as a child was sent to a fine boarding school after both of his parents died. At the age of sixteen, he becomes obsessed with the thought of a fictional charlatan, de Selby, who believes that most human experiences are illusory. After the narrator leaves school, he loses his left leg in an accident and returns home interested only in continuing his study of de Selby. He joins his dishonest caretaker, John Divney, in a crime to finance the publication of his definitive collation of all the interpretations of de Selby's thought. After Divney murders him, the narrator, not realizing that he is dead, goes to a strange police barracks in search of the lockbox that contains their loot. Amid strange dialogues and disorienting experiences, he is accused by Sergeant Pluck of murder. He narrowly avoids being hanged and escapes on Pluck's animate and gynecomorphic bicycle, toward which he develops amorous feelings. When he reaches his house, the narrator finds Divney and discovers that not three days but sixteen years have passed since he began his search for the box.
John Divney, the man hired to take care of the narrator's farm and tavern while he is at boarding school. Divney is short but well built, with broad shoulders and thick arms. He is brown haired and roughly handsome, with a reassuring face and brooding, brown, and patient eyes. After the narrator returns home, he does not dismiss the lazy and unprincipled Divney, even after he realizes that Divney was stealing from him. Divney convinces the narrator to join him in a plot to rob and murder Mathers, who carries his cash box with him when he walks to the village. After the murder, Divney hides the box and will not tell the narrator where it is. After the narrator shadows him for several years, even to the point of sleeping in the same bed with him, Divney relents. He tells the narrator that he has hidden the strongbox under the floor in Mathers' house, but he has actually planted a bomb there. When the narrator, who is killed by the bomb, comes back to his house, Divney, who alone can see him, is frightened to death. The two, unaware that they are dead, then prepare to repeat the forgotten trials of the narrator.
Phillip Mathers, a wealthy, elderly, retired man who lives alone in a big house three miles from the narrator's house. On a rainy night, the narrator and Divney attack him. After Divney strikes him with a bicycle pump and the narrator finishes him off with a spade, they bury his body in a ditch. He appears to the narrator after the narrator's death. Not aware of his own death, the narrator enters into a conversation with the ghastly and spectral, but apparently alive, Mathers. Mathers directs the narrator to the weird policemen, whom he sought in hope that they could help him locate the missing strongbox.
Joe, the narrator's soul, of whom the narrator becomes aware after his death. Joe is the narrator's companion and adviser, and they carries on dialogues. He is a voice of common sense in the midst of the narrator's disorienting experiences and fantastic theories on the nature of all sorts of things expressed by the policemen.
Martin Finnucane, a robber and murderer whom the narrator encounters on his way to the police barracks. Finnucane also has a wooden left leg and is the leader of a band of one-legged men.
Sergeant Pluck, the head of the constabulary at the strange police station. Pluck is a giant of a man, with a bulging neck and an enormous, fat red face sporting a violent red mustache and topped with abundant and unruly straw-colored hair. Believing that people and bicycles are exchanging identities through too much contact, he continually steals and hides bicycles. To solve a second murder of the dead Mathers, he blames the—this time—innocent narrator. After subjecting the narrator to prolonged interrogations and an escorted tour of an eternity machine, Pluck prepares to hang him but is distracted by the Finnucane gang.
Policeman MacCruiskeen, an inventive policeman who crafts a marvelous but incredible series of Chinese boxes and honed spearpoints, so fine that they are invisible. Dark complexioned, with a hook nose, dark whiskers, and a mass of curly black hair, he is as big and fat as Pluck but has a lean and intelligent face with penetrating eyes. He supervises and adjusts the gauges that control their strange world.
Policeman Fox, the third policeman, a mysterious character whom no one ever sees. The narrator, on his way back home, encounters Fox in his own private station in the walls of Mathers' house. Corpulent and with the face and voice of Mathers, he informs the narrator that the sought-after box contained 4 ounces of omnium, the essence of everything, which could satisfy his every desire.