Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide

“Before moving forward, you should ask yourself what has come to be known at freshman orientation as the Four Enquiries.”

What follows this quote is an explanation of the four moral questions a student must answer satisfactorily for the faculty before they accept a plan of deletion and sets up the novel’s theme of The Moral Complexities of Justice. The morality and consideration of one’s fellow man that results from contemplating these questions create a complex contrast with the reason for asking them in the first place, the act of murder, and makes what is traditionally thought of as the worst crime less onerous.

“Although I don’t consider myself particularly vain (except perhaps for considering myself more often than I should), I was pleased to have conceived such an expert murder, especially since I’d never previously considered committing one.”

The Dangers of Vanity and Ego playing a large role in one’s downfall is a major throughline of the novel, and one sees it begin to play out at the beginning of the text with the main protagonist. Cliff allows himself the vanity of thinking he’s created the perfect murder, but in reality, his attempt is poorly executed and is enough to be noticed immediately by McMasters faculty. What makes him different than other characters is that his lack of true vanity allows him to absorb McMasters’ classes and put himself in positions to use the same character flaw to trap Fiedler.

“Push him. For Cora, for my friend Jack Horvath found dead in a filthy city park, for every unlucky worker whose life Fiedler had ruined or spirit he’d smothered, for the children who might fly on a W-10 someday trusting their parents had known what they were doing when they’d purchased their tickets.”

It is important to establish early on that Cliff has perceivably legitimate reasons to commit murder. By making Fiedler culpable of multiple offenses motivated by greed, the reader is encouraged to be on Cliff’s side. The first-person confessional-style narration makes Cliff’s plight understandable and aims to gain empathy from the reader.

“I watched, as I suppose men have watched for centuries, to see if Gemma would give me a backward glance, and in that same rich male tradition, I admit I was vastly disappointed when she didn’t.”

This quote is the end of the “meet-cute” moment between Cliff and Gemma, who appears uninterested in him. In keeping with the motif of hidden things, the reader finds out later that she finds him attractive but feels her focus must be singular in nature in order to succeed in her deletion. Their bond is bookended by an almost identical quote showcasing their changed relationship when on Page 385 the Dean notes, “Cliff watched, as men have watched for centuries, to see if Gemma would give him a backward glance. She did, a long look over her shoulder, before she fell in stride with the coach.”

“My initial thought was ‘Toad Hall.’”

This quote is typical of Cliff Iverson’s character as it shows his pithy way of referencing outside culture to make things understandable for the reader. While the Dean’s character describes the buildings in detail and includes the historical significance of where they came from Cliff combines what he sees with the absurd purposes they serve and invents an evocative description. By comparing the absurdity that fills Disney’s 1949 Toad Hall in the movie The Wind in the Willows to McMasters, it helps the reader picture both the place and the feeling associated with it. It also helps establish that the novel takes place in the early 1950s.

“[H]e said this is a finishing school for finishing people off.”

This quote is an example of the witty aphorisms that populate the text and create one of the main methods in which text uses Humor to Explore Darkness. Dean Harrow and Cliff both excel at this type of speaking, and in this particular example it provides both humor and a memorable way of describing the information for the reader. Lessons and truth are taught to McMasters students in very similar humorous phrases throughout the text with the intention of having them stick in the minds of both the student and the reader and which become more funny in the context of death such as when Gemma recalls one of the Dean’s lessons culminating in the phrase “Old habits die hard” to help her improve her deletion by using her target’s habits (344).

“‘You mean if I fail…?’

‘Yes, we’ll have to scrub you, I fear. You “die” has already been cast, pun intended. Once a student steps foot on campus, there are only two ways to depart: either as a fully accredited graduate or in an attractive urn.’”

Here again is an example of The Use of Humor to Explore Darkness, in this case, the consequences of failing or trying to leave a school that teaches one how to murder. Not only does the pun and aphorism create the element of humor and set the light-hearted tone, but it also establishes the stakes. Without the extreme consequences of their own deletion, the school might be taken less seriously by both the students and the readers. Establishing high stakes early in the novel creates dramatic tension for the remainder of the book as the reader understands that the protagonists must either kill or be killed.

“We don’t condone cold-blooded murdering a team of dedicated physicians just to achieve your self-serving deletion.”

Dean Harrow is addressing student Jud Helkampf whose idea to get rid of a patient on the operating table doesn’t take into consideration the safety of the other doctors and nurses in the room. It ignores one of the Four Enquiries, that of innocent people suffering from one’s actions, and shows a fatal flaw Helkampf shares with the villains of the novel—an extreme ego and a lack of concern about others. Like Fiedler and Kosta, Helkampf’s self-serving ego leads to his downfall. His character also highlights tension within the school that most likely leads to the Dean’s deletion, as less than a hundred pages later, Dean Harrow says Helkampf’s presence “is a manifestation of recent efforts to slacken our screening process in order to increase profit, as advocated by our chief financial officer” (150).

“I’ve already committed murder.”

In keeping with one of the motifs of the novel, that of hidden information, Gemma’s sudden confession has the effect of dropping a bomb on Cliff and the reader in this scene. She seems serious and straight-forward and her remark and lack of follow-up creates even more mystery around the character. It’s also indicative of the character herself in that she labels this killing a “murder” and not the standard McMasters word “deletion.” Giving her father a peaceful death in the hospital when he was in terrible pain hardly qualifies as murder to many and yet Gemma feels terrible guilt—enough to allow a colleague to extort her. It is ironic that less upstanding morality on her part would make her a much better deletist, pointing to the novel’s theme of The Moral Complexities of Justice.

“He ignored her dangling proposition and poured a glass of water from a silver carafe, opened a pewter pillbox on his desk, and swigged down several blue pills with a pained grimace. Then he held up the Paramount script and, with the lighter, ignited its lower right-hand corner. ‘You’re never playing this part, “Doria Maye,” a.k.a. Doris May Taplow. The only reason I had you read the script was because I wanted you to understand what you lost.’”

This quote from Doria Maye’s target does two things because it directly follows Kosta telling her that he is destroying her career because she didn’t sleep with him. It shows that it isn’t the lack of sex but The Dangers of Vanity and Ego that is driving her boss’s vindictive behavior, and he wants to her to suffer similarly by playing a cartoon pig for the rest of her career. The second thing this quote does is drop the hint that Kosta isn’t well. The pewter pillbox is first shown here and then brought back a few times before the end of the novel on Page 377, when Doria is told too late that he had a terminal illness: “Doria now recalled the pewter pillbox Kosta’s desk and a similar one on his Ledge House nightstand. With quiet despair, she began, ‘So there was no need for me…’ then hastily continued, ‘to grieve his murder? He would have died anyway?’” This lack of foresight on her part calls into question which of Dean Harrow’s examples of student deletions is the one he calls a failure. While Gemma’s target doesn’t die, she is brought to McMasters as faculty, where Doria is left contemplating yet another deletion.

“The damage Fiedler has caused can’t be undone. But if I can get it right this time, I could at least stop him from doing any further harm for the rest of his life.”

This quote comes soon after a scene revealing Fiedler’s callus reaction to Cliff telling him about the dangers in the plane’s construction to which he responded, “We’ll offer on-site modification for an additional surcharge” (95). It emphasizes the dastardly nature of Fiedler and reminds the reader of the necessity of his murder. He not only doesn’t care about innocent lives, but he also wants to profit from their deaths. Fiedler, in contrast with the student characters, is transparently bad. His one-dimensional evil nature makes it easy for the reader to agree with Cliff when he thinks the above quote despite the solution being the act of murder.

“‘He’s kidding, right?’ I asked Champo Nanda in a low voice.

‘It’s so hard to know,’ my RA answered with a tinge of anguish.”

The themes of The Use of Humor to Explore Darkness and The Moral Complexities of Justice are being addressed in this quote as the students listen to Dean Harrow talk about how their dinner is potentially poisoned. The morality of killing one’s students in order to train them to enact justice is complex and the joking, aphoristic, and pun-filled delivery of the assignment makes the situation both amusing and worrisome. The humor creates a tension in the reader that is both anticipatory and amused rather than a darker dread that could otherwise arise from the situation. The acknowledgment that the students feel exactly the same way is also amusing and helps create empathy and connection between the characters and the reader.

“Rule 3: Create Ignominy.”

When Dulcie first encounters this rule about crafting an alibi, she is baffled. However, she later understands the rule and uses it effectively when she is back to being Doria Maye in Los Angeles. The reader is given the experience of seeing the character use the rule in a way that plays out exactly as the professor predicts, convincing the police to believe something totally different than the truth. It’s also important that the person or situation is distasteful enough so the authorities don’t aggressively search. Doria reminds the reader of the lesson by quoting it back to the officer at the end of the book on Page 358: “Oh, the ignominy of it all!” This adds to the humor of the situation as the reader sees that Doria is getting the most out of her education.

“Just to be clear: there is no ‘Student of the Semester’ award, and I suspect Mr. Iverson invented it just now to demonstrate one of the most powerful weapons any of you can use against your target, especially those of the male persuasion. ‘Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, all is vanity!’”

While the reader has been shown examples of The Dangers of Vanity and Ego throughout the novel, this is the first time it is said blatantly. Cliff uses Helkampf as an example in front of his peers and notes that appealing to vanity is the one thing that he did correctly during his first attempt on Fiedler’s life. This foreshadows how Cliff will trap Fiedler again as well as how the other deletists will reach success.

“I remembered that once we left McMasters, I would never see her again. I didn’t even know if Gemma was her real name. Chastened by this thought, I tried my best to enjoy the dance, knowing it was likely our last.”

While the romance between Cliff and Gemma is secondary to the plot, it is important for the narrative as it emphasizes Cliff’s compassionate personality. This moment is similarly important in that it reminds the reader of the stakes and rules of the school and that any betrayal of its existence will result in deletion. The third thing this quote does is create amusing irony for the reader, who knows Gemma is the student who is almost incapable of being anything other than herself.

“‘But if we tailor a plan for each of our students, with customized timetables, weaponry, alibis, as you suggest…’

‘Yes?’ asked Erma, not knowing where this was going.

‘…we would legally qualify as accessory to every crime committed by anyone who attends McMasters.’”

The tension between Dean Harrow and Assistant Dean Erma Daimler continues to grow throughout the novel, with Jud Helkampf’s admission being one of the touchier points. This argument makes their separate theories on how the students should be educated apparent. While Daimler wants to bring in more money with customizable, faster tracks that will have students focus only on what they need, Dean Harrow’s plan is for a well-rounded student, in case they get in a situation like Gemma’s and have to improvise. Aside from illustrating this essential difference, the quote also illuminates the character of Dean Harrow. While often overly philosophical and absurd, this shows he is logical and sharper than he seems. It also puts to rest a plausibility question in the reader’s minds as to how such a school could exist without being shut down.

“For every inescapable and impenetrable prison, there is an underpaid milk van driver who comes and goes free as a bird. For pity’s sake, get to know the milkman!”

This truism about both life and deleting is an example of Dean Harrow’s witty aphorisms. It provides humor for the reader but also ensures the ideas stick in the minds of the students as it contains an example, a strong image, and a lesson in a few short sentences. This, as well as his witticism about old habits, sticks in Gemma’s mind and enable her to improvise a deletion when hers doesn’t work. Occurring so soon after Dean Harrow defends his theory on McMaster’s education to Erma Daimler, it makes a strong case to the reader about which faculty member to side with when it comes to the school’s internal debate.

“He’s here every month or two and he’s interested in women who are bit … exotic.”

This quote makes it even more obvious why Gemma’s extortioner must be deleted. Adele has promised Gemma will sleep with a visiting hospital official and uses her knowledge to force Gemma to do so. It is the only time anyone has brought up the subject of Gemma’s mixed race. That this matters to and is used by Adele implies a level of racial bias that no one else in the book has approached. With this quote, Adele adds racism and sexual exploitation to her already long list of evils, causing the reader to root even more strongly for Gemma’s success.

“Listen, Wes, I’m no Pollyanna, and I’ll play any dirty trick I can get away with when it comes to AirCorp winning out, but we can’t be accomplices to Woltan’s cost cutting where it’s deadly, understand? We are not going to help someone commit murder.”

This quote is from Eddie Alderman, Fiedler’s equal at a competing company who is an example of what an employer in this position could be. Alderman is out for success but also knows it’s people’s lives that truly matter. This quote is also a nod to the theme of The Use of Humor to Explore Darkness as Alderman unintentionally does the exact opposite of what he says, creating a moment of ironic humor for the reader. By saving the lives of those flying in the faulty airplane and exposing Fiedler, he is helping Cliff commit murder. The humorous effect of the ironic quote creates lightness at the end of a chapter depicting the morally shaky ground of corporate espionage.

“‘I’ll always be at a disadvantage dueling with you, won’t I?’ Responded Cliff, staring out the dark window as he considered the sheer pointlessness of his endeavor. ‘Because you don’t care who gets hurt.’”

Cliff is doing two things in this quote. First, he is appealing to Fiedler’s vanity and putting him off his guard, feeding Fiedler’s confidence so that he now believes he can best Cliff. This appeal to Fiedler’s ego leads to his attempt to poison Cliff and unintentionally poisoning himself. The second thing Cliff is doing with this quote is pointing out the main difference between truly bad individuals and McMaster’s murderers. While Cliff is a killer, he cares about people getting hurt. Fiedler, on the other hand, is wrapped up in his own ego and doesn’t care about others. This, according to the Four Enquiries of McMasters, is an unforgivable sin. Cliff understands this and uses The Dangers of Vanity and Ego to his advantage, knowing he must fight his own compassionate nature when it comes to dealing with Fiedler.

“I’m no good at this, were her last thoughts as Adele’s piercing scream rocketed away from all Gemma’s awareness, leaving her in a void without light or sound.”

This quote alludes to The Moral Complexities of Justice with which Gemma constantly struggles. For the entire novel, Gemma has fought against her nature hoping she could kill another human. When she is given an opportunity, she punishes herself instead. By doing so, she helps rid herself of the guilt she feels in plotting the other woman’s death. When the Dean comes to her exit interview, she flat-out refuses to take Adele’s life and shows courage by telling him, “You’ll have to flunk me” knowing it means her own death (372). This adherence to the Four Enquires and morality saves her life and earns her a spot as McMaster’s faculty.

“From things you say to me, at the funeral, in the days that followed, and this not so long after the young woman you cared for dies, I could see your good mind growing dark. I knew you would try something foolish that would not succeed, and you would end like Jack and Cora, gone too soon. I wanted to punish our Mr. Fiedler, but I am too old. It had to be you who found us our bosszu…our revenge.”

This is another example of the motif of revealing hidden information that Rupert Holmes likes to use in his plots to surprise both the characters and the readers. Here, the reader and Cliff realizes that the widow of Cliff’s colleague has more to her than meets the eye and has essentially used Cliff to get the revenge they both want. The Moral Complexities of Justice comes into question here as one considers if it’s right to force a young man into a McMasters education and into becoming a murderer, even if one suspects they will go that direction anyway.

“We may jettison certain humans from this life…but we are not without humanity.”

Here again in an example of The Moral Complexities of Justice as Dean Harrow’s declaration seems to contradict itself. It does, however, make sense when the reader knows that one of the Four Enquiries is to spare innocent lives, which Gemma has just done by saving Adele’s unborn baby. Being without humanity is seen as more heinous than murder, creating a circular complexity to the type of justice that requires what is often thought as the most inhuman act— that of taking another’s life. The novel never attempts to resolve this complexity but instead rewards characters who show both humanity and an aversion to murder such as Gemma and, in the end, Cliff, as his target ends up deleting himself.