The Day of the Jackal

The Jackal may be the antagonist of the novel, but he features more than any other character in the narrative. He is the counterpoint to Lebel, though he features throughout the novel whereas Lebel only features in Part 2 onwards. The irony of his prominence in the narrative, however, is that the true identity of the Jackal remains so elusive. Over the course of many chapters, the narrative follows the Jackal without knowing his true name. He operates under a number of false identities, posing as an Englishman who died as a child, an American student, a Danish priest, and a French war veteran. He lives in London but speaks fluent French and, at times, can even pass as French himself. The reality is that the true identity of the Jackal can be found at the nexus of these overlapping false identities. Their falsity becomes his identity; he is defined by his anonymity and his unknowability. Rather than a name or a document, his identity is established through his actions. He is a cold, meticulous, professional killer. He is ruthless and painstakingly thorough, possessing a level of intellect which is only matched by Lebel himself. Though the Jackal’s name remains unknown, his identity emerges from the anonymous enaction of a carefully crafted plot. He is, in effect, defined by his actions. The Jackal is a killer.

During the course of the narrative, the Jackal demonstrates that he has no real political convictions. He is hired by men who are politically motivated to kill a man who is defined by his political status, yet the Jackal sees the assignment as a fundamentally apolitical act. To him, the assassination of Charles de Gaulle is more like a puzzle to be solved than a political statement. The Jackal has no beliefs or convictions other than a compulsion to earn money by killing people. He is a very talented assassin and he is well-renumerated for his talent, to the extent that the OAS are willing to gamble everything they have to hire him. The cost of hiring the Jackal and a brief moment of indecision are the only real insight into the character that lurks behind the intersecting false identities. When he learns that Lebel is hot on his tail, the Jackal pauses. He deliberates whether to continue and, ultimately, he chooses to go forward with the plan. He has grown too accustomed to the life of luxury which he leads as a professional assassin; he cannot go back to being poor. This suggests that the Jackal has known poverty, or at least has never known abundance, and that, even as a wealthy man, he fears that his financial situation is precarious. His motivation is to remain wealthy rather than return to a poverty which is only alluded to.

The Jackal nearly kills Charles de Gaulle. The Jackal has passed perfectly through French society to this point, but this moment of cultural misunderstanding reveals that he may be able to imitate other identities, but he can never truly possess or embody them. This overlooked custom is a nuance which, when ignored, only serves to remind the Jackal of how much he is fundamentally an outsider. His cold, calculating approach to embodying others’ identities cannot comprehend this human interaction or its interpersonal significance in French culture. The Jackal’s hubris is that he felt overconfident in his ability to pass between cultures and identities. This minor human error renders months of planning obsolete, and he is killed moments later. Ironically, his human error shows that he is human after all.

Colonel Saint-Clair de Villauban is an aristocratic member of the French security services. While highly competent men like Claude Lebel are left to languish in the lower ranks, someone far less competent like Saint-Clair de Villauban is promoted to a high rank due to his name, his status, and his connections. He is a relic of the old world, just like Sir Jasper Quigley, who has been promoted in spite of his lack of intelligence or competence. As Lebel is criticized by the pompous Saint-Clair de Villauban, Bryn Thomas is criticized by Quigley. In both circumstances, the vestigial appointments of a social order which is rapidly modernizing can offer only hollow criticisms with nothing constructive to contribute in their own right.

Saint-Clair de Villauban’s criticisms of Lebel are worse than vacuous. He resents the powers and respect which people give to Lebel, who makes him feel increasingly inadequate about his own competency. He makes this inadequacy felt by publicly castigating Lebel for continuing to let the Jackal get away. The Jackal is only able to get away, however, because Saint-Clair de Villauban talks about these top secret meetings with his mistress, Jacqueline, who passes all the information along to OAS and then to the Jackal. Saint-Clair de Villauban is not just criticizing Lebel’s investigation; he is actively and unwittingly undermining it. Notably, Saint-Clair de Villauban is not helping the Jackal on purpose. He lacks the intelligence or wherewithal to put together a conspiracy of his own. Instead, the OAS targets him specifically because he is a pompous man who can be taken advantage of.

Saint-Clair de Villauban’s criticism of Lebel becomes increasingly pointed, up until the point at which Lebel plays the recording of Saint-Clair de Villauban’s mistress for everyone to hear. At this point, Saint-Clair de Villauban’s one saving grace is that he has the gumption to quietly resign in shame. Lebel bests him with a level of quiet competence and pragmatism which Saint-Clair de Villauban could never manage. At this point, Saint-Clair de Villauban accepts his defeat in his single noble gesture.