Double Indemnity: Love of Manipulation or Manipulation of Love? Essay

â€Å"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words† (Phillip K. Dick). Manipulation in this book can be summed up in one phrase: It takes two to tango. This dance takes total control of the manipulator and the person being manipulated. Beauty and lust are two common methods of manipulating others. This novel successfully portrays the manipulation of two very clever women through their full and utter control of Walter Huff. In the book Double Indemnity, the author James Cain describes women as manipulators and clearly shows their power to negatively affect men. He illustrates this through the characters Phyllis and Lola. In extensively flirting with Mr. Huff, Phyllis was able to manipulate him into killing Mr. Nirdlinger, leaving her free of any punishment linking her to the murder. James Cain proficiently uses Phyllis’ character to emphasize the power of cruel manipulation used effectively by this woman. This is a reoccurring theme throughout the three literary time periods: Classic, Cozy, and Hard Boiled. The women in this story are powerful users of manipulation due to their beauty, which feeds Huff’s most fundamental emotions. These emotions are: being loved, cared for, a sense of belonging, and inflating their sense of self. With Phyllis’ relationship with Huff, â€Å"She is wholly coquettish as she woos Walter into her scheme to kill her husband. She even says she loves her husband, but shortly afterwards the repulsive side of her character reveals itself in her comment that they would be doing her husband a favor by killing him† (Beetz). Mr. Huff is an intelligent man who can plan and scheme a course of action. He hardly shows weakness of emotion and effortlessly completes the murder of Mr. Nirdlinger. Mr. Huff followed his script with ease and serenity. Walter’s downfall was Phyllis’ ability to manipulate him to her ends. Phyllis makes herself look dim and useless in Walter’s eyes in order to get him to take initiative, plan, and execute the murder. Phyllis skillfully has Huff commit the murder and then deceitfully shifts the blame onto him. While she was using him for her final solution, â€Å"Phyllis ferrets out the weakness in Walter’s character–his need to feel superior to others–and proves herself capable of sophisticated manipulation. For example, she fabricates preposterous ideas of how she might do away with Mr. Nirdlinger, like drowning him in the swimming pool and making it look like a diving accident, so that Walter can strut his knowledge and develop an idea that will pass muster with the insurance investigators but will also yield the greatest payout† (Beetz). Phyllis controls Walter shrewdly throughout the book, whether by devious manipulation or self-portrayed, feigned stupidity. Although Walter seemed as if he were the smarter of the two, Phyllis had full control of him for the duration of the entire novel. Women may use their beauty as an ill-hearted power to get what they want with this game of love. Many professional females may secure positions of power by utilizing their flirtatious skills and their sexual attraction as an influence on men’s emotions. Although James Cain portrays Phyllis and Lola as polar opposites, Lola is still able to use her naà ¯vetà ©, youth, and beauty as leverage and exploits the two men in her life: Nino Sachetti, her boyfriend, and Walter Huff, her paramour. Lola uses her innocent beauty as a coercive force to secure her intended goal with Huff. Huff is attracted to her and influenced by her persona of caring, comfort, and beauty. Many believe that, â€Å"The symbolism is in the [checkers] game that Phyllis and Lola play nearby. Lola says she’s going out to meet her girlfriend, denies any intent of meeting her boyfriend, the penniless Nino Sachetti. Yet when Huff leaves the house, he finds the sexy young Lola waiting for him in his coupe†¦ and once again he finds himself being manipulated by a woman. But who is manipulating who? As it develops, Huff’s ambiguous relationship with Lola fits perfectly with Phyllis’ second agenda† (Russell). Walter is a victim of manipulation, for his lust for these two women promotes and decides his actions more than his common sense. One should nott kill for love, as it is uncharacteristic and hypocritical. He’s killing to secure his sense of love, which was not found with Phyllis. Walter tries to abide his conscience when he settles for Lola as a consolation prize. Lola notices his weakness and exploits his emotions with her promiscuous behavior toward him. Lola’s entrapment of her innocent beauty gave her the upper hand in her relationship with Walter, eventually leading to her complete control of him: â€Å"She had made a fool of me. She had used me for a cat’s paw so she could have another man, and she had enough on me to hang me higher than a kite† (Cain, 80). His willing submissiveness verifies the overpowering influence that the emotional and physical attributes of these women use to their own ends. Walter believes that he is meeting his needs with this devil’s bargain. Mr. Huff allowed himself to be easily manipulated by women because he made himself believe that the women had something to give that he so truly desired. Walter killed Nirdlinger not out of hate—Huff did not have anything against him, he killed Nirdlinger out of pure lust for his mistress. Walter Huff kills for love, but he will die without being loved. Phyllis and Lola use the three poisons for love: manipulation, intimidation, and domination. These poisons make the foundation for securing their financial and emotional stability.