There have been a lot of instances in my life where I’ve had to make a decision whether or not to break a law in order to achieve my goal at the time. Sometimes, it’s something rather inconsequential like speeding a few kilometers over the limit in order to keep pace with traffic. Others, it’s more dire, and if caught, I know I could be in for jail time or fines that I wouldn’t be able to pay. Thing is, there was always something that served to make the infraction worth my while, at least at the time.
In my story, I talk a lot about doing the right thing versus the legal thing and how the consequences of said actions can have ramifications down the road. I wanted to explore what it meant to do the right thing in the face of an establishment that would punish severely, and if the ends justified the means for the person involved.
There are plenty of literary heroes that follow the ethical criminal plot – Robin Hood, Jack Sparrow, John Sheridan. All of these in one way or another needed to commit heinous crimes in order to save the day or the world, which brings a question to the fore – are they criminals if the better good was served? Should they be punished for their crimes if those crimes were the fracture of legislation that was in itself counter to the principals of freedom and liberty? This question opens up a fertile ground for debate for me, in which I find myself questioning some of my own values when I write for James or Cain. What would it take for me to feel the need to kill another human? How much would need to be at stake? Is my freedom enough to qualify? And if that is the case, how far am I morally justified in taking that? What if I’m being arrested instead of kidnapped?
It’s a prickly issue that we see play out in all corners of modern society, from the office to the battlefield. How much is too much? Many of the myths and legends that have endured throughout human evolution touch on this concept, lauding the hero that slays the ferocious beast in order to save the damsel in distress. When these myths are examined just a little closer, however, most are found to have given the mantle of ‘monster’ to whomever the enemy of the people happened to be at the time. Dehumanizing ones adversaries in such a way made using any method to vanquish them far more palatable than would have been possible if they were viewed as contemporaries. That bit of political spin makes the act of murder or sedition seem almost ethical to the observer, but in reality, it has a far more profound effect on the ‘hero’, as they are the one that knows the truth of the act.
The characters I write about in my books face a modern interpretation of these myths and stories, as I have seen the same methods used by people in my own life, and I believe that they are still a very intrinsic part of the human condition today. Institutions that wield power over populaces will continue to persecute those who do not follow their doctrine, as acquiescing – even a little – would cast doubt on those ideals and threaten that power. If that power is to be regulated, and if fairness is in truth the end goal, then committing crimes – breaking the rules of that power structure – becomes essential.
