The killer inside me by Jim Thompson Research Paper

The killer inside me by Jim Thompson - Research Paper Example More than the description of the crimes, what is more important is his cynical state of mind, which gets reflected in the way he needles people around him especially by his words which often bore them. He declares his sickness to be perhaps of psychosomatic origin. However Lou Ford on the outside leads the normal life of a respectable cop who is well like by his superiors especially Sheriff Maples. It is the perversion of Lou’s mind, whether it is about sexual encounters or pure cases of murder that gives shape to the plot with an underlying motive of exploring the bifurcated personality of Ford. The novel begins with Lou’s encounter with the proprietor of a restaurant and before that a waitress of the same place. Lou Ford comes to the readers as a fine, polished kind hearted person unless he begins drawling his sentences during his conversation with the proprietor. Lou does not carry a gun because he does not think about crooks like the way people do. Despite being a c op, he thinks that people are â€Å"a little misguided. You don’t hurt them, they won’t hurt you. They’ll listen to reason† (Thompson 4). ... The author switches the opinions about Ford quite briskly as the narrator states, â€Å"I liked the guy—as much as I like most people, anyway—but he was too good to let go. Polite, intelligent: guys like that are my meat.†(Thompson 4) the last phrase gives a hint about his perversion of mind. He purposely tries to bore him with philosophical talks while he knows very well that people dislikes a bore and â€Å"If there’s anything worse than a bore, it’s a corny bore† (Thompson 5). The moment he begins drawling out long sentences he finds that the proprietor is eager to quit the conversation. So Lou gets a sadistic pleasure in teasing people around him. The novel also introduces us to Bob Maples, the sheriff who trusts Lou a lot and is ready to back his decisions without knowing what they are. The readers come to know of his sickness directly for the first time when he meets Joyce Lakeland. One comes to know of the sickness he went through and encountered for the first time when he was fourteen years old. With a deeper thought one can perceive that this sickness is related to sexual perversion. It is aroused once again after a long time when he meets Joyce. His sexual perversion is aroused when he enters into a bickering with Joyce after she finds him holding her gun. By revealing his identity she begins to get violent with him and hits him hard. It brings out the long dormant sickness inside him and he is engaged into a violent sexual assault on her. Even a while before this happens he tries to get away as fast as he can because he fears that â€Å"She’s talks. She’d yell her head off. And people would start thinking, thinking and wondering about