Sanctuary | Characters & Character Analysis

Sanctuary Characters

Even though the book displays many elements of a sensational thriller, in contrast to ordinary hard-boiled novels the author's interest is not confined to the moves and counter-moves of the plot.

Instead, somewhat in the manner of early Hemingway, Faulkner sets out to capture his agents' complex mental reactions to the events in which they become entangled. But where the former exults in physical and instinctive responses, the author of Sanctuary is more interested in the spiritual and psychological changes wrought in his characters.

The sensibility which filters for us the moral upshot of the story is that of the Quixotic Horace Benbow. Attorney at law, tall, thin and bookish, he is the closest thing to a protagonist among the wide cast of agents in the novel. By virtue of his centrality to the plot, his moral integrity, and generally likeable character, Benbow is an easy...
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