Justice

Landsman is described as being highly focused on his police work, and although this appears in part to be a method of avoiding his own personal demons, Landsman’s obsession with his police work also appears to be an expression of his desire for justice in the world, similar to many classic detective characters on which Landsman is based. Classic detective characters like Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe live in harsh, often immoral worlds, and they employ dark humor and cynicism in order to navigate these worlds, but they ultimately are driven by their desire to see justice served. When Landsman first examines the dead body in the Zamenhof, he displays his usual cynical and detached disposition. However, Landsman then goes to enormous lengths to discover the guilty party in the murder, implicitly because he wishes to be a protector of justice in a world full...