The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Of course, at the end of this book we see the Americanism evident. Soviet poverty where communism “makes shit” and American abundance where capitalism “makes the Shit”. At the level of comparison of action however, this book works as a comparison of American tech vs Soviet ideology. All the American characters, except for generals and politicians, exist at the level of technical knowledge. The operators, officers and analysts are men whose expertise allows them to full specific roles of objectivity; to fix or operate machinery. The explanations of the machines and their operators is one of geeky admiration. On the other hand, the agency of operation for the Soviets is political influence and falsifiable ideology. Soviets make decisions based on ideology, whereas Americans make decisions based on engineering and science. Obviously, this is a false dichotomy, but it is the presentation inherent in this book.
The defection of the Soviet officers are basically of officers who are frustrated by Soviet politics. They are more suited to being a geek than a communist — as one Officer dreamed of being an electrical engineer, and working on computers. The implicit reward in this book is that if you are able, then America will reward you for your abilities, (whereas the Soviets rewards for one’s familial stance within the party). A final marker, of course, is a token black submarine Captain who stands in for ability above racial prejudice.
In a way, as thrilling as the book is, there structure doesn’t leave much to be contested. The Soviet defecting Captain doesn’t seem to have much plan, as we can tell. Just to defect. But despite his belief in superior Soviet sub technology, he is easily discovered by existing American sonar, fairly early in the book. Much of the book then, has to do with a tour of American and British technology through a CIA analyst, who overcomes his deep fear of flying and submarines (fear of machines) to do his American duty. His eyes opened are our eyes opened. So in a big way, the setup for the climax comes just at the very end, one Soviet sub against another — a fairly complex and thrilling but laborious battle but one that is really only showing a splintering of Soviet lines. One Soviet (but truly American in ideology) officer vs another Soviet officer, with the Americans to facilitate the witnessing of “what really happened”. From the point of view of the story, an American vs Soviet contest would be too easily an American victory. The lack of aggression on the part of the Americans, is also to show how truly neutral Americans are. We aren’t the aggressors. We aren’t the antagonists. We have nothing to prove because we need prove nothing.
And in fact, this is what happens. In The Hunt for Red October the Soviets themselves prove American superiority.
Although this is a straightforward text, it says what it needs to say, and in doing so, states what it intended to state without complication. Even though the characters are not really people (they are more roles than anything else) and its fairly predictable, its entertaining quality attests to Clancy’s mastery of this genre of craft.
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