The Heart of the Matter

This is a powerful tale of guilt, moral corruption, and pity full of complex characters that are usually not what they seem at first. Major Scobie has just been passed over as police commissioner in an unnamed West African colony, despite being perhaps the only officer without a hint of corruption. Though Scobie himself doesn't seem to care that much about the position, his wife does. Assuming everyone in town must be talking about his failure, she wants to leave town, even though it means abandoning her husband until his retirement. Scobie pities her and comes up with the money for her travel, even though it means borrowing from a smuggler.

That decision leads Scobie on a path of destruction, with that one moral compromise leading to extortion, infidelity, and the death of loved ones. Scobie bases most of his decisions on a sense of duty to someone else, or a pity for them, but doesn't seem to love anyone, including himself. He fears God, but ends up defying Him again and again, refusing to repent because he doesn't want to hurt his mistress. It is a story of failure, Scobie's failed marriage, his inability to break off his affair, his unwillingness to turn from his sins.

It's not my favorite Graham Greene novel; I prefer “The End of the Affair” and “The Power and the Glory,” but it's still a phenomenal story.