Our Man in Havana

Observing Milly’s behavior, Wormold reflects that she seems half of the time to be accompanied by an invisible duenna—a Spanish term for an older woman who acts as an escort or chaperone for a young lady. These are the times when Milly behaves in a sedate, pious and proper manner. Other times the duenna seems to be taking a day off; these are the times that Milly acts mischievously. Wormold recalls times that she set fire to a schoolmate and smoked cheroots (a type of cigar). The duenna image neatly illustrates the duality of Milly’s character.

Shortly after receiving his spy job, Wormold remembers a clown that he and Milly saw at a circus. The clown, he reflects, illustrates the way we should live, because he remains happy and innocent of progress and scientific discovery, which lead to evils like the atomic bomb. Wormold tells his daughter: “We should all be clowns, Milly. Don’t ever learn from experience […] It ruins our peace and our lives” (28). In a sense, Wormold fulfills this idea as, instead of taking his spy duties seriously, he writes what are essentially comic tales for the Secret Service. The clown image returns late in the novel, as Wormold prepares to shoot Carter. Carter calls him “you clown,” and Greene comments, “how right Carter was” (210). Unlike Carter, Wormold is innocent of the act of murder and of the desire to manipulate and destroy.

Wormold’s games of checkers with Captain Segura play an important role in the plot, allowing Wormold to take Segura’s gun and his list of enemy agents. The game of checkers symbolizes the craftiness that Wormold needs to survive in the in the heated political atmosphere of Cuba. In particular, the game symbolizes the fact that Wormold and Segura are trying to outwit each other; as Segura tells Wormold, “[I]n checkers you must move very carefully” (141). It also symbolizes the fact that the human beings in Our Man in Havana are being moved like checkers pieces in a global political game.