Appeals to Logos in The Gutting of Couffignol
Readers of Dashiell Hammett’s short story, The Gutting of Couffignol, are sometimes surprised
by the protagonist’s ability to make brilliant appeals to logic. In the genre of detective fiction,
there are two main branches. On the one hand, there are the so-called “Logic and Deduction”
stories; and on the other hand there are the “Hardboiled” stories. Dashiell Hammett and his
creation, the Continental Op, fall within the latter branch of hardboiled detective fiction. This
fiction is more action-packed, and a detective’s toughness is, as a rule, more important than his
brains. But Hammett’s protagonist, as we quickly see, can’t be pigeon-holed like this. He is at
the same time both “logical” and “hardboiled.” In this essay, you’re going to focus on his logic.
After you introduce this short story and the particular rhetorical situation in which the
Continental Op finds himself, I want you to analyze and critique the dazzling sequence of
appeals to logos that the Op makes at the end of the story. There are more than a dozen appeals
here, and the Op carefully explains each of them to us (and to some of the other characters in the
story). You probably won’t want to try to analyze and critique them all in your essay. But choose
the ones you think are the best – the one’s that really showcase the Op’s investigative methods
and his style of thinking.
That’s what I want you to concentrate on here as you analyze the Op’s rhetorical situation and
his strategy for prevailing in this situation: an account of the Op’s unique problem-solving
style and the way he appeals to logos.
Assignment Length: 1,000 words (minimum)
Note: You are required to cite Hammett’s short story and any additional sources of information
to which you refer in your essay. Use MLA standards for documentation – in-text, parenthetical
citation in conjunction with a Works Cited page.
short story attached at the bottom
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