Walter Neff is a weak-willed person who lacks courage to make moral decisions. His lack of strong will is demonstrated in the beginning of the movie when he soon discovers that Phyllis wants to kill her own husband. He at first tells her that he would never help her do such a thing, but once he leaves her house he is unable to stop thinking about her. When she arrives at his apartment, he loses his sense of morality and tells her that he will help kill her husband. Not only was he weak-willed in regards to Phyllis, he also shows his weakness through his irrepressible guilt. After killing Phyllis’ husband, he begins to record his own confession in his office. He seems to do the actual crime with ease and perfection, but once he has done it he is unable to maintain his facade of innocence. As shown by the end of the play when he confesses to Keyes, he would rather die than go to trial and be convicted of murder. Furthermore, he is too weak to protect Lola. In the end, even though he knows that Nino beat Lola, he tells Nino how to get in contact with her. He likely does this to increase the time that he has to either die from his shoulder gunshot wound or go to Mexico before it is discovered that he killed Phyllis and her husband. He would rather save himself than protect a young woman whose father and stepmother he killed.
His intelligence in business actions contrasts with his lack of resolve or social intelligence. He realizes quickly that Phyllis wants to kill her husband in order to get his insurance, showing Neff’s expertise in the insurance field. He also strategizes a plan to kill Phyllis’ husband in order to allow her to get $100,000 instead of just $50,000 by relying on double indemnity. In his social interactions, he is less intelligent. He does not understand from the beginning that Phyllis is manipulating Neff for her own gains, even though evidence of her past actions show that she is a murderous woman who lacks the ability to truly care about another person. Her step-daugther, Lola, describes Phyllis in such a way, telling Neff that she believes Phyllis killed her mother in order to marry rich Mr. Dietrichson. Neff is unable to understand Phyllis’ true nature even when Lola describes her in frank terms.
Neff’s relationships with women demonstrate his reliance on women for self-confidence. He is very attracted to Phyllis from the start and cannot stop thinking about her, resulting her complete manipulation of him. Although he did not want to from the beginning, he agrees to kill her husband in return for her love and money. Her dependence on him makes him feel like he is properly filling his masculine role in the relationship. He even strategizes the entire plan so that she hardly has to do anything. Not only is he manipulated by Phyllis, but he also depends on Lola for feelings of self-worth. After Keyes begins to believe the possibility that Phyllis’ husband was murdered by his wife and someone else, being with Lola helps Neff relax. Lola is innocent and naive, and she also completely trusts Neff, making him feel like a more worthy person. Ultimately, Neff is easily manipulated by women because he depends on them to feel like a valuable man.
This post was really nice to read. I thought it was interesting that you described Neff as weak-willed. At first, I thought he just too arrogant for his own good, but seeing your analysis and examples helped me realize that he really was weak-willed and dependent on all the women in his life. I think you could have added an example of Lola's naivety to further show how innocent she is. Overall, this was a really awesome post!
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