A Study of the Themes of Friendship And Betrayal in Iain Bank’s “Complicity”

A Study of the Themes of Friendship Duncan MacInnes

And Betrayal in Iain Bank’s “Complicity”

In this essay I will analyse the themes of friendship and betrayal in the book, explaining the ways they change the reader’s perceptions of the characters. I will also look at how they influence the decisions made by the main characters. When I follow the theme of friendship, I will do it through the relationships between the three main characters, Cameron, Andy and McDunn. I will show the themes are present in the various ways and times that these characters double cross each other.

“Complicity” is a story about an amoral journalist, Cameron, who is on the tail of a huge story. He has a mole who is informing him about his article. At the same time the police are investigating a series of murders for which Cameron has no alibi, but a possible link to the crimes. Because of this he was accused of the killings. He sets about finding out the identity of the real killer. Who turns out to be his trusted childhood friend, Andy. A chase ensues and Andy captures Cameron and their friendship decided the outcome. When left with an ultimatum of “hand me over or turn me loose” Cameron could not betray his friend.

The structure of the book is very important to the understanding of the various themes and the author has an interesting way of breaking up the story. The murder scenes are described in a way that is realistic due to the coarse nature of the language, for example, the use of gratuitous expletives in the dialogue. “You fucking little cunt!”. This language could be heard on the streets of Edinburgh whereas if the book was written in the Queens English, it would be almost surreal because people do not naturally talk like that. The book is graphic in its description: scenes and locations are described using words which are colloquial, this shows the author’s Scottish heritage. Onomatopoeic adjectives, such as. “ You raise the log, bringing it down again and again”. Are used to provide s clearer image in the readers mind. This style startles the reader at first, but is gripping once one has adjusted to it. Another interesting structural abnormality is that the murder scenes are all described in the second person. “You raise the log, bringing it down again and again.” Iain Banks did this so that it is very hard to identify the killer, Andy or Cameron. This second person description made me think who is “you” and confused me. This contributes to the general paranoia throughout the book. The author creates this paranoia as it emphasises the idea of complicity, being an accomplice, and shows that Cameron doesn’t really understand how or why he is involved. Scenes from Cameron’s childhood are re-played intermittently, in flashback form. This again shows the confused nature of the book. The reflecting that Cameron does shows he is lost and bewildered in the events surrounding him. This is used to contrast the theme of friendship at the early stages in his life and later on. He has a great friend in the flashbacks but in the present day he has something closer to an enemy.

This is a preview of the whole essay

The theme of betrayal is rife from start to finish. This is shown in the examples I will focus upon. Starting with the flashbacks to when Cameron was very young. He and Andy went, despite parental warnings, onto a local frozen loch. With all the tomfoolery Andy cracked the ice and fell through. When Andy could not lever himself out and was calling for his assistance. Cameron didn’t want to risk his own life. He then risked Andy’s by running the half-mile to the village to fetch help. This was early in their friendship and the betrayal was too great to forgive: Andy on occasion reminisced bitterly later on in the book. Cameron also thinks back on his cowardice and it is quite obvious that this experience changed both of their outlooks on life. This relates to my point because it was the incidents like this that exposed the frailties in Cameron and Andy’s relationship. There is Cameron letting Andy down when he needed help most but adversely, Andy, by never forgiving Cameron is not being a true friend. There is always an element of failure about the relationship, neither can rely absolutely upon the other.

A second time during childhood, also shown in flashback by the author, the boys found themselves in trouble. When playing on land owned by Andy’s parents they were discussing sex and out of curiosity on Cameron’s part and a bit of misleading on Andy’s they ended up having their first homosexual experience: Andy tricked Cameron into fondling him. This incident which goes beyond friendship led me to consider their innocence - how easily the boys got the boundaries confused and the naivity with which they entered into these actions. This shows Andy’s betrayal of Cameron by manipulating him in a sexual manner. This affects their friendship, but it seems to bring them closer together.

An example of their innocence was shown when, just before the groping incident Cameron asks “Have you got hair on yours then?” talking about Andy’s genitalia. Then afterwards when they are going home the boys meet a man. This man then hits and rapes Andy. Cameron starts to run in fear for his own safety. Whilst running away he realises that he could never forgive himself for betraying his friend twice. He turns back and picking up a branch hits the man, who dies. The boys decided that no-one needed to know about any of that days goings on. This shows the strength of their early friendship as they could keep a secret, contrasting with how it later falls apart. This secret was kept as a symbol of their friendship until Cameron was arrested. When he realised it was Andy who had set him up he told the police: breaking the ultimate bond of their friendship.

“ Perhaps this act of treachery would buy my freedom from the burden of buried horror that bound me to Andy for 20 years”

This shows the disintegration of their friendship, because of the betrayal by telling the police. I think that this was a very important part in the novel. It made me think, now one of the ties that made their friendship unique is broken, their relationship becomes so much more volatile.

Andy has a problem forgiving people. He never forgives Cameron for leaving him on the loch, despite the fact that he was young and didn’t know any better. He becomes very angry when his sister dies, he swears revenge upon those who harmed her. When he uses Cameron sexually that is okay, but when he is raped by the man, he shows no remorse in killing him. Throughout the book Andy was killing people and leaving his “best friend”, Cameron with little evidence to prove his innocence. When Cameron asked Andy if he thought the informant was a hoaxer, he was re-assured. All the time Andy was the informant and had a grand plan to have Cameron blamed. This shows a role reversal since childhood. When they were younger Cameron betrayed Andy, now it is Andy who betrays Cameron, pretending to be his friend whilst framing him for murder. This shows the theme of betrayal because Andy is not forgiving him for actions long in the past. This shows he is not being a good friend, they would forgive and forget, not let guilt hang over someone they cared about like the Sword of Damocles’.

When Andy talked about the affluent men he killed he did so with venom.

“ They treated people like shit it was like they’d forgotten their humanity.”

He felt they had betrayed those who were less fortunate than themselves. His technique often involves betraying his victims. When killing the dealer of “snuff films” (videos of real people being brutally killed) he masquerades as a fellow producer to gain entrance into his home. He is betraying the trust of his victims, they presume his intentions are “good”. He is betraying society, killing these people is making the world unsafe and uncivilised by letting crime override the law. In effect he is making society an easier place for criminal activities to flourish.

When being questioned by the police about the murders Cameron develops a friendship with one of the policemen - Inspector McDunn. This friendship is ironic because McDunn is interrogating Cameron about the murders and its his job to prove Cameron guilty. Originally McDunn thought Cameron was guilty but as the story unfurls he has his doubts. The problem is that there is no evidence against anyone else. Eventually Cameron suspects Andy. Cameron allies himself with the police to find the now psychotic and dangerous Andy. The betrayal theme is ironic because Cameron is now trying to prove Andy guilty to save his own neck. In normal circumstances one would expect that Cameron and Andy would rally round to provide an alibi so that the “enemy” McDunn could hurt neither. Here the friends are McDunn and Cameron.

McDunn shows the characteristics of a good friend towards Cameron providing support for him when he breaks down, giving him cigarettes and trusting him when no-one else will give him the time of day. It is difficult though to tell if McDunn did this because he genuinely felt for Cameron or because he thought it would speed up the process of finding the guilty party and was betraying Cameron’s trust.

“ I look at McDunn, The one friendly face in here.”

This shows that McDunn likes and trusts him. Cameron needs this support to prove his innocence. This relates back to the title of the essay because it shows an interesting twist in the development of the themes of friendship and betrayal. It also shows that the friendship McDunn offers Cameron could be false. He could be pretending so that he may gain information for his case. This when considered by the reader forces them to come to a conclusion as to whether McDunn has good intentions or not.

When Iain Bank’s created the story and characters I think he did it to make a point about the modern world He shows by the actions of the characters that he despises the idea of the ostentatious Thactcherite eighties. Their avaricious actions make the reader dislike them and so make Bank’s point. The book is a well crafted story but is also used as a vessel for Iain Bank’s political statements and it is because of this that it is immensely enjoyable.