To Have And Have Not

Frankie, an old friend of Harry’s, arranges a meeting between Harry and Mr. Sing, a rich Chinese middle-man looking to smuggle human cargo to the United States. Harry realizes the legal implications of the operation but has no other option than to agree to Mr. Sing’s request. They negotiate back and forth on an acceptable price, with Harry finally agreeing to $1200—$200 up front and the other $1000 when the men are loaded on his boat.

Frankie reveals to Harry that shipping Chinese men is “plenty big business” (35) and that the men involved are often killed. Harry begins making preparations for the trip while keeping in mind the necessary secrecy and informs the shipbroker at the port that he will be traveling alone. Unfortunately for Harry, a completely intoxicated Eddy shows up at the dock and insists on helping him. Instead, Harry pays him a few dollars to go away, not wanting a “rummy”—the local term for a drunken person—on board during such a mission.

After preparing the boat, Harry returns to the café to meet the shipbroker and get his sailing papers. While he is eating lunch, Frankie walks in and hands Harry a photograph of a man with his throat cut from “ear to ear” (39) holding a sign that says “This is what we do to lenguas largas” (39), a Cuban term for “snitch.” Harry recognizes the phrase from his initial meeting with the three Cubans and realizes it is time for him to leave Cuba.

Harry launches his boat and drifts offshore of Cuba, waiting for Mr. Sing to row the human cargo out to him. After a while, he hears a noise in the cockpit and finds Eddy, who has smuggled himself aboard in the front hatch. Though Harry is angry and wants to throw him overboard, Eddy reminds him that they are both “Conchs [who] ought to stick together” (43), a colloquial term for the poor residents of Key West. Harry, who doesn’t want to tell Eddy the truth about the trip and contemplates having to kill him, prepares and loads a number of guns around the ship, leaving them in opportune places. He and Eddy drink some rum that Harry brought on board, and Harry begins to move the boat back toward shore once the sun sets. 

Harry makes Eddy nervous by running the boat with the lights out, so Harry finally tells him that they will be transporting human cargo back to Key West. He orders Eddy to lock the men in the front cargo area once they board the boat and to not “pay any attention to what happens” (47) after that. He gives Eddy permission to shoot any men who try to escape.

After a bit of time, Harry sees a small rowboat heading towards them with Mr. Sing and the six cargo passengers. As the men board the boat, Eddy pushes them into the front hatch as planned. Mr. Sing and the rowboat leave and return with the final six men. After they are summarily loaded, Mr. Sing hands the money to Harry, who instead grabs Mr. Sing’s wrist and pulls him onto the boat where he strangles him and breaks his neck. He and Eddy tie iron bars to Mr. Sing’s ankles and dump him overboard. When Eddy asks Harry why he killed the man, Harry replies “To keep from killing [the] twelve other [men]” (55), implying that Mr. Sing had paid him to kill the men instead of delivering them to America. He then turns the boat back towards Havana and drops the Chinese men back where they came from as they curse him and call him a “crook” (58). He does not correct them.

On the trip back to Key West, Harry contemplates killing Eddy to keep him from talking but finally decides that he would regret it later. After cleaning the boat deck and cargo area for blood and human smell, Harry warns Eddy that he will kill him if he ever squeals about the events of that night, but he trusts that Eddy’s habitual drunkenness will prevent anyone from believing him if he did.

Later that evening, Harry is sitting in his living room drinking whiskey and listening to the radio when Eddy knocks on the door. Marie, Harry’s wife, tells him that Eddy would like to see him, and Harry threatens to run him off. While watching Eddy and another man drunkenly stumble off down the road, Marie remarks that she “pit[ies] a rummy” (64) for their pathetic lives, and Harry mentions that Eddy was “a lucky rummy” (64), implying that Eddy barely escaped with his life.