Uneasy Street Roy Dillion Character Analysis

"Uneasy Street"
" You don’t get out of things like this – you are carried out!"

Picture a world shrouded in deception. A world where men and women are physically attractive but morally corrupted underneath. Where money is easily found and easily lost, and in this world, anyone who worked for a living was considered to be a fool. That is the world of Jim Thompson's novel The Grifters. The novel's plot revolves around the three main characters, Roy Dillion, his mother Lilly Dillion and his lover Moira Langtry, however, the plot is not the most important aspect of the novel. Instead, the novel focuses on the characteristics of the grifter's world – dirty and hollow while being addictive and alluring at the same time.
Throughout the novel, the three characters are involved in numerous forms of cons which profit them. While Roy remains loyal to the short cons gimmick, Lilly and Moira are masters of the long con. Near the end of the novel, Roy tries to redeem himself by trying to turn over a near leaf. However, after years stealing other people's hard earned money, redemption for someone like Roy is impossible.
As a child, Roy Dillion had a lot of prospects to grow up to be a successful individual. Not only was Roy performing academically well in

school, he was also street-smart. In school, Roy was a smart and well-behaved student who would rather spend his time hustling for money than to be profitlessly detained after school. (Thompson 11) After turning 18, due to his pride, Roy turned down Lilly's offer to put him through a good college and set out to make it on his own. He would soon learn that in the "real" world, it was much harder to survive on his own. On his best week as a salesman, he would only get $125. (37) Wanting to prove that he was not a failure to himself and especially to Lilly, Roy picked up grifting where he was able to earn as much money in a few hours as a "fool" would make in a week. (38) From then onwards, Roy lived a double life; one where he worked as a salesman and the other as a grifter. As Frank W Abagnale once mentioned, “A man’s alter ego is nothing more than his favorite image of himself. (Abagnale 1) Therefore, knowing that Roy threw a prospective future down the drain because of his pride makes his character unforgivable.
Roy Dillion was also a con man who did not care about who his victims were.

As Mintz, Roy's mentor, mentions in the novel, "There was little glory whipping a fool – hell, fools were made to be whipped. But to take on a professional, even if cost you in the long run, ah, that was something to polish your pride. (40) While on the train to San Diego, Roy deceived a group of servicemen by making them trust him and then going on to take their hard-earned money. (138) Roy did not care that the men he is stealing from risked their lives to protect the country. All he cared for was that he was grift. Roy’s lack of conscious and manipulative nature poorly reflects on his personality showcasing a man who does not deserve

redemption.
Roy tries to seek redemption at the end of the novel by trying to go straight. He was offered a promotion to become a sales manager in the company that he worked for. The position promised a high salary and a lot of perks. (118) Before he accepted the offer, he went back into the office and contributed an entire day of work to help improve the company’s system. (176) However, ever since he was young, Roy had made a conscious decision to lead a life of a con man even though he was aware of the consequences that follow. Even until his last breath, Roy Dillion showed no signs of remorse for the crimes he committed. For all these reasons, the redemption that Roy wished for is not possible due to the nature of his deception.