Not As They Seem...

In both stories the protagonists wanted to do what was right, but didn’t take the best route because there concept of “right“ was distorted. In “The Kidnapper Bell” the main character felt as if he had to cover up killings that he didn’t commit, and sneak around while trying to search for a missing person. For whatever reason he appeared to be indebted to the missing girls dead sister. Why didn't he do the smart thing and go to the police so that he wouldn’t look like a suspect? He never tells the police about the two dead by the river because that meant he would somehow be responsible. He reaches his own verdict, that he must find her sister and then he is free to go on about his life. Instead he continues on with his investigation. He has a guilty conscious and wants to be free of that guilt.

In “City of Commerce” the main character believes that even after he has been through much trouble and almost dies he still can somehow redeem himself and win the love of his wife by continuing on in his shenanigans. He suffers from a gambling problem and we see that his wife does not want him to go, but he goes anyway. After escaping he heads back out to another casino to feed his gambling appetite with the notion that this will satisfy his wife. These men have their blinders on and go about things the way they see it as being right. They don’t seem to see things from the outside looking in. While they think everything they are doing is to help others these men are obviously self absorbed. Both of these men hide behine the mask of their circumstances to justify who they really are.