Graham Greene presents the themes and concerns in The Captain and the Enemy through his characters, and as so often in his novels, Greene displays his ability to make characters seem real and believable even while they are being used to develop his themes.

Greene's ability is even more astonishing when the reader considers how enigmatic his three main characters are, and just how improbable their situation is: the Captain wins Jim from his real father, generally referred to in the novel as "the Devil," in either a backgammon game or chess match (one man is obviously lying); he takes the boy from his "public" (English private) school and gives him to Liza, who cannot bear children because of a botched abortion "the Devil" forced upon her when she was carrying his baby. In a symbolic way, Jim is Liza's dead child restored to her. The Captain, however...