The plot of The Hunt for Red October may focus on the attempt of a Soviet submarine captain and his officers to defect to the United States, but the reasons for the defection are social, not military. The motivations of characters and their interactions with each other are founded in Clancy's perceptions of Soviet and American societies. Marko Ramius, captain of the Russian submarine Red October, is a carefully drawn character. He is Lithuanian and the son of a powerful Communist Party leader.

Much of his rise to his role as the Soviet Union's premier expert on submarine warfare has been based on his father's influence. Far from being grateful to his father and the Party, Ramius is troubled and angry. He is tormented by the memory of the time he told his father of the dissenting views of a schoolmate's father and of how that unfortunate man...