Perspective

As the book begins, Thomas already has been a drug trafficker for a number of years. He is clearly proud of his ability to stay calm under the threat of being detected and he has a high opinion of his smuggling skills. He also regards himself as unusually personable and likeable. He displays no sense of shame or even of ambivalence about activities that certainly have done damage to others. This is the perspective of someone with the tendencies of a sociopath, a man with an impaired conscience. Such an unusual viewpoint is made even more interesting by Rusty's transcription of the story that Thomas tells of his life at San Pedro. No doubt, Rusty made changes to transcript, such as paraphrasing or omitting parts of it, and making structural adjustments to improve continuity, which means the story of Thomas was filtered through Rusty's sensibility. Rusty studied law...