The Use of Money, Sex, and Secrets as Tools of Power

Horowitz incorporates examples of the way that characters in both novels use money, sex, and secrets as tools of power to manipulate other characters. Leonard is among the characters who attempt to use money to keep Algernon from revealing Leonard’s secrets. Algernon, in turn, uses the secrets that he knows about Leonard in order to blackmail him for money. Lisa forces Stefan to be her sex slave by threatening to fire him if he does not comply with her requests.

Leonard uses the power of money in an attempt to keep Algernon from sharing the secret that Leonard was having a relationship with Melissa. Samantha unintentionally makes Pünd aware that her husband is being blackmailed when she tells him that Leonard originally did not want to tell Algernon about the money she had inherited...