Did anyone aid and abet Joseph Lambert in his crimes?
SIMENON SIMENON “LES
COMPLICES” DEUXIEME PARTIE
Est-ce que quiconque a
aidé et encouragé Joseph Lambert dans ses crimes ?
SIMENON SIMENON. "I COMPLICI" SECONDA PARTE
Qualcuno ha aiutato e incoraggiato Joseph Lambert nei suoi crimini?
In The Accomplices, no one
truly qualifies as “a person who aids another in the accomplishment of an
action.” That is, there is no accomplice to the protagonist―with the possible exception
of one individual whose actions underscore the lack of ‘aid’ from others and do
‘aid’ Joseph Lambert in a peculiar way.
So, having already labeled Edmonde a non-accomplice, I here submit the
others who make Joseph feel “as if
everything was directed against him, as if already an enemy clan was forming.”
His wife Nicole essentially drives
him away. Indeed, in the “gap created by insensitivity,” it is clear “nothing
existed between them.” Although they talk, they do not communicate. She rejects
him from her bed. Her three sisters are her life. In fact, Nicole “hadn’t
become a Lambert wife; she remained a Fabre daughter.”
His brother Marcel is one of Joseph’s biggest
fears because he will both “know” and “denounce” him. So, in Joseph’s response
to Marcel’s inevitable confrontation, in which he “had never lied so well in
his life,” he finds that “a lie had never cost him so much” because Marcel
tells him “it would be better if he not come around at all.”
His maid Angèle is no help to him, either. An
obstructionist in Joseph’s life, she considers him “a monster.” Worrying about
her “hidden agenda,” he evades her.
The townsfolk are all familiar with Joseph and his
fateful car. Fully expecting exposure, he anticipates that “no one would examine the case
with equity.” A
bartender expresses it best: if the car’s driver were thrown to the crowd, “there wouldn’t be a piece
of him left after ten minutes.” Joseph believes everyone recognizes that he “walked, behaved,
talked, and looked at people like a guilty person.” His daily contacts, his bridge partners and
fellow workers, make him “a sort of exile.” The insurance agent, private detective, and
policeman are “only
waiting for an appropriate time to arrest him.”
But the person the most haunting of all is “the
man with the goats.” Driving past him in flight from the accident scene, Joseph
has “the intuition the danger would come from that man.” When the man walks by
him after church, Joseph is sure “his intuition on the first day had not misled
him.” When he spots the man leaning against a tree, Joseph sees “jubilation in
his eyes.” When they simply exchange glances, the man’s look “expresses a
diabolical joy.” In short, he terrorizes Joseph.
Given that none of the above ‘aid’ Joseph
Lambert in any way, consider at last the exception that proves the rule, Joseph’s
sole accomplice: Léa, his sometime mistress. She is someone he relaxes with and
talks to, someone who does not disapprove or criticize. She is such a good, nonjudgmental
listener that Joseph pays her “a magnificent compliment,” calling her “a good
girl” and finally “a sister.” Léa’s helpfulness stimulates Joseph’s odd
conception that he can achieve lasting psychological relief in an even better, more
sustained “new universe” with Edmonde. His only hope, it is, ironically, the
last one for this man with the “bitter aftertaste of a bad conscience.”
