Our Man in Havana

“He looked quickly over his shoulder as though somebody were hunting him and then at his watch again.”

Wormold’s gesture while drinking with Dr. Hasselbacher at the Wonder Bar foreshadows the dangerous mission he will later undergo and conveys his punctuality and reliability.

“He thought sadly, But I am a stranger. He was unable to follow her into her strange world of candles and lace and holy water and genuflections.”

Wormold, an atheist, feels that his daughter Milly’s Catholic faith is a barrier between them. His feeling of isolation from his daughter compounds his sense of isolation generally. Other examples include his separation from his estranged wife and his status as an outsider in Havana society.

“You should dream more, Mr. Wormold. Reality in our century is not something to be faced.”

Dr. Hasselbacher tells Wormold that he should worry less about his job and about people, because they are ephemeral. Instead, he should pursue a dream, whether it will ever come true or not—like the experiment Hasselbacher is conducting. The quote conveys the anxiety of the Cold War era, when many people feared nuclear annihilation. It also prefigures Wormold’s “dreaming up” stories to report to the Secret Service, an action that will get both him and Hasselbacher in serious trouble.