Tom Clancy's The Hunt For Red October

In The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy portrays the character of Marko Ramius as one of the story’s two protagonists, with the other protagonist being the main character of Clancy’s series, Jack Ryan. This is not the last time Clancy ends up using this concept in his books. Later on in Red Rabbit (in terms of the storyline, Red Rabbit comes before The Hunt for Red October, but the latter was in fact written before Red Rabbit), he had Oleg Ivanovich Zaitzev fill the role of the second protagonist; hence, Ramius, Zaitzev, and their stories have many things in common. The characters themselves show remarkable similarities for men of such different backgrounds. Obviously, one must take into consideration their decision to defect; both stories’ …show more content…
His latter-day counterpart, Ramius, becomes very dissatisfied with the Soviet government, politics, and policy, for he has seen its inefficiency; his own beloved wife died as a result of the incompetence and insobriety of a supposedly top-notch government provided doctor. Ultimately death, whether it was one that had already occurred or one that was imminent, pushed these men over the edge. Whatever the cause, these men are certainly two people whose defections are something the Soviets would not take a liking to. For example, Oleg Zaitzev was a communications clerk in the KGB; thus, he sees all manner of orders, information, and intelligence that the KGB gives and receives. On the other hand, Marko Ramius is perhaps the top submarine commander in the Soviet Navy; it has been a long time since anyone outfoxed him in the business. Consequently, Marko’s knowledge of Soviet submarine technology and tactics plus Oleg’s familiarity with KGB communications are things the CIA would very nearly kill for. Conversely, they are also things that the Soviets would kill to stop, in the case that Ramius or Zaitzev …show more content…
knows of Oleg’s plan to defect, and the U.K. stages the operation to get him out. In the case of The Hunt for Red October, the opposite is true; currently America and her allies do not know that Ramius and Red October want to defect, but the Soviets do. Although only one party in each scenario knows of the character’s desire to switch allegiance, the fact that it is the Soviets in The Hunt for Red October means Ramius, who the Soviets are pursuing, has it far worse than Zaitzev did, who the Americans and British were helping. Of course, the importance and value of Ramius and Zaitzev in their respective fields warrant a sizable operation, whether one wants to help or hinder them. The British, with American help, use multiple high ranking field officers (including the Chief of Station in Budapest) to get Oleg to the West via Hungary. Moreover, in the process, they risk burning (a.k.a. blowing the cover of) those top level agents, which could cripple the British intelligence gathering operation in the country. On the other side, with foes rather than friends going after him, Ramius must contend with one of the largest and most modern navies in the