In the novel Sixkill, Robert B. Parker uses techniques from Edgar Allen Poe. Spenser is a private investigator working on a case involving the big movie star, Jumbo Nelson, who seemingly killed Dawn Lopata. Spenser is an unusual detective possessing skills that many other detectives do not have. Not like most detectives, Spenser is an exceptionally good fighter. Spenser confronts Jumbo Nelson on the charges of him potentially killing Dawn while having sex with her. Denying to admit that he had killed Dawn, he asked his bodyguard Zebulon Sixkill, Z to throw Spenser out. Z pushes Spenser; Spenser hits him back on the right temple, knocking him down. Getting back up, Z lunged at Spenser. Spenser “put out a straight left” and followed up with “a right cross”. With Z down and Spenser says to him, “you couldn’t beat me sober.”, noticing that he was drunk. This shows that Robert B. Parker uses Poe’s techniques. Spenser possesses fighting skills that many detectives usually do not have. Being adapted to the situation, Spenser counters every punch that Z …show more content…
After Spenser had defeated Z in the fight, Jumbo Nelson fires him. Finding Z in front of his office, Spenser decides to take him in. Z asks him to “show me how” in terms of fighting. Spenser agrees with the conditions that Z will stop juicing and drinking. Throughout the story, Z follows behind Spenser while on the case. In that time Spenser with the help of Henry, a boxing coach, trains Z to his top condition. In many ways Z is the lesser Spenser. Z knows how to fight but is unskilled compared to Spenser. Z is also not as intellegent as Spenser is, answering pack with that he is still trying to “figure out why you killed all our buffalo.” This shows Poe’s technique of an assistant less intelligent than the detective. Because of Z’s intelligent, he is unable to assist Spenser on his cases, but he is able to assist him during the fights that