The Wasp, 1913 · page 33 of 364
The Wasp — 1913 — page 33: what you’re looking at
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This passage satirizes Caribbean piracy and crime as organized, legitimate "business enterprises." The narrator describes notorious criminals—Major Deck (formerly a Barbados planter), Duval (a "polite" Canadian), and Hellfire Hicks (ex-shopkeeper)—as if they were respectable merchants operating with secretaries, treasurers, and agents. The satire's point: these criminals have professionalized their operations so thoroughly they're indistinguishable from honest commerce. The joke deepens when blaming Major Deck's wife for "driving him to" piracy through her tantrums—mocking how society romanticizes or excuses criminality while deflecting responsibility onto women. The speaker's casual tone and personal connection (mentioning Deck's wife is his cousin) underscores how normalized these criminal operations apparently were in certain social circles, making the satire social commentary on complicity and moral corruption.
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32 THE WASP to describe its entertainments. James lost a little money at play—he would have lost a great deal but for his menacing eye—and heard many strange stories. He heard anecdotes of the pirates, priva- teers, and other doubtful characters of that time and those seas—of Major Deck, who had been a re- spectable planter in Barbados twelve months. ago; of Duval, who was a Canadian gentleman and very polite in his methods of taking life and property; of Hellfire Hicks, who had once been a shopkeeper in one of the islands. James was interested, and asked many questions. > said one of the “Tt’s the way to make money,’ company. “It’s a profession and a science. It calls for brains and courage. They all have their agents everywhere. Hicks keeps his books like any hon- est merchant, I’ve been told. Major Deck runs his business as a company, with a secretary, a treasurer, and goodness only knows what else. His wife drove him to it, they say, with her tantrums and her flir- tations—and a fine, high-headed, swishing creature she is, too! A cousin of my own, bythe way. Du- Comichooks.com