Posted by johnny five on February 25, 1999 at 04:37:15:
Tony Hillerman is a great mystery writer in New Mexico who writes
about a Navajo 'Sherlock Holmes' character called Lt. Joe Leaphorn.
Leaphorn solves murder mysteries by understanding the spiritual traditions
of his people and through an intimate, tactile grasp of the details
of the desert environment where he lives.
Some general points: Both Tony and his character Leaphorn are 1's.
The 1 is a perfectionist/judge chiefly concerned with perfection and
avoidance of anger - angry virtue or rigid self-righteousness. Ones
turn anger inward and expression of anger is a huge issue for them.
They will censor their anger and express it indirectly through criticism
and dissatisfaction toward self and others. Their center of intelligence
is the gut, ie, fundamentally instinctual thinkers.
Ones focus attention on what is right or wrong in any situation, and they
are always concerned to be 'good' to stay out of trouble. They have
high standards and principles and think there is one correct way. They
try to control their environments with obsessive compulsive orderliness.
They have a strong internal critic with lots of shoulds and musts that
are critical of self and others. They always think they know how it
should be and how it should be done. Constantly moving toward perfection
they are often not in touch with feelings, including anger which is then
expressed as irritation, resentment, indignation and guilt. Ones are
seldom satisfied with themselves and experience few options or lighthearted
fun. They often procrastinate for fear of making a mistake; taking
a chance is difficult because of their need to be perfect, to avoid
imperfection at all costs.
The above description of the 1 is lifted almost whole cloth from
"The Enneagram and NLP" by Anne Linden and Murray Spalding, so there
should be relatively little dissension about the definition of the one
provided here.
In Tony's many novels about him, Joe Leaphorn is often portrayed
at his desk struggling to clear his endless police paperwork and
is very obsessive/compulsive about it. Tony often describes Joe
even getting the pens and paperclips on his desk placed just so with
all the papers filed in exactly the right spots. Joe is always forcing
his sidekick to describe crime scenes in endless, frustrating detail.
He also forces the sidekick, Jim Chee, to fill out endless reports
detailing every possible detail about where he is going and what he'll
do on the investigation. Tony even has Jim Chee's life be saved by
Leaphorn in a book called "Skinwalkers" due to the fact that, for once,
Chee actually filled out the reports right and Leaphorn knows where
to find him on the vast Navajo reservation during a dark, stormy night
when he discovers that Chee is being stalked by a villain.
Well, this is all the time I have right now, but if there is any
interest from other Tony fans out there I'll be happy to discuss him
further. If you read the first ten pages of "Dance Hall of the Dead"
I suggest that you will find plenty of evidence right there on the page
for my contention that Tony and Joe Leaphorn are Ones.