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The question is, why did he choose us two for his assistants? And I answer, because he didn’t want old wives.

This was the tone of all others to affect the mind of a lad like Fettes. He agreed to imitate Macfarlane. The body of the unfortunate girl was duly dissected, and no one remarked or appeared to recognise her.

Greed for approval and status can be as seductive as greed for money and other material wealth. Fettes is able to set aside his conscience when confronted by the threat of being perceived as unmanly. Macfarlane appeals to Fettes’s desire for approval and affirmation. When he implies that any horror or disapproval Fettes shows would be evidence of being womanly, Macfarlane chooses the best method to manipulate his friend. Fettes has already shown admiration for the popular and successful Macfarlane. He is everything Fettes wants to be: a well-regarded and worldly leader among his peers. The threat of losing Macfarlane’s friendship and approval is enough to tip the scales in the favor of Fettes’s greed. He resolves to continue seeing Macfarlane as a role model and imitates him in even his most unscrupulous character traits. Because people are naturally incentivized by the satisfaction of their desires, Macfarlane chose the perfect method to manipulate Fettes.

“There was nothing to gain on the one side but disturbance, and on the other I could count on your gratitude, don’t you see?”  And he slapped his pocket till the gold pieces rang.

Fettes is transformed by his inherent greed. Not only does he get affirmation and approval from Macfarlane, but he also gets gold. Whereas Fettes was somewhat cautious in the beginning and questioned the sourcing of Jane Galbraith’s and Gray’s bodies, he embraces his greed and is changed. Instead of being horrified by the thought of people being murdered to supply Mr. K—‘s laboratory and frightened of the consequences of his complicity, Fettes is emboldened by the satisfaction of his greed. Through the transactional nature of his dealings with Macfarlane, Fettes believes the rewards of status and gold outweigh the risks to not only his life but also his soul. By the end of his dealings with Macfarlane, Fettes is actually more brash and callous than even his friend. As Fettes makes cruel and cold-blooded statements about how the deaths of Jane Galbraith and Gray are nothing to him and heartlessly celebrates his own good fortune as a participant in the business, even Macfarlane is shocked by how hardened and indifferent Fettes has become.

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