The Wire Characters - What They Want and Their Code

Avon Barksdale's principal concern is manhood - his conception on manhood and the preservation of it. In a way, Avon is a throwback - conservative even - about a man's role on the street. A man sticks by his family, his name, his property, and his friends. There are a few moments in the show when Avon says so explicitly - the first in season 1 on the basketball court when he pleads with the ref who cowers in fear, "Come on - you're the ref, man. Be a man." Later, when Cutty quits the game, Slim Charles says, "He was a man in his time," to which Avon quickly retorts, "He still a man. He a man today." While Stringer and Prop Joe are concerned with the business during the Marlo-Barksdale war, Avon literally can't hear them...he's only concerned with taking back what's his - his corners - from Marlo. Marlo has stepped up to question Avon's manhood - in Avon's eyes - and Avon will never, ever back down from it. Prop Joe says as much, "You ever known Avon to back down from anything?"

Stringer is concerned with business. Making money. Mastering the game and using his head. When he's reached the top of the drug game, his attention goes elsewhere to maximizing the profit in the drug trade and to getting into real estate, copy shops, and other legitimate businesses. When Avon questions Stringer's manhood, he doesn't flinch...he even mocks Avon, "because I use my head rather than going shooting up corners." No, what stings Stringer the most is when he gets outsmarted, when Clay Davis cons him and when Avon calls him out "Maybe you not hard enough for this game and not smart enough for theirs."

McNulty, like Stringer, is a man of the mind. But unlike Stringer, his passion is for outsmarting everyone - not just crooks, but his bosses, other police, women, everyone. McNulty's insatiable appetite is for proving himself the smartest in the room - and he'll ultimately alienate everyone in the process. His comeuppance is with Teri D'Agostino who "looks right through me, like I'm playing a game with penny ante stakes."

In contrast, there is Chris Partlow, Marlo's lead muscle. His concern is proficiency in his craft - killing folks. His greatest pleasure is teaching young Michael in season 4 how to shoot for below the vest and in the head, and when he discovers Avon waiting for Marlo in his pussy trap plan, and drives by blasting the shotgun. The man is motivated by his own precision.

Similarly motivated is Detective Lester Freeman. Spending his downtime creating miniature furniture, Lester too is motivated by his craft - police work. When he is hamstrung by the bosses, as he has been most of his career, he turns to other crafts to occupy his time.

To be continued.