Analysis Of Double Indemnity By James M. Cain

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Few genres have such a distinctive look and feel as noir fiction. Some of its features include - seedy urban underbellies, trench-coat-clad private investigators, cigarettes, femme fatales, nihilistic emptiness, loveless sex and unhappy endings. The characters of noir fiction are incredibly unpleasant and so is the overall tone of the genre, yet the genre is undeniably compelling and has an allure like no other genre ever will. ‘Double Indemnity’ by James M. Cain is a prime example of noir fiction at its finest. It certainly consists of all the noir conventions - Walter Huff plays the role of the conflicted anti hero and Phyllis Nirdlinger is the deadly femme fatale who uses her sexuality to manipulate the protagonist. The ending is unhappy as both Walter and Phyllis end up committing suicide after attempting in vain to kill each other first. …show more content…

Nirdlinger and she did not even spare children in her greed for property. Fred Johnson, editor for Standout Books says that -“The great thing about noir is that you’re challenged as a writer to craft characters who are irredeemably unpleasant and yet also compelling – characters who the reader is simultaneously repelled by and drawn toward. If you can make a reader root for your troubled, violent, and cynical protagonist despite themselves, then you’ve succeeded as a noir writer.” Phyllis Nirldlinger is by no means the protagonist but the plot certainly revolves around her. The most important thing to understand about Double Indemnity is Phyllis’ character which was brilliant and so relevant and necessary at the time. Post war America was struggling with the addition of so many women to the labor force. Men coming back from war were entering a societal structure much different from the one they left at the beginning of the war. Women were experiencing a newfound independency and liberation and were

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