The Figure of the Detective in Almost Blue

1054 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Women's role in literature

Analyse the figure of the detective in Almost Blue

The figure of the detective in 'Almost Blue' is represented as a victim of the inescapable realm of sexuality. Grazia's female status is shown to domineer over her professional role, and for this reason, the prominence of her character becomes undermined. A greater understanding of this process of disintegration can be realised in the examination of the loss of Grazia's professional credibility while the influence of sexual desire can be witnessed in an analysis of her interactions with her male colleagues. This interaction assists to realise the eventual surrender of Grazia's professionalism to the overpowering influence of her sexuality.

If the figure of the detective is to restore the state of peace and grace in society, this role is hindered and eventually dissolves against the backdrop of the paradox which defines the city throughout the novel. For example, in the novel, the Iguana?s constant switching of identity and the corresponding murders that occur in areas outside Bologna only make it more challenging for Grazia to connect an individual who appears at the scene of each crime. In a sense then, the deceptive illusion which the Iguana represents exposes the contradictions by which the city seems bound. For instance, to a foreigner of Bologna, the city can be characterised by its ?well defined perimeters? However, the constant reminders that are employed by the narrative (?This city is not what it seems?) only exculpate a notion of its truth that the city boundaries conceal a deeper layer of truth that could result in potentially destructive consequences: You think this city is small because you?re looking at what lies within the city walls. These consequenc...

... middle of paper ...

... when he did and happy when he was. Perhaps this goes to show that professional duty dilapidates under the forces of sexuality.

In a sense, Grazia?s role as detective encompasses the paradox by which her professionalism is bound: her female sexuality not only highlights her status but also portrays this professionalism to dilapidate under the inescapable force of sexual desire. Perhaps then, Grazia?s portrayal as an epitome of this desire hinders the significance of her professional attributes to the extent that her sexuality affects both her literal interactions with her colleagues as well as her mental thoughts. To uphold professionalism by a status of superiority surely will result in its futility and in this sense, appearance diverges greatly from reality.

Bibliography:

Carlo Lucarelli, Almost Blue (England: The Harvill Press, 2003)

Show More
Related

  • Devil In A Blue Dress Analysis

    871 Words  | 2 Pages

    While both detectives from “Chee’s Witch” and “Devil in a Blue Dress” have exceptional knowledge about their community, Easy still struggles to solve the case because of the racial tension within the white community while Chee solves the case free of racial conflict. Both stories demonstrate how racial tension and identity play an important role in a detective’s success. A contrast and comparison between the detectives in the play “devil in a blue dress” to his community is as follows. Firstly, from the novel, we can tell that both Easy and his community members view and treat the white man as different species from themselves. Easy and other members of the society are quick to point out a white man from a mile off and not only by use of the skin colour but from other intermediate factors such as the smell or dressing.

    Read More

  • Commentary of Sun and Shadow by Ray Bradbury

    1049 Words  | 3 Pages

    With assertive shouts and short tempers, the prominent character, Ricardo, is characterized as a feisty townsman, doing nothing except trying to protect his town and its members from the judgments of the western world. For example, the characterization of the “‘…quaint’” man is exemplified through the simplicity of his life and the fact that he is “‘…employed’” and is full of knowledge, not a “‘cow in the forest’” (55, 29, 32). Ricardo desperately wants to establish the notion that he is not a heartless, feebleminded man, only an indigent, simple man striving to protect his friends and family from the criticisms of callous cultures. Incessantly Ricardo attempts to make it clear to the photographer the irritation elicited by his prese...

    Read More

  • The Maltese Falcon

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Pacific coast port city of San Francisco, California provides a distinctively mysterious backdrop in Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon. Unlike many other detective stories that are anchored in well-known metropolises such as Los Angeles or New York City, Hammett opted to place the events of his text in the lesser-known, yet similarly exotic cultural confines of San Francisco. Hammett used his own intricate knowledge of the San Francisco Bay Area - coupled with details collected during a stint as a detective for the now defunct Pinkerton Agency - to craft a distinctive brand of detective fiction that thrived on such an original setting (Paul 93). By examining the setting of 1920’s San Francisco in The Maltese Falcon, it becomes apparent that one of Hammett’s literary strengths was his exceptional ability to intertwine non-fictional places with a fictional plot and characters in order to produce a logical and exceedingly believable detective mystery.

    Read More

  • Role of the City in Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue and Hoffmann’s Mademoiselle de Scudery

    4165 Words  | 9 Pages

    Professor’s comment: This student perceptively examines the role of the city as a setting and frame for detective fiction. Focusing on two early examples, Poe’s “Murders in the Rue Morgue” and Hoffmann’s “Mademoiselle de Scudery,” both set in Paris, his sophisticated essay illuminates the “cityness” or framed constraint that renders the city a backdrop conducive to murder—such as the city’s crowded, constricted nature, promoting vertical rather than outward movement and increasing hostility and the fact that so much urban life occurs at night, a reversal of the natural order and facilitating illicit activity. He compels us to look in new ways both at the city and at detective fiction.

    Read More

  • Minority Report: The Book vs the Movie

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dick presents our main character, Commissioner John Anderton, as the balding, pot-bellied founder of a revolutionary new crime detection system who's been showing his years for longer than he'd care to remember. In the short story, he has just acquired a new assistant, Ed Witwer, and fears being replaced by the younger man. In the beginning, Anderton is portrayed as slightly insecure about his job (to the point of near paranoia of being set-up), as well as his importance to society, though by the e...

    Read More

  • Theme Of Into The Beautiful North By Luis Alberto Urrea

    606 Words  | 2 Pages

    Here he presents use with some of the main characters who are Nayeli, Tacho, Vampi, Yolo, Matt, and Atomiko. The girls have been affected by the absence of the town’s men who have left the small town to seek work in the United States. The purpose in presenting us with the information of why these men have left the town is to present the fact, of why so many others in small towns like this one have left their towns, in search for work. He also provides a personal account of the everyday life of the people of Tres Camarones in a way that the reader can get a better idea of life in a small Mexican town. One of the main characters Nayeli is a dreamer, who fantasizes about living in a U.S. city and whose father that has left the town to the new world to seek work. The father was the town police man and someone who Nayeli looked up to. Nayeli and her friends take on a task to bring back seven men from the United States, for the purpose of helping to deal with the narcols that have threaten the daily life of the town’s people. But also feel that it is there duty to repopulate the town and prevent it from dying out. At this point the story takes on a different meaning and a new direction of heroism to save the town from the bad men. But the journey has many borders that the girls and one guy have to encounter in order to be successful. There are many different social and

    Read More

  • Compare The Speckled Band, The Red Headed League and Silver Blaze as Examples of Detective Fiction

    1436 Words  | 3 Pages

    The birth of classic detective fiction was originated just in the mid nineteenth century, and was producing its own genre. Classical detective fiction follows a set of rules called the ‘Ten commandments of detective fiction’. The genre is so popular it can bee seen by the number of sales in any good book stores. Many of these books have been created a long time ago and there is still a demand for these types of books. The popularity is still ongoing because it provides constant entertainment, and also the reader can also have a role of detective trying to solve the crime/case committed. Classical detective fiction has a formula, the detective story starts with a seemingly irresolvable mystery, typically a murder, features the astute, often unconventional detective, a wrongly accused suspect to whom the circumstantial evidence points, and concludes with a startling or unexpected solution to the mystery, during which the detective explains how he or she solved the mystery. Formula that includes certain elements such as, a closed location to keep the number of suspects down, red hearings spread around the stories to keep the reader entertained yet interacted.

    Read More

  • Trifling Justice

    1534 Words  | 4 Pages

    Susan Glaspell’s play, Trifles, was written in 1916, reflects the author’s concern with stereotypical concepts of gender and sex roles of that time period. As the title of the play implies, the concerns of women are often considered to be nothing more than unimportant issues that have little or no value to the true work of society, which is being performed by men. The men who are in charge of investigating the crime are unable to solve the mystery through their supposed superior knowledge. Instead, two women are able decipher evidence that the men overlook because all of the clues are entrenched in household items that are familiar mainly to women during this era. Glaspell expertly uses gender characterization, setting, a great deal of symbolism and both dramatic and verbal irony, to expose social divisions created by strict gender roles, specifically, that women were limited to the household and that their contributions went disregarded and underappreciated.

    Read More

  • Amateur City

    1629 Words  | 4 Pages

    Amateur City, a city filled with confusion and intolerable human behavior. In this detective fiction novel, Katherine Forrest demonstrates the social, sexual and power dynamic of each character which all leads to the curious homicide of Fergus Parker. In Forrest’s Amateur City there are multiple analysis regarding the characters of the “Modern Office” also including the detective Kate Delafield. Amateur City portrays a huge hierarchy of the predominant human society in which the class of race, ethnicity and gender are all divided in the image of Forrest’s characters. The social, sexual and power dynamic of the “Modern Office” provides a powerful message in Forrest’s Amateur City, which clearly magnifies the realistic and true nature of humanity. This essay will stress upon the representive of Forrest’s characters relating to the modern world.

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Cask Of Amontillado'

    519 Words  | 2 Pages

    1. What can the reader infer about Montresor’s social position and character from hints in the text? What evidence does the text provide that Montresor is an unreliable narrator? We learned from paragraph 23 to 24 that Montresor owns a Palazzo and also has lot of retainers based on that evidence, the reader can infer that Montresor is a very wealthy and successful man. About his character, the reader can imply that Montresor is a heartless, cold blooded, sneaky, manipulative, and untrustworthy man, as well as a man who hold on to grudges. Moreover, Montresor is an unreliable narrator, because he reveals in the first paragraph that he intends to have a revenge on Fortunato, but he did not indicate or clearly prove to the readers how Fortunato

    Read More

  • Conan Doyle´s The Speckled Band vs Visitor´s by Brian Moon

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    This essay will examine both "The Speckled Band" by Conan Doyle and "Visitors" by Brian Moon and will look at how each one conforms to or diverges from the conventions of the detective story and also how each story is representative of the century it was written in by how it presents the woman, the hero and the villain.

    Read More

  • Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    In traditional hard-boiled American detective fiction there are many themes that seem to transcend all novels. One of those themes is the concept of power and the role in which it plays in the interaction and development of characters. More specifically, the role of women within the novels can be scrutinized to better understand the power they hold over the other characters, their own lives and the direction of the story. Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon exemplifies the varying ways in which female characters attempt to obtain and utilize power in hopes of influencing, manipulating and succeeding.

    Read More

  • The Use of First Person Narration in The Cask of Amontillado

    840 Words  | 2 Pages

    Because Montresor narrates the story in the first person, the reader is able to perceive his thoughts and understand his motivations and justifications for his ruthless murder in a manner which a third person point of view would not allow. Montresor’s personal narration of the events of the story does not justify his crime in the audience’s eyes, but it does offer a unique opportunity for the audience to view a murder from the perspective of a madman killer. It is Poe’s usage of this unique angle that causes the story to be so captivating and gruesomely fascinating. As the story opens, Montresor explains why it is necessary that he “not only punish but punish with impunity” to avenge for Fortunado’s insult to him. This justification for his crime is a piece of information that the audience is able to learn only because they are permitted inside the mind of the protagonist. In the final scene, when Montresor is carrying out his murder pl...

    Read More

  • Andragogy Reflection: Malcom Knowles

    1240 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rachel, J.R. (2002). Andragogy’s Detectives: A critique of the Present and a Proposal for the Future. Adult Education Quarterly. 52(3). 210.

    Read More

  • Themes Of The Vendetta

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    The writer introduces a widow known as Paolo Saverini, her son Antoine Saverini, and his dog Semillante. They live in a small town called Bonifacio located in France. Paolo’s son was murdered in the town by Nicolas Ravolati, the body was then taken to the widow’s house. While grieving his death, she swore to avenge her son’s death by any means necessary. She then executes her plan by training the dog to kill her son’s murderer.

    Read More

More about The Figure of the Detective in Almost Blue

Open Document