Noir in "Farewell My Lovely"
The genre of Noir is a category of modern crime fiction. This French word translates to the meaning of "darkness" or "of the night" and the roots of Noir came from the Great Depression. Noir shows the dark and inhumane side of human nature with cynicism, and they emphasize the brutal, unhealthy, seamy, shadowy, dark and sadistic sides of the human experience. The pioneers of "hard boiled" detective stories are Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. The noir novel most often features an anti-hero in a situation where even in despair and defeat there can be dignity and spiritual triumph. The primary moods of the genre of noir are melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt and paranoia. The protagonists include ex-cops, convicts, blue collar workers, unorthodox private eyes, and various people of the underworld of society. Plots range from greed, lust and murder to intense psychological studies of dis!turbed personalities. The protagonists are often from the dark and gloomy underworld of violent crime and corruption. Usually the protagonists are cynical, tarnished, obsessive, brooding, menacing, sinister, sardonic, disillusioned, frig
In the short story, "The Scorched Face" by Dashiell Hammett suits the genre of Noir in myriad examples. The short story is about an Op who is trying to locate two wealthy girls. Hammett shows his views of upper social class by stating, "His name was Raymond Elwood. I would have thought him a no more distant relative of Ferris than cousin if I hadn't known that the world-especially the dancing, teaing world- was full of their sort." Hammett depicts girlish men with wealth and that they are all about the same. Also, another classic example of Noir is the short witty remarks of its characters. When Old Wallach, a wealthy coffee company owner, comes to start trouble with Pat for arresting his craze driven daughter. Pat exclaims, "You better lay off of me-or I'll stop drinking your coffee." There are numerous amounts of ambiguity among the characters, so one does not know who to suspect. For example, "... she told me she hadn't seen your daughters for a couple of weeks. H! is for. It's a couple of dead ones, and a flock of live ones...." er husband told me just now that they were talking to her when he came home from the bank last Wednesday afternoon." Indictments of greed, lust and murder to intense psychological studies of disturbed personal is found in "The Scorched Face." Hador, the devil stated by Myra, probably knows it is morally wrong to blackmail weak wealthy young females of sexual photos, but the greed of money becomes overpowering. Death, another dark characteristic of noir, which plagues Mrs. Stewart Correll, Ruth Banbrock, Elwood, Handor, and the Negroes. At the Elwood house on Telegraph Hill, Pat and
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1105
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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