-
Best of luck to the class of 2024 for their HSC exams. You got this! Let us know your thoughts on the HSC exams here -
YOU can help the next generation of students in the community! Share your trial papers and notes on our Notes & Resources page
life and crimes of harry lavender!? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter tanjap
- Start date
Hey, these are some notes that i made for myself, but they were more for the exams then for study...i hope they are a little helpful!!!!! 
The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender Marele Day
Challenges traditional beliefs in what the criminal should be; such as Marlowe, an egocentric male figure:
“There was a good looking blonde in there as well”
“Being a woman on this job is a distinct advantage”
“I wouldn’t (hopefully) be seen dead on it”
“lump of steel where the heart should be”
It also parodies some of the traditional conventions just as in The Real Inspector Hound:“I was being tailed. I must be doing something right”
“Or maybe they didn’t trust her. After all, she was a cop”
As crime fiction texts should do, it comments on the society in which the story is being told and reveals more than simply the crime story:
“Memories are short in this city and facades change all the time”
“Like choko and passionfruit vines, funeral processions have disappeared from the streets of Sydney”
“Sydney was like San Francisco in so many ways except that in Sydney the wierdos didn’t carry guns
The convention of the accretion of evidence is revealed in a number of ways, from physical:
Card: “THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF HARRY LAVENDER”
To theoretical allusions
“There were roses and carnations. And there was lavender”
to the traditional:
“What I had in mind was a bit of interrogation.” “You mean thumb screws and naked light bulbs?”-Otto
Another prominent convention is the interesting or intriguing crime. In this case it is the fact that this death should not have happened despite the coroner’s findings:
“but the eventual finding was no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death”
“So pretty and so innocent, the facade of lights covered a multitude of sins and one of those sins was murder”
Another link to the text The Big Sleep is the references to disguises that Valentine wears which is a traditional convention:
“[don] a blonde wig and dark glasses”
Finally, the value of justice is prominent in the text; moreso because of the lack of justice that occurs than the romantic tradition of all criminals being brought to justice:
“In death as in life the police allow me smooth passage”
“There was a manuscript around that exposed [Harry Lavender] and a writer who knew everything”
“I had him, had him in the palm of my hand. And he slipped away”
The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender Marele Day
Challenges traditional beliefs in what the criminal should be; such as Marlowe, an egocentric male figure:
“There was a good looking blonde in there as well”
“Being a woman on this job is a distinct advantage”
“I wouldn’t (hopefully) be seen dead on it”
“lump of steel where the heart should be”
It also parodies some of the traditional conventions just as in The Real Inspector Hound:“I was being tailed. I must be doing something right”
“Or maybe they didn’t trust her. After all, she was a cop”
As crime fiction texts should do, it comments on the society in which the story is being told and reveals more than simply the crime story:
“Memories are short in this city and facades change all the time”
“Like choko and passionfruit vines, funeral processions have disappeared from the streets of Sydney”
“Sydney was like San Francisco in so many ways except that in Sydney the wierdos didn’t carry guns
The convention of the accretion of evidence is revealed in a number of ways, from physical:
Card: “THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF HARRY LAVENDER”
To theoretical allusions
“There were roses and carnations. And there was lavender”
to the traditional:
“What I had in mind was a bit of interrogation.” “You mean thumb screws and naked light bulbs?”-Otto
Another prominent convention is the interesting or intriguing crime. In this case it is the fact that this death should not have happened despite the coroner’s findings:
“but the eventual finding was no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death”
“So pretty and so innocent, the facade of lights covered a multitude of sins and one of those sins was murder”
Another link to the text The Big Sleep is the references to disguises that Valentine wears which is a traditional convention:
“[don] a blonde wig and dark glasses”
Finally, the value of justice is prominent in the text; moreso because of the lack of justice that occurs than the romantic tradition of all criminals being brought to justice:
“In death as in life the police allow me smooth passage”
“There was a manuscript around that exposed [Harry Lavender] and a writer who knew everything”
“I had him, had him in the palm of my hand. And he slipped away”
I was looking for the same stuff!!!! How ironic?! Anywayz here is a review of the book that i found::: send u any info as i find. Hope it helps (lol)
Claudia Valentines Private Eye business is in a slack period when she receives a call from an old school friend Marilyn Edwards. Claudia learns that Marilyns brother, Mark Bannister, was found dead at his computer console supposedly of a cardiac arrest. Marilyn doesnt believe the official Police line of death by natural causes and when Claudia starts to dig, neither does she. The death is complicated; Mark had a pacemaker, and heroin was found in his bloodstream. He was also writing a book; commissioned by an unknown client to write the best-seller of the century. The manuscript and his disks are missing, and the hardrive on the computer has been wiped.
Marks girlfriend Sally Villos is the daughter of his heart surgeon and a spoiled brat. She blames the drugs for Marks death and tries to hide evidence of drug paraphernalia when she finds the body. Claudia chips away at her story to find out what really happened but things get complicated with the involvement of Sydney crime pin Harry Lavender. Claudia finds her own life in danger as she is not the only one looking for the manuscript. The other searcher is not so nice and another couple of bodies turn up later in the book. Claudia finally ties all the suspects and clues together in a tight ending.
Marele Day has written a gritty hardboiled Australian novel somewhat in the style of Sara Paretsky. Claudia is a female version of the old-style PI with ash trays full of butts, empty bottles of Jack Daniels, a blonde in the bed, and another couple to ogle throughout the story. What sets Claudia apart is that she does not carry a gun but relies on high-powered karate kicks and running fast. Day choose her setting of Bondi Beach in Sydney well as it almost becomes a character in itself. The seedy underbelly of the area almost oozes through the pages. The pace is fast and exciting, and the dialogue witty with a twist of sarcasm. The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender is the first in a series of books featuring hardened PI Claudia Valentine and I intend to look up the rest of them.
Claudia Valentines Private Eye business is in a slack period when she receives a call from an old school friend Marilyn Edwards. Claudia learns that Marilyns brother, Mark Bannister, was found dead at his computer console supposedly of a cardiac arrest. Marilyn doesnt believe the official Police line of death by natural causes and when Claudia starts to dig, neither does she. The death is complicated; Mark had a pacemaker, and heroin was found in his bloodstream. He was also writing a book; commissioned by an unknown client to write the best-seller of the century. The manuscript and his disks are missing, and the hardrive on the computer has been wiped.
Marks girlfriend Sally Villos is the daughter of his heart surgeon and a spoiled brat. She blames the drugs for Marks death and tries to hide evidence of drug paraphernalia when she finds the body. Claudia chips away at her story to find out what really happened but things get complicated with the involvement of Sydney crime pin Harry Lavender. Claudia finds her own life in danger as she is not the only one looking for the manuscript. The other searcher is not so nice and another couple of bodies turn up later in the book. Claudia finally ties all the suspects and clues together in a tight ending.
Marele Day has written a gritty hardboiled Australian novel somewhat in the style of Sara Paretsky. Claudia is a female version of the old-style PI with ash trays full of butts, empty bottles of Jack Daniels, a blonde in the bed, and another couple to ogle throughout the story. What sets Claudia apart is that she does not carry a gun but relies on high-powered karate kicks and running fast. Day choose her setting of Bondi Beach in Sydney well as it almost becomes a character in itself. The seedy underbelly of the area almost oozes through the pages. The pace is fast and exciting, and the dialogue witty with a twist of sarcasm. The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender is the first in a series of books featuring hardened PI Claudia Valentine and I intend to look up the rest of them.
MCStino said:
hi there...
i just left skool in the middle of year 11, i really enjoyed "life and crimes of harry lavender" i didnt do any exams on it or anything...
im not to sure about the detection side...
but the role of technology could be the part that Harry Lavender compares "his city" to a comptuer mother board. and how the computer is a big part of the novel.... im not sure page number, as i threw all my books away.
hope that sort of helped...
Zodna said:
the "karate solar plexus" bit, made the novel look like a fighting story... it was good for the part.. but seeing as that was pretty much the only fighting scene that had that much violence, i enjoyed it...
guns are cool... but Claudia doesnt carry a gun lol
Hey guys, this is just something I found on Internet on Crime Detective fiction.
Crime Fiction is studied in the context of Genre. You are expected to have an understanding of the conventions and values associated with the generic forms of crime fiction. You need to consider why crime fiction might arise at particular times and the social, political, economic and cultural conditions that are conducive to its endurance and recurrence in popularity. The reasons for and validity of generic distinctions also need to be considered.
As a genre, crime fiction’s key focus is mystery but via this mystery other focuses might be explored. This mystery might be solved by ‘rationality’ and the ‘careful accretion of evidence’, which ensures the responder’s active involvement in the deduction of the solution to the crime.
While investigating your prescribed texts and texts of your own choosing, you will need to reflect on this notion of genre. The Big Sleep through its use of Film Noir showcases the ‘hard-boiled detective’ conventions of crime fiction. Marlowe’s suspicious past (fired from the ‘force’ for insubordination); attractiveness to women, wit and sexual banter, idiosyncratic way of speaking, associations with his shabby office and a shady underworld of crime, whisky drinking and own ambivalent perception of justice, created a template, which has been copied and subverted numerous times since its inception.
It also exploits other conventions such as violence, fight scenes, use of guns and other weapons, red herrings and scenes of disturbing violence such as Harry Jones’ murder by poison where Marlowe remains the uninvolved observer. The film ends appropriately with the ‘case closed’ yet elements of justice still unresolved.
P.D. James’ The Skull Beneath the Skin uses the English Country Manor House crime fiction conventions. Its closed circle of suspects in an isolated setting is achieved with the island setting. ‘We are here together, ten of use on this small and lonely island. And one of us is a murderer.’ (page 312) The violence of the commission of the murder is in the context of a range of motives associated with each suspect. The class system presents a range of possible suspects including the cliched possibility of the ‘butler who did it’. The amateur sleuth, Cordelia Gray, who demonstrates some hard-boiled qualities despite her gender, is pitted against the official police investigators.
The novel makes use of red herrings and foreshadowing. Accretion of evidence and active involvement is facilitated by various narrative techniques including chapters devoted to the sequential and logical interrogation of each suspect by the police detectives.
The mystery element is sustained and enhanced by the literary allusions to The Duchess of Malfi and various Shakespearean references. Similarly, the setting adds to the mysterious mood with the use of trapdoors, the sinister Devil’s Kitchen and disturbing collection of Victorian death memorabilia as well as the intrusion of a violent historical past impinging on the present.
Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound highlights the English Country manor House conventions by parodying or subverting them. The isolated Muldoon Manor with the ‘treacherous swamps that surround this strangely inaccessible house’ (page 16) is stated directly by the housekeeper Mrs Drudge and we are reminded of its isolation a number of times. The centrality of the crime of murder is satirised with the victim’s body, despite its obvious presence in the drawing room, largely ignored by the characters. Coincidence, red herrings, mistaken identities, various motives and suspects are all presided over by an ambiguous detective, Inspector Hound, whose identity remains unclear. With its uncertainty and ambiguity, the play challenges the conventions of rationality, justice and restoration of order associated with crime fiction.
Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost set in Sri Lanka contrasts sharply with the other texts set in England and the US respectively. The crime of Sailor’s murder is investigated in the context of mystery not only in terms of the crime but also in the lives of the protagonists. Accretion of evidence occurs with the inclusion of red herrings but science (through the work of a forensic anthropologist) works to solve the crime. The ending remains unresolved, as Anil’s investigation results are not known.
In selecting your own crime fiction texts, it is important to reflect on how they ‘fit’ with the genre as a whole as well as your prescribed texts. Therefore, a text, which explores the ‘hard-boiled detective’, would be useful such as Marele Day’s The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender, where Claudia Valentine challenges gender stereotypes as a detective in the style of Marlowe. Similarly, traditional texts which use the conventions of English Country manor House such as novels by Agatha Christie could be considered in the context of both James’ and Stoppard’s works. Contemporary texts with their interest in science and forensic techniques, the psychology of both the victim and perpetrator, issues of justice in a postmodern world could be used to reflect on the fluidity and adaptability of the genre.
Sample Question
‘The rôle of the detective in crime fiction is unlike the protagonist in any other form of narrative. Their presence in the text gives the crime writer a greater range of possibilities than composers in other genres.’
How does the detective protagonist in crime fiction enlarge the potential of the narrative? How have the composers you have studied used the conventions of the genre in creating him or her?
You should refer to TWO of your prescribed texts and other related texts of your own choosing.
Firstly, it needs to be noted that HSC markers have criticised many student responses for a tendency to simply launch into a historical overview of crime fiction. This approach is to be avoided. Certainly, you will be concerned with placing texts in their context in order to demonstrate the evolution of the genre over time but resist a chronological historical account, it is not what is required.
This question asks you to reflect on the creation and characterisation of the detective protagonist in the context of the crime fiction genre and how this character permits the composer of the text to explore other focuses as well. You could consider Marlowe from The Big Sleep, Cordelia Gray from The Skull Beneath the Skin with references to Buckley and Grogan as well as Claudia Valentine from The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender. Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep presents the quintessential ‘hard-boiled detective’. Despite his determination to uncover the truth, he ultimately chooses to suppress it. He attempts to convince both himself and the audience that ‘Mars killed Regan’ settling for something ‘pretty close to the truth’. In doing so despite his ‘strong sense of honour’, he metes out his own justice, protecting Carmen and sending Mars to his death highlighting the growing incongruity between truth, justice and the law. The ambiguity of his character presented as a lone disaffected anti-hero existing in a seedy film noir underworld reflects on the audience, who become uncomfortably complicit and culpable in the death of Canino. General Sternwood’s comment about his orchids, which he significantly equates with humanity: ‘their flesh is too much like the flesh of men, and their perfume has the rotten sweetness of corruption’ becomes a theme in the film. This is a bleak corrupt world, which is characterised by the disintegration of moral values and obligations. Harry Jones justifies his inaction when Marlowe is attacked: ‘ A person has a hand to play, I let him play it’ only to be commended by Marlowe: ‘You’ve got brains’.
Cordelia Gray represents a development into the female ‘hard-boiled detective’. She is self-employed and has developed her own value system, which she stands by strongly. ‘She no longer cared, who was sending the messages or why. She felt that she hardly cared whether Clarissa lived or died…You can’t make moral judgements about your clients in this job, mate. Start that and you may as well shut up shop.’ (page 122) She is assertive, determined and strong-willed. Initially, she is prepared to ‘go undercover’ posing as Clarissa’s secretary, but she remains on the case after the murder.
She shares a number of hard-boiled qualities with Marlowe. She deals cautiously with the police – ‘..those moments when, although she told no direct untruth, she certainly omitted the facts which she had decided not to tell.’ (page 223) and ‘you’re not here to solve the crime, that’s my job.’ (page 227) When Cordelia in Chapter 8 is looking at her own imminent death, she remains in a ‘Marlowesque’ way calm and rational. She is also characterised by a sharp wit - ‘I don’t like it myself. Someone once told me it’s the result of having an atheist father, a convent education and a nonconformist conscience.’ (page 137) Cordelia and Claudia Valentine in The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender are examples of a new breed of detective, a female manifestation of the hard-boiled detective who are determined to prove their worth in a male dominated society. Similarly, Sandra Cassidy in Don’t Say a Word by Gary Fleder is a New York detective investigating a series of murders, who is desperate to prove that she is as capable as any male.
For each text, you should consider its context and associated values in order to explore further the rôle of the detective as well as other focuses.
Crime Fiction is studied in the context of Genre. You are expected to have an understanding of the conventions and values associated with the generic forms of crime fiction. You need to consider why crime fiction might arise at particular times and the social, political, economic and cultural conditions that are conducive to its endurance and recurrence in popularity. The reasons for and validity of generic distinctions also need to be considered.
As a genre, crime fiction’s key focus is mystery but via this mystery other focuses might be explored. This mystery might be solved by ‘rationality’ and the ‘careful accretion of evidence’, which ensures the responder’s active involvement in the deduction of the solution to the crime.
While investigating your prescribed texts and texts of your own choosing, you will need to reflect on this notion of genre. The Big Sleep through its use of Film Noir showcases the ‘hard-boiled detective’ conventions of crime fiction. Marlowe’s suspicious past (fired from the ‘force’ for insubordination); attractiveness to women, wit and sexual banter, idiosyncratic way of speaking, associations with his shabby office and a shady underworld of crime, whisky drinking and own ambivalent perception of justice, created a template, which has been copied and subverted numerous times since its inception.
It also exploits other conventions such as violence, fight scenes, use of guns and other weapons, red herrings and scenes of disturbing violence such as Harry Jones’ murder by poison where Marlowe remains the uninvolved observer. The film ends appropriately with the ‘case closed’ yet elements of justice still unresolved.
P.D. James’ The Skull Beneath the Skin uses the English Country Manor House crime fiction conventions. Its closed circle of suspects in an isolated setting is achieved with the island setting. ‘We are here together, ten of use on this small and lonely island. And one of us is a murderer.’ (page 312) The violence of the commission of the murder is in the context of a range of motives associated with each suspect. The class system presents a range of possible suspects including the cliched possibility of the ‘butler who did it’. The amateur sleuth, Cordelia Gray, who demonstrates some hard-boiled qualities despite her gender, is pitted against the official police investigators.
The novel makes use of red herrings and foreshadowing. Accretion of evidence and active involvement is facilitated by various narrative techniques including chapters devoted to the sequential and logical interrogation of each suspect by the police detectives.
The mystery element is sustained and enhanced by the literary allusions to The Duchess of Malfi and various Shakespearean references. Similarly, the setting adds to the mysterious mood with the use of trapdoors, the sinister Devil’s Kitchen and disturbing collection of Victorian death memorabilia as well as the intrusion of a violent historical past impinging on the present.
Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound highlights the English Country manor House conventions by parodying or subverting them. The isolated Muldoon Manor with the ‘treacherous swamps that surround this strangely inaccessible house’ (page 16) is stated directly by the housekeeper Mrs Drudge and we are reminded of its isolation a number of times. The centrality of the crime of murder is satirised with the victim’s body, despite its obvious presence in the drawing room, largely ignored by the characters. Coincidence, red herrings, mistaken identities, various motives and suspects are all presided over by an ambiguous detective, Inspector Hound, whose identity remains unclear. With its uncertainty and ambiguity, the play challenges the conventions of rationality, justice and restoration of order associated with crime fiction.
Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost set in Sri Lanka contrasts sharply with the other texts set in England and the US respectively. The crime of Sailor’s murder is investigated in the context of mystery not only in terms of the crime but also in the lives of the protagonists. Accretion of evidence occurs with the inclusion of red herrings but science (through the work of a forensic anthropologist) works to solve the crime. The ending remains unresolved, as Anil’s investigation results are not known.
In selecting your own crime fiction texts, it is important to reflect on how they ‘fit’ with the genre as a whole as well as your prescribed texts. Therefore, a text, which explores the ‘hard-boiled detective’, would be useful such as Marele Day’s The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender, where Claudia Valentine challenges gender stereotypes as a detective in the style of Marlowe. Similarly, traditional texts which use the conventions of English Country manor House such as novels by Agatha Christie could be considered in the context of both James’ and Stoppard’s works. Contemporary texts with their interest in science and forensic techniques, the psychology of both the victim and perpetrator, issues of justice in a postmodern world could be used to reflect on the fluidity and adaptability of the genre.
Sample Question
‘The rôle of the detective in crime fiction is unlike the protagonist in any other form of narrative. Their presence in the text gives the crime writer a greater range of possibilities than composers in other genres.’
How does the detective protagonist in crime fiction enlarge the potential of the narrative? How have the composers you have studied used the conventions of the genre in creating him or her?
You should refer to TWO of your prescribed texts and other related texts of your own choosing.
Firstly, it needs to be noted that HSC markers have criticised many student responses for a tendency to simply launch into a historical overview of crime fiction. This approach is to be avoided. Certainly, you will be concerned with placing texts in their context in order to demonstrate the evolution of the genre over time but resist a chronological historical account, it is not what is required.
This question asks you to reflect on the creation and characterisation of the detective protagonist in the context of the crime fiction genre and how this character permits the composer of the text to explore other focuses as well. You could consider Marlowe from The Big Sleep, Cordelia Gray from The Skull Beneath the Skin with references to Buckley and Grogan as well as Claudia Valentine from The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender. Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep presents the quintessential ‘hard-boiled detective’. Despite his determination to uncover the truth, he ultimately chooses to suppress it. He attempts to convince both himself and the audience that ‘Mars killed Regan’ settling for something ‘pretty close to the truth’. In doing so despite his ‘strong sense of honour’, he metes out his own justice, protecting Carmen and sending Mars to his death highlighting the growing incongruity between truth, justice and the law. The ambiguity of his character presented as a lone disaffected anti-hero existing in a seedy film noir underworld reflects on the audience, who become uncomfortably complicit and culpable in the death of Canino. General Sternwood’s comment about his orchids, which he significantly equates with humanity: ‘their flesh is too much like the flesh of men, and their perfume has the rotten sweetness of corruption’ becomes a theme in the film. This is a bleak corrupt world, which is characterised by the disintegration of moral values and obligations. Harry Jones justifies his inaction when Marlowe is attacked: ‘ A person has a hand to play, I let him play it’ only to be commended by Marlowe: ‘You’ve got brains’.
Cordelia Gray represents a development into the female ‘hard-boiled detective’. She is self-employed and has developed her own value system, which she stands by strongly. ‘She no longer cared, who was sending the messages or why. She felt that she hardly cared whether Clarissa lived or died…You can’t make moral judgements about your clients in this job, mate. Start that and you may as well shut up shop.’ (page 122) She is assertive, determined and strong-willed. Initially, she is prepared to ‘go undercover’ posing as Clarissa’s secretary, but she remains on the case after the murder.
She shares a number of hard-boiled qualities with Marlowe. She deals cautiously with the police – ‘..those moments when, although she told no direct untruth, she certainly omitted the facts which she had decided not to tell.’ (page 223) and ‘you’re not here to solve the crime, that’s my job.’ (page 227) When Cordelia in Chapter 8 is looking at her own imminent death, she remains in a ‘Marlowesque’ way calm and rational. She is also characterised by a sharp wit - ‘I don’t like it myself. Someone once told me it’s the result of having an atheist father, a convent education and a nonconformist conscience.’ (page 137) Cordelia and Claudia Valentine in The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender are examples of a new breed of detective, a female manifestation of the hard-boiled detective who are determined to prove their worth in a male dominated society. Similarly, Sandra Cassidy in Don’t Say a Word by Gary Fleder is a New York detective investigating a series of murders, who is desperate to prove that she is as capable as any male.
For each text, you should consider its context and associated values in order to explore further the rôle of the detective as well as other focuses.
Marele Day's novel, "The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender" explores a large scope of issues related to crime and mystery writing. The use of simple language, symbolism, clever wit and a certain sense of satirical mockery all contribute to composing this witty, wryly humorous and fast paced novel. Through the way in which Day portrays the protagonist, Claudia Valentine, she challenges the stereotypes and ideas set in the readers' minds, in relation to gender issues. Day also succeeds to ruthlessly unmask the bare is the same way that his reign slowly infiltrates the city of Sydney. At the end of the novel when Claudia finally hacks into the computer, all the symbolic aspects of the book unite; the lavender crabs (which are the star sign for cancer) eat into the heart on the computer screen. The heart corresponds to Claudia, the uncorrupted and virtuous side of Sydney. Harry also likes to use lavender to signify his presence, obviously because it represents his surname but also because of what lavender characterizes...
hhhjjjaahsdkjad
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2007
- Messages
- 1
- Gender
- Female
- HSC
- 2008
in relation to that, there is the ironic pun when she keeps refering to harry lavenders terminal illness, when in fact she is referring to his computer and how it kills the writer. just a thought.MCStino said:
jovceski123
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2008
- Messages
- 29
- Gender
- Male
- HSC
- 2009
hey im doin my hsc this year on Beloning.... if anyone has notes on the way the life and crimes of harry lavender relates to belonging pls post...thanx
superelizabeth
Member
In the sauna, Claudia distracts Sally and then kicks her wrist so that she drops the gun which Claudia, after a small struggle, manages to retrieve before throwing it onto tthe coals. The avoidance of the symbolically 'male gun' by Claudia reinforces Day's insistence that she is not just a male private eye who has been turned into a female. She is first a female who has a life as a female.
Computer and technology are motifs used throughout the novel, used to highlight the emerging importance of these in solving a crime and the way people live in mordern society. For e.g. Robbie's death was directly connected with technology as is the ultimate receovery of Harry's manuscript.MCStino said:
However when Claudia realised that she must break into the computer system that linked to Mark Bannister's computer, her friend who was skilled in technology(forgot his name sorry) advised her to find the password using her own brain rather than relying on technology,,,this questions whether artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence.
Scottie-mac
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2008
- Messages
- 1
- Gender
- Male
- HSC
- 2009
I hate english!!!