Hard-boiled era

Question 1

Time Period

Answer 1

• Developed at the same time as the golden era but gained popularity later.
• Its heyday was from the 1920s through the 1950s

Question 2

Style and Structure

Answer 2

• Plots are usually intricate, involve a web of deciet ,corruption and double crosses.
• First person perspective , direct insight into the protagonists thoughts and emotions
• Dialogue is sharp, direct and peppered with slang
• Reflects the roughness of the characters and their enviroments.

Question 3

Setting

Answer 3

• Setting set in gritty urban enviroments
• crime and corruption are rampant
• City is a charecter and relfects the mood and tone of the narrative.

gOTHAM CITY

Question 4

Detectives

Answer 4

• Private detectives or antihereos with a hardened outlook on life.
• Tough exterior and a strong moral code
• Usually disillusioned and weary

Question 5

Criminals

Answer 5

• Complex and morally ambigious
• product of a corrupt society, reflecting a more cycnical view of human nature.
• Sometimes are Antiheros or figures who operated on the fringe of law
• May be potrayed as victims of a flawed system. (Billy)

Question 6

Victims

Answer 6

• Are often tied in the criminal underground
• Involved in illegal activitie, be associated w organized crimes or have conntection to shaddy charecters
• May have a personal connection to protagonist, adds an emotional layer to the investigation
• Used to symbolizes larger societal issues.
• Victim’s deaths or suffering may reflect systemic corruption, moral decay or social injustice.

Question 7

Female charecters

Answer 7

• damsels in distress, require rescuing by the hardboiled detective. Helpless victims
• Femme Fatale archetype : seductive , and morally ambigious. Using their allure to control/decieve the male protagonist.
• Was a more gradual shift towards more nuanced portrayls of women
• Potrayed as comptent independent and complex.

Question 8

Themes

Answer 8

• Graphic depictions of violence
• Intense action scenes and physcial confrontations
• charecters and situations are often morally ambiguous .
• Line between good and evil is blurred and the protagonists may employ questionable methods to achieve their goals.

Question 9

Context

Answer 9

• Prohibition in the US led to a surge in organized crime and gang activity
• Provided fertile ground for hard boiled fiction where protagonist often grappled with violent crime
• dangerous urban settings in hard boiled fiction mirrored the chaotic and sometimes harsh realities of city life as a result of rapid urbanisation in the early 20th century
• charecters were influences by the pulp magazines of the time and the film noir genre

Question 10

Famous texts

Answer 10

• The Maltese Falcon : Dashiell Hammett
• Red Harvest : Dashiell Hammett
• The Spy Who Came in from the cold : John Le Carré
• The Alphabet Series : Sue Grafton

Question 11

Red Harvest: Dashiell Hammett

1. Setting : A charecter of its own. gritty and urban
2. Refrences to boot legging suggests Mrs Wilson is included in organized crime
3. Air of mystery and suspended tension ‘something that couldve been blood’. Detective is intiutive and notices details.
4. Femme fatale: Mrs Wilson. Manipulative and morally ambiguois.

Answer 11

1. Similar to Edignbrugh is described as Louise
2. Niel H seems to be involved with a criminal gang
3. Links to Reggie’s discovery of the baby blanket
4. Joanna lulls her captors into self defense. Manipulative to get what she wants. Is morally ambiguois as well.