How significant is the detective’s distrust of authority? How is it displayed in his actions? What does this distrust tell us about the larger themes in the text(s)?

. Choose one of the following topics and compose a thoughtful, well-argued essay in response. Be sure that you have a thesis! To support your arguments, cite specific textual evidence from the primary and secondary texts we have read. All papers should include, at minimum, research from Black Mask magazine, The Big Sleep, or both. You may use other research as necessary.
1. In The Big Sleep, Philip Marlowe says, “Cops get very large and emphatic when an outsider tries to hide anything, but they do the same things themselves every other day, to oblige their friends or anybody with a little pull.” Consider the hardboiled detective’s attitudes toward established systems of authority. How significant is the detective’s distrust of authority? How is it displayed in his actions? What does this distrust tell us about the larger themes in the text(s)?

2. Discuss how women are represented in hardboiled detective stories (for example, Mildred Guerney in “Black Shadows” from Black Mask or the Sternwood sisters in The Big Sleep). Consider not only how gender is represented but also why it is represented this way. What do these representations tell you about the genre and its view of the world?

3. Examine how the author of the hardboiled detective story uses the mystery genre to communicate broader social/political messages and themes. Discuss what you think the author is intending to express, how successful he is at expressing it, and why the mystery genre may be an especially appropriate place to communicate these types of messages.

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