Lesson Plan for Week 6: General Thoughts and Notes

Patrick Mooney, TA
Eng 193, Prof. Newfield
11/12 February 2014

Thought for the day:
Necessity is not in that sense a type of content, but rather the inexorable form of events; it is therefore a narrative category in the enlarged sense of some properly narrative political unconscious […]. Conceived in this sense, History is what hurts, it is what refuses desire and sets inexorable limits to individual as well as collective praxis, which its ruses turn into grisly and ironic reversals of their overt intention.

-Frederic Jameson, The Political Unconscious, p. 102. (See this quote with more context.)
Administrative matters:
- How many are planning on writing a detective story? How many are planning to write an analytical paper?
- I will return all papers during section next week.
- Quiz 2 will be on Tuesday 18 February.
- You should be starting to think about your second paper at this point. If you're planning on doing a research-based paper, this is a good time to start thinking about what you want to write about and doing some preliminary research (there are useful resources on the section website); if you're planning on writing a short story, this would be a good time to sketch out an observation/inference structure.
Questions for discussion:
- Consider the following quotations from Mosley's Black Betty:
  - I tried to think of better things. About our new young Irish president and Martin Luther King; about how the world was changing and a black man in America had the chance to be a man for the first time in hundreds of years. (45; ch. 1)
  - I found myself roaming outside my native black community, a community that had been transplanted from southern Texas and Louisiana. When I had to work in the white world, Alamo was the perfect tool. He was crazy and naturally criminal. He would have hated Negroes if it wasn't for World War One. He felt that all those white generals and politicians had set up the poor white trash the same way black folks were set up.
    He was right. (78; ch. 5)
  - I wanted to kill Clovis too, but there wasn't any reason for it. She hadn't done anything. It was me. I had reached out for the white man's brass ring and got caught up short, that's all. They taught me when I was a boy to stay in my place. I was a fool for forgetting that lesson, and now all I was doing was paying for that foolishness. (106; ch. 8)
  What views about race does Ezekiel Easy Rawlins here express? About race relations? To what extent are these views specific to the historical period in which the novel is set?
- What do you see as the defining characteristics of detective fiction? Of noir in particular?
- How do you see these instantiated in the story on the syllabus for which your group is named?

Group-generated summary table: conventions and tropes in detective fiction

Detective fiction (classically, and/or in general)	Noir (in particular)
Power is transferable between honest functionaries; is connected to intelligence; is honest; and ensures the ultimate triumph of justice. This is true even if the ostensible wielders of power often function as absent causes, radiating benevolence from far off.	Power (at least political power) is inherently linked to corruption.
Most characters in the story are more or less likeable.	Most characters in the story are more or less horrible.
Crime-solving is a cooperative enterprise that serves various sociologically functional purposes.	Crimes are solved by a lone-wolf detective, in order to achieve justice that society at large doesn't see.
Mystery-solving is an intellectual exercise. The investigation is generally emotionally detached. The detective is enthusiastic about the process of detection. The problem to be solved is a neatly structured problem.	Crime-solving is an action-packed adventure. The investigation is generally emotionally fraught. The detective is reluctant to engage in the investigation. The problem to be solved is messy and complex. The problem to be solved is messy and complex.
Investigation generally proceeds more or less in line with general legal principles.	Investigation frequently transgresses legal boundaries.
Ending satisfyingly resolves outstanding issues (and is often a happy ending).	Ending is often tragic (in at least some ways) and may leave (at least some) outstanding mysteries unsolved.
	Contains more abrasive content: violence suicide sexual content graphic description of crime scenes
Detective is detached; sees situation as a whole.	Detective is emotionally involved; perspective is limited.
More or less clear division between main and secondary characters	Secondary characters may become primary characters as the novel progresses
Rule of law	Rule of force
Police officers are naïve and/or incompetent, but well-intentioned and honest	Police officers are corrupt, resentful of the detective in the story, and/or violent
Romantic love is idealistic and idealized, but not a primary driver of the story's action	Romantic love and desire are conflated and confused in the love-loss linkage we have talked about in lecture, and are primary drivers for the story's action
Clues are largely tangible (bullet casings, drops of blood, shotguns) and clear-cut	Clues are largely intangible (a glance, a hesitation, an overheard conversation), revealed in the context of social relationships
Plot usually revolves around a single crime	Plot often includes multiple crimes or other mysteries
The villain needs to hide his/her tracks	The detective needs to hide his/her tracks
violence is an isolated anomaly	violence is everywhere
Main characters have more or less integrated, unitary personalities	Main characters are noteworthy for having fragmented, fractured, or otherwise very dynamic personalities
The plot's resolution provides the reader with the pleasure of seeing honor and justice restored	The plots' resolution provides the reader only with the pleasure of seeing the mystery resolved