Beyond All the King’s Men, it seems it’s
inherently possible to apply the lens of this essay to other noir narratives
that employ first person, masculine narrators.
True, Burden appears sharply distinct from his Californian brethren
given that his fallen state comes from his inability to take
responsibility—hence marry—Anne Stanton, but the male narrators of the early
40’s (the boon time of Hammett, Chandler, and Noir Cinema) have built within
them a similar ineffectual masculinity given that then narrators of these
Californian incarnations sit out World War II.
Perhaps we can postulate a similar sort of gender based deprivation and
shame inherent to these narrators in their inability to fight—or not wanting to
fight—for their country and its just cause to end Nazism and Fascism across the
globe. Accordingly, how might we
reconsider Philip Marlowe’s cynical humor and womanizing with this chip on his
shoulder? Certainly, reflexive
masochism, in this regard, will provide further enticements for literary study.
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