Topic Number 2, the use of backgrounds, landscapes, architectures and “sets.”
Raymond Chandler and Ed McBain are two flagships in detective fictions. Chandler’s Philip Marlowe brought readers a series of hot-blooded fictional detective stories that happened in Los Angeles (LA). McBain, the commander of the 87th Precinct, excited readers with many raw and realistic detective stories happened in “the city”, an imaginary city that based on New York City (NYC). If there’s one thing that Chandler and McBain share in common, it’s their extraordinary abilities to use weathers, times and environments to render atmospheres, promote plots and deliver symbolisms. By setting their stories in popular big cities, Chandler and McBain allow readers to picture
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Farewell, My Lovely, another famous detective fiction written by Chandler, uses time, weather and even the smell to create the atmosphere and to foreshadow what’s going to happen. It also allows readers to image the situation Marlowe is dealing with and experience the stories from Marlowe’s perspective. In Chapter 9, while Marlowe is on a stakeout, Chandler described the setting as “It was a little foggy, the way it always is down there at night. I had to start up the windshield wiper for a while.” Nighttime, with the darkness and the chill, is a time that people associate insecurity and evilness with. The weather is foggy, and even the weakest light of moon disappeared, symbolizes Marlowe is surrounded by the unknowns of the mystery. Later, “The acrid smell of the sage filled the night.” may imply that the ugly and unpleasant truth is all around Marlowe and awaits Marlowe to find out. Overall, by the settings Chandler gives us, we can picture that Marlowe is waiting in his car among all these darkness, humidity and pungent smell. He perhaps looks like a patient eagle waiting for the prey, with a pair of sharp eyes that could see through the mist. He doesn’t mind all these difficulties because he knows the truth is among these fogs, darkness and acrid