The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender

Claudia Valentine
Setting: Sydney. Australia
2. The city of Sydney as a form of corruption
1. Day has personified Sydney through evocative references to body organs, veins and blood vessels to highlight Lavender's corruption
  1. “Expose the viscera… the road-like veins, the transport of deadly cargo, the bloodstream of the city’s body...”
    1. Metaphor
      1. the effect of the blood implies how Harry Lavender’s corruption is being spread throughout the body, which is representative of the city of Sydney.
  2. Conveys Sydney as a character through the use of child imagery, to demonstrate there is some innocence to Sydney but that it is slowly being corrupted by the adult influence of Lavender
    1. “She blew hot and cold like a moody child…Sydney was…not so high, not so dying, only sick sometimes…”.
      1. Frequency adverb of ‘sometimes
        Indicates that it is not a completely vicious and a corrupt city.
  3. the cancer motif of Lavender which is repeated through the cancer zodiac symbol on the computer screen
    1. “That symbol of cancer has eaten my heart. And has been eating it away right from the beginning!’
      1. shows the idea that Harry Lavender’s presence is everywhere and is difficult to remove.
      2. It is identified that Sydney is only sick sometimes, but the cancer reference suggests that Lavender's corruption will make the city terminal.
      3. By personifying the setting into almost a character itself, it moves the setting beyond it merely being a backdrop
Composer: Marele Day
1. Gender stereotypes
1. Raising a critical awareness of gender stereotype by rewriting the archetypal male detective from a female point of view
  1. At the beginning of the text, Day enables the reader to assume that Claudia is a male detective
    1. "I woke up feeling like death...The blond slept on...Thank God the Black suit was hanging in the wardrobe"
      1. Simile "feeling like death"
        conforms to the traditional hard-boiled detective being a heavy-drinker
      2. "The black suit was hanging in the wardrobe"
        remeniscent of the noir film 'The Big Sleep (1946). The archetypal male detective, wearing the typical detective coat
      3. By assuming that the protagonist is male, it raises a critical awareness of gender stereotypes present within society
      4. Therefore, the description of appearance enables the reader to assume Claudia as the typical male detective
      5. Draws on the sleexy detective charcteristics throuh the reference to the one night stand "The blond slept on
        Cleverly uses 'the blond' to symbolise a female partner
        The idea of masculine conquest only to reveal that the protagonist is identified as a female
        As a result, it questions gender assumptions present within societ
        Conveying that gender subversion and the idea of sexual restriction is recognised through society, it shows to the audience that it is highly unlikely that a female would be assumed of initiating a one night stand
        Through this, Claudia is in control of her surroundings and partners, stating that her power is eqivilant to her male counterparts
3. Technology as a double edged sword
1. Conveying that technology is a double-edge sword where it can be used for both good and evil in the crime world. It portrays a technological aspect to Claudia's crime solving
  1. Through Otto’s technological understanding, Claudia is able to discover more clues of Mark Bannister’s death through hacking Mark’s computer. However, Claudia is critical of the effects of technology which is evident in her description of Mark’s computer and the effect it has on Otto
    1. “Otto glided to the computer like a zombie summoned by its master. The computer sat there blankly reflecting Otto’s face in its screen. Mineral stillness. Not a master, a servant. Innocent, clean-cut plastic. Too much like a child’s toy to make life and death decisions. It almost smiled.”
      1. Simile
        “Otto glided to the computer like a zombie summoned by its master”. Claudia compares Otto to a zombie to show that he is a servant of technology. He is mindless like a zombie who is being called to follow the orders of its master.
        Claudia contradicts her first description of Otto being the slave by stating that the computer is actually, “Not a master, a servant”
      2. Juxtaposition
        The two perspectives suggests that she is ambiguous in her position to technology, and whether it can be served for purposes of good or evil.
      3. Furthermore, she then continues her references to the computer comparing it to a child toy, reiterating the idea of surface impressions that it is innocent due to the child imagery.
        “It almost smiled”
        Personification
        personifying the computer, suggesting that it is dangerous
      4. By ending the description with an imagery of an evil smile, it suggests that she is leaning towards a distrust of technology.

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The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender

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