Author: Olivia Mezzarina

“But Bakha was a child of modern India. The clearcut styles of European dress had impressed his naive mind. This stark simplicity had furrowed his old Indian consciousness and cut deep new lines where all the considerations which made India evolve a skirt costume as best fitted for the human body, lay dormant.”

Anand, Untouchable, Pg. 4.

This passage made me question who is narrating Bakha’s story. It seems to be an external narrator. I was caught off guard by the narrator calling Bakha “naive” because seems like the narrator is interjecting with their own opinions on Bakha’s behavior. By pointing out his desire to be like the British as “naive” creates a feeling of understanding for the father’s position and move farther away from justifying Bakha’s actions.

“He went to John”s Grill, asked the waiter to hurry his order of chops, baked potato, and sliced tomatoes, ate hurriedly, and was smoking a cigarette with his coffee…”

Hammet, The Maltese Falcon, Page 165

I find Spade’s use of time extremely interesting in the conversation of his moral compass. In this scene, Spade is taking time to order and eat a meal before he leaves to go find Shaughnessy. I think this can give the reader a chance to interpret his own inner monologue or conscious and how he is never really in a rush to approach serious problems, like Shaughnessy possibly being in danger or when Archer was murdered. Maybe this alludes that Spade knows more than we do and there is a reason he is not so quick to act on things.

“It might become available, you never know — if the Church of Rome went to pot or Switzerland invaded Italy — whereas a strange corpse doesn’t turn up in a suburban bathroom more than once in a lifetime — at least, I should think not — at any rate, the number of times it’s happened, with a pince-nez, might be counted on the fingers of one hand, I imagine. Dear me! it’s a dreadful mistake to ride two hobbies at once.”

Dorothy L. Sayers, Whose Body?, pg. 4.

Unlike the typical “hard-boiled detective” trope that is used in most crime fictions where the detective is tough, cynical, and emotionless towards the violence that occurs in whatever novel he exists in, here we have Lord Peter Wimsey. Lord Peter, our detective for this novel, is not “hard-boiled” due to the fact that he associates solving crime to be a “hobby”, similar to that of bidding on furniture. Lord Peter seems to to be delighted at the prospect of having the “once in a lifetime” opportunity to be apart of this mystery, which is an uncommon approach in the typical mystery novel.

“Gradually, as his soul was enriched with spiritual knowledge, he saw the whole world forming one vast symmetrical expression of God’s power and love. Life became a divine gift for every moment and sensation of which, were it even the sight of a single leaf hanging on the twig of a tree, his soul should praise and thank the Giver.”

James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (126)

This passage showcases a shift in tone from the previous three chapters. Here, Stephen seems to take on a more sophisticated language (for example: enriched, vast, life, divine) while describing his new found passion for life as a result of his strict religious schedule. I would argue that Stephen now seems himself as evolved and now separated from his past angst filled lifestyle where he fell victim to the influence of “sin”. Now, Stephen is focused on God and the life that God has created, shifting the focus from himself to the world around him.

“A second chance — that’s the delusion. There never was to be but one. We work in the dark — we do what we can — we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.”

James, “The Middle Years”, p. 354.

Throughout the story, we get glimpses and examples that lead the reader to associate perfectionism with Dencombe — he is extremely critical of his work, has fears of how his work will last in the future after he dies, etc. etc. This quotation acts as a conclusion to the argument surrounding second chances throughout the story and I would argue that it calls out the uselessness of perfectionism — that the idea that you have a second chance at correcting, developing, enhancing, etc. your art is quite literally “delusional” and despite how much our passion can cause us to doubt and worry — our work is taken up by the “madness of art” which has no regard for doubt or perfection. Also — that we only have ONE life!!!!