Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Red Wind
I thought "Red Wind" was a pretty interesting story. When I first started reading it I found it slightly confusing but I knew I would because most detectives stories are not figured out until the end. Right when I thought I was losing interest, there was another twist in the story. I liked how all of the characters were connected somehow unknowingly, both male and female. In the first scene, where the man known as Waldo was shot, I initially was confused as to why and wondered if there was ever a deeper meaning to the fact that he had left his car running, rather than him just being in a hurry to find Mrs. Barsaley. Even after finishing the story, I still find that questionable. I like how Detective Marlowe took care of his business on his own and it seemed as though he knew, even if he were to discover the truth, he would be able to keep Mrs. Barsaley away from Copernik. Do you think they knew each other beforehand? It was odd that his investigation continued strictly for the purpose of finding these pearls for a women. Then at the end, when he had imitation pearls made so that he could keep the old ones just to throw out into the ocean, was this also for Lola's sake? Maybe he had some attachment to the women from his own personal life, such as trying to forget someone? I am not really sure but I enjoyed reading the story. It all seemed to make sense in the end but I feel as though there may be some more to it.
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Britney, in your brief response to the story Red Wind, you brought up several compelling points that made me think about aspects of the story I had previously ignored. I think that you could have delved a bit deeper into the significance of the characters and how they interact with one another to make this complex mystery narrative. I also found the significance of the pearls to be perplexing and didn't understand why Marlowe felt so compelled to help this woman and why he had the imitations made. Also, I don't think that there is any significance to the fact that Waldo left his car running. Perhaps it is because he was in a hurry and didn't expect Lola to be there anyway.
ReplyDeleteMarlowe's actions towards Lola brought up many questions in my mind as well. I do feel that he made another set of pearls for Lola's sake, because I cannot think of any other motivation for him to do so. However, I cannot figure out how he thought doing so would help her. I think Marlowe definitely had a personal attachment to Lola, which was mostly due to the fact that she saved his life.
ReplyDeleteMarlowe did solve the entire mystery pretty much on his own. Throughout the story, I felt as though the actual police were made out to be somewhat incompetent, always one step behind Marlowe, and I think this will be a common characteristic in the rest of the pulp stories we read.