Claudia - Distinctive Voice
sThe Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender Jessica Hobson
Claudia has multiple voices reflecting her character and diverse experiences. Do you agree? How does your reading of the novel support this idea?
Claudia is a complex, multi-dimensional character. Her various voices within The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender are shaped by both her experiences and values, which in turn reflect her use of language. Claudia’s ability of seamlessly shifting between the languages of different contexts within the text reflects her broad experience of diverse people and places. This unique combination of these experiences creates Claudia distinctive voice that in turn engages us, thus influencing our perceptions the world we live in.
Claudia’s profession as a private investigator as well as her intelligence and confidence subverts the stereotypical role of a woman within the crime fiction context. “Beneath the make-up the face was taut and drawn”, “exterior was cool as her white dress but in the lap of the dress she was shredding up Kleenex” suggests Claudia’s intuitive intelligence, as her keen observation of human behavior allows her to see through Marilyn’s facades. This re-defines the stereotypical private investigator as well as influencing our perceptions of woman’s roles within society.
Claudia’s realist outlook on the city is a reflection of her own hard life experiences that is created by her university-educated voice. The anadiplosis of “you’d be dead…dead even with them” suggests the rhetorical use of language that in turn reflects her facility with language developed during her study of linguistics at the University of Sydney.
Claudia affirms the hard-boiled detective with her assertive, blunt use of language, “Close to the bed was a bottle of Jack Daniels: empty. And an ashtray: full”, conveying her problematic lifestyle of booze and causal affairs. However, the emotive language subverts the hard boiled male detective character as it allows a
Claudia has multiple voices reflecting her character and diverse experiences. Do you agree? How does your reading of the novel support this idea?
Claudia is a complex, multi-dimensional character. Her various voices within The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender are shaped by both her experiences and values, which in turn reflect her use of language. Claudia’s ability of seamlessly shifting between the languages of different contexts within the text reflects her broad experience of diverse people and places. This unique combination of these experiences creates Claudia distinctive voice that in turn engages us, thus influencing our perceptions the world we live in.
Claudia’s profession as a private investigator as well as her intelligence and confidence subverts the stereotypical role of a woman within the crime fiction context. “Beneath the make-up the face was taut and drawn”, “exterior was cool as her white dress but in the lap of the dress she was shredding up Kleenex” suggests Claudia’s intuitive intelligence, as her keen observation of human behavior allows her to see through Marilyn’s facades. This re-defines the stereotypical private investigator as well as influencing our perceptions of woman’s roles within society.
Claudia’s realist outlook on the city is a reflection of her own hard life experiences that is created by her university-educated voice. The anadiplosis of “you’d be dead…dead even with them” suggests the rhetorical use of language that in turn reflects her facility with language developed during her study of linguistics at the University of Sydney.
Claudia affirms the hard-boiled detective with her assertive, blunt use of language, “Close to the bed was a bottle of Jack Daniels: empty. And an ashtray: full”, conveying her problematic lifestyle of booze and causal affairs. However, the emotive language subverts the hard boiled male detective character as it allows a