Individuation In Crime Fiction

687 Words3 Pages
When analyzing the characters and plot of any story, one of the many key factors is understanding and interpreting the process of individuation within the story. With individuation, it is important to look at the relationships between the character and the milieu (environment), instead of looking at the characters as a bunch of personalities. The environment, social relations, and historical context of the novel prove to be very important to stories because these points shape the character. In other words, the characters at the end of the book are somehow a product of their environment. Three examples of individuation in crime fiction are in The Devil in a Blue Dress, Mischief, and the Big Sleep. This paper will focus on the process of individuation within…show more content…
Regardless of the victories and braveries across the ocean, back on home turf he is still considered a second-class citizen. Learning to survive in post war Los Angeles is similar to surviving in war. It is clear Los Angeles does not feel like home to Easy, and neither did war. Easy is nostalgic about Texas and the town he comes from. Easy describes the South as “slower” than Los Angeles. “In L.A. people don’t have time to stop,” and he believes workers from the South would not be able to survive a workday in Los Angeles. In Texas everybody knew each other’s name and when he would look out the window he would know everyone who walked by. There was a certain familiarity in his old community and when illustrating this old community it resembled harmony in the story. After the war, disharmony was portrayed and it has been like that throughout the story. In Los Angeles he is under a great amount of pressure to make money so that he can pay rent and live life. Money is brought up by Easy many times throughout the novel, as it is so relevant to his new environment. Money is the primary source of power in the Devil in the Blue Dress. In Texas,
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