Option One:
Consider the ways in which the main characters are
similar. Based strictly on these two
stories, formulate a description of protagonists in neo-noir.
In the stories The Kidnapper Bell and The City of Commerce, the two main characters are Jim and Nick. The one thing that comes up in my mind that makes them similar is probably the neglect they have with their wives. For Jim, we didn't even know he had a wife until the last page. I was pretty shocked considering he was planning to have an affair and probably even had more in the past. Nick didn't have an affair that we know of but he neglected his wife by letting her go off to these parties not caring what she did and who she did, Nick also had an obvious gambling issue and ignored her demands by going off to the casino.
Based strictly on these two stories, I would think that neo-noir can occasionally be told in a third person point of view. In The kidnapper Bell, the story was told by an unknown third party which is different since protagonists are usually in first person. By this, we had information about the characters in the story. Just that Jim was married and that was really it. The only thing that bothered me about the two stories were the endings. Kidnapper Bell was very attention grabbing and I was excited to read on about who the kidnapper is and why he did this to her sister. If Jim got caught, and what happened to the bodies? The City of Commerce also had a vague ending. Is Nick just going to live his life on the run? Did the mob get to his wife? Based on both of the stories, I would think that neo-noir has really vague and non-closure endings, which I really don't like.
Assignment 2:
I would have to say that "The Girl Who Kissed Barnaby Jones" is the story that depicts noir the most. It has Tate, who is the typical middle aged man or older who works as a waiter (dead end job) divorced and seemingly bored in his life with no excitement who is lured by a beautiful femme fatale, Cherie. Cherie is a typical femme fatale who is also a washed up actress "She came from L.A from East Lansing Michigan to be an actress back in the 70's (Phillips, 288.) The only difference is that he is not gullible enough to help her with the murder and goes against her right away. And like most protagonists, Tate is ultimately murdered by Cherie.
The least noir story would have to be "What You See". Gabe is too much of a low life. Most protagonists are boring in noir, but they at least have some charm in them. Gabe on the other hand just met Terrel and all of a sudden envisioned a detailed next few encounters with her and even asked Marcus over to meet her. Even his jokes with Marcus were lame. Just an all out lame guy. I don't even really see any features of a noir story in here besides the descriptions of streets in L.A. Gabe is crazy, maybe he's the "Male fatale" maybe we just read the inside of a fatales mind for the first time. He didn't really seduce her nor does he seem attractive, but he definitely lured her into his car and ultimately ended her life. This story was just really pathetic, it was hard to read how awkward he was. So all in all, not a noir story at all.
