Exam (elaborations)
Unseen Crime Response to an extract taken from 'Strangers on a Train'.
- Module
- Elements of Crime Writing
- Institution
- AQA
I obtained an A* on this mock extract question.
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Charlotte CorriganExplore the ways in which this passage uses elements of crime writing and how important these
are, paying particular attention to the way meanings are shaped by the author.
The opening of the extract is used to instigate tension in the way that it plunges the reader into the
centre of the action in the middle of the calculation of the crime, which cultivates a sense of intrigue.
In particular, the extract acts as the pivotal moment in the novel as the crime is positioned in the
discussion between the two strangers, ‘Haines’ and ‘Bruno’, as it appears that Bruno is attempting to
persuade and manipulate Haines to participate in a ‘murder-swap’ with him, offering to kill Haines’
wife if Haines agrees to kill Bruno’s father. Structurally, this section would take place at the start of
the novel, a common feature of ‘Black Noir’ crime novels, marking out the trajectory of the rest of
the novel as this extract shows the plotting behind the crime.
Initially, the setting of the ‘train’ is used to uphold the conventions of crime and heighten the
thrilling nature of the extract, as the setting contributes to the overall tension and intrigue on behalf
of the reader. Highsmith’s use of a ‘train’ is incredibly poignant as trains were coined as a common
trope of crime during the Golden Age of Crime. Agatha Christie, in her novels, ‘4.50 from
Paddington’ and ‘The Murder on the Orient Express’, uses the setting of a train as a structural device
to control the pace of the narrative and subsequently, the unfolding of the events of the novel. It
appears that trains in most crime novels, provide a closed circle environment, such as Christie’s ‘And
Then There Were None’, where ten strangers are trapped on an Island. In a sense, this extract
presents the train as a closed circle environment, as it appears that Haines cannot escape the
plotting of Bruno and has to endure his sociopathic revelations, enabling the crime to take root. This
idea of entrapment, which almost exacerbates the crime, is highlighted through the use of the
complex sentence, ‘Guy wanted to get out and take a walk, but the train kept on and on in a straight
line, like something that would never stop’. This complex sentence almost appears to mimic the
action of the train, building suspense due to the claustrophobia cultivated. This can be reinforced
through the use of the simile, ‘like something that would never stop’, upholding the entrapment of
Haines through the use of the adverb ‘never’, which positions Bruno as inescapable. Akin to crime
fiction, at this point in the novel, the reader is positioned to be on side with Haines and rejects
Bruno’s character; he is deliberately positioned as the criminal.
Furthermore, in the extract, the author deliberately frames ‘Charles Bruno’ as the villain, elucidating
his psychopathic facets of character used to induce a sense of intrigue and successfully capture his
antagonism towards the protagonist, Guy Haines. From the opening of the passage, Bruno’s
construct is depicted as sociopathic and the reader can correctly make the connection between his
madness and his criminality, a trope coined in the Golden Age of Crime. In some respects, it can be
argued that Bruno can be likened other sadistic criminals, such as ‘Tom Watson’ in ‘The Girl on the
Train’ who tells Rachael, the protagonist, elaborate lies, causing her to believe that she truly
committed murder. Notably, the extract commences with a closed question which exposes the
sadism of the perpetrator, ‘When she was two-timing you, didn’t you feel like murdering her?’ This
orchestrates a sense of unease as the use of deixis, through the use of the third person pronoun
‘she’ combined with the dysphemistic verb ‘murdering’. The use of the pronoun ‘she’ suggests a
level of familiarity on behalf of Bruno, striking a discordant feeling within the reader and could also
reinforce that Bruno’s plot to ‘murder-swap’ with Haines is premeditated, a key trope of an
archetypal criminal in crime fiction. In this instance, the reader is led to expect, from the outset of
the extract, that Bruno will play a reprehensible role in the text. Moreover, Highsmith deliberately
paints the behaviour and characteristics of Bruno to be sadistic and psychopathic, which is evident
when the author reveals, ‘He felt sick of Bruno. Bruno was smiling’. The exploitation of the present
continuous tense ‘smiling’ combined with the use of anadiplosis, highlights that it is difficult to
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