‘Crime Fiction centres around the process of detection, not the
resolution’.
People read crime fiction for a variety of reasons. Some read for
closure, some people read to gain a socio-political appreciation of
different societies. Yet at the centre of the crime fiction seems to be
the process of detection - the impressive way that the detective
resolves the crime through deliberation and elimination of the
'impossible'. The reader, in some crime novels, witnesses the way a
detective figure takes a complicated puzzle and interprets each part
to elicit a solution, resolving the crime in the process. Detective
figures like Poirot and Holmes use their 'little grey celts' to often 'see
the solution that is staring him in the face’. In the same way, Ida
Arnold, in 'Brighton Rock' uses a variety of strategies to bring Pinkie
to justice and avenge the death of Hate. The narrative is structured
around Ida’s chase and dogged determination to hold Pinkie
accountable for his crime, as the Police have failed to do. In the case
of 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', the ballad centres around a
crime against nature. The Ancient Mariner is held accountable for
the killing of the Albatross. Therefore, the spiritual world exacts
revenge on the sailor by inflicting physical and psychological havoc
on the Mariner and his shipmates. Rather than focusing on
detection, Coleridge seems to examine survivor's guilt and the
religious idea of repentance. The focalisation seems to be the
Mariner's self-detection and acceptance of his guilt and his
atonement for his crime against the natural world.
Notably, detection lies at the heart of some of the sub-genres of
crime fiction. Investigative crime fiction was conceived when Sir
Robert Peel's 'New police' came into force. Therefore, Conan Doyle
exploited the Victorian's emerging interest in detection through his
presentation and conception of Sherlock Holmes. Through Holmes,
the reader witnesses, as Foucault observed, 'the slow process of
discovery. Akin to Homes, Ida too slowly uncovers the criminal
activities of Pinkie and his gang. The process of Ida's detection is
presented as the driving force throughout the novel. Green uses a
dual structure to disentangle the crime and establish the emergence
of the detective figure of Ida Arnold. The reader sees two stories
intertwined throughout the narrative, the emergence of detection
and the solving of the crime: Shklovsky called it the ‘fabula’ and the
‘sjuzet’. Ida's investigations are used to shape the plot and the
compel the reader towards a definitive solution. Arguably, her
atypical detection of the main antagonist, Pinkie Brown, further
serves to hook the readership and provides a sense of meaning to
the chaotic nature of the crimes which occur throughout the novel.
Initially, Ida is shown to have a thirst for uncovering the truth and
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