TSBTS essay help! (1 Viewer)

[del pietro]

Hey I have to write an essay based on how the novel TSBTS has challenged my notions of the nature of crime ?

I thought about talking about how our context has influenced our perceptions of crime, the conventions of crime etc... things like morals and values, the justice system, personal experience, media, rising feminist values...

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas how to express this through the text TSBTS ??? Key questions;
who are the victims?
how does PD james position us to feel about crime?
what are the crimes?

Any guidence would be appreciated.. thanx!

 

[kami]

Hey I have to write an essay based on how the novel TSBTS has challenged my notions of the nature of crime ?

I thought about talking about how our context has influenced our perceptions of crime, the conventions of crime etc... things like morals and values, the justice system, personal experience, media, rising feminist values...

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas how to express this through the text TSBTS ??? Key questions;
who are the victims?
how does PD james position us to feel about crime?
what are the crimes?

Any guidence would be appreciated.. thanx!

Who are the victims?
Clarissa obviously - she is a victim of either Ambrose or Simon depending on how you interpret the story, she's also a victim of her own ambition it is her own blackmail which comes back to bite her as it results in Ambrose's retaliation.

Simon is a victim in that he is betrayed by Clarissa, someone who is in a maternal position to Simon but attempts to seduce him in an abuse of her position. Simon is also manipulated by Ambrose after Clarissa's death.

In a way Tolly is a victim through her child, Clarissa committed a horrible act by decieving her and thus preventing her from being with her dying child.

What are the crimes?
Murder, blackmail, betrayal of a child etc.

How are we positioned by P.D. James?
Well this is more complicated - how do you feel about Clarissa, or Ambrose or Simon after the entire tale has unfolded? What moral position do you take? What do you think of Cordelia? etc.

Also important, is how these responses would differ if you were talking about a traditional cosy text which is what TSBTS is essentially derived from. Also the 'why' its different - what values of contemporary society influenced the text etc. in order to redefine the crime in the text.

 

[del pietro]

thanx heaps mate! that opens it up a lot for me.