In this class, we started reading classic Noir books with detectives as their main characters and had a big dark mystery that needed to be solved. We learned very quickly that “solving” a case does not really mean that the characters or the readers will receive or feel satisfied by the ending. The haunting “No happy endings” echoes as I write this. Throughout the Noir classics, it seems like the moral purpose of the main characters consists of the idea of keeping what’s in the dark hidden from society. Almost like keeping the elephant in the room – shoved in a corner with a huge cover over it so no one can see it. However things are changing, and now our main character is a black woman, not a white man or woman. How does this change things? I argue that Blanche in Blanche on the Lam is an inversion of Sam Spade in Maltese Flacon. When I use the word inversion I am referring to contrasting characteristics.
Sam Spade is a detective that chooses to explore the darkness by trying to uncover the falcon that is in the possession of the “other.” It can be argued that he is only doing this because it is his job but I think in reality no one would put themselves in that much danger just for money. What is different for Blanche is that she is forced into the situation that she is in. She didn’t choose to be on the run from authority. Choosing to descend into darkness and being forced to descend are complete opposites of each other. This is just one of the examples of how having a white male main character to a black female main character invert each other.
Another example of their inversions compliments the question of choice that I mentioned previously. This has to do with the idea of chasing versus running. Sam Spade is a character that is relentless in his pursuit of the falcon. He goes out of his way in meeting with Gutman and gambling his safety by saying that he is in possession of the falcon or will be soon. He is the one that is actively chasing to reach his goal. While in Blanche’s case, she is on the run from being caught and thrown in prison. Her offense is also something as minor as bad checks while compared to the country commissioner accepting bribes. I think we should also note that both these characters’ offenses involve money, but Blanche is trying to get the money that she owed while the commissioner is trying to gain even more money. This moment and realization in Blanche are what causes her to go on the run. Making another point that proves how her character inverts Sam Spade.
Blanche moved from New York City to come to North Carolina while Sam Spade is in San Francisco the entire novel. With the characteristics of Noir, it makes it seem like trouble can only be found in big cities. While for Blanche, her trouble occurs in the south. I think the author purposefully made this choice for Blanche’s conflict to happen in the south to comment on how trouble follows women of color where ever they go. While through the white experience they don’t find the same trouble that people of color go through in the south. The inversion of Blanche and Sam Spade is an important one because it shows the differences in how Noir changes between gender and race, and it also demonstrates the cultural change of literature during the time period. I think an important question that we can start asking now is, how does Blanche’s experience in the 1990’s change in the year 2022?
I think there’s value in comparing and contrasting Blanche White and Sam Spade for the reasons you listed. Sam is a white man with much more power and agency as a detective in 1930s San Francisco than Blanche as a Black woman in 1990s rural Farleigh. They exist in entirely separate worlds, in the sense that the societal structures surrounding them treat Blanche and Sam in entirely different ways. Sam is presented as superior to the various authority figures in his novel. Boldly so; he has no need to pretend otherwise. Conversely, Blanche is introduced as having no voice or sway against the authority of the law in North Carolina and despite demonstrating her intelligence, must diminish herself in order to survive the plight of her novel.