As I read Hugh\u2019s story and compared his emotions to those of Spade and Marlowe, I began to question what causes guilt. Is guilt an internal recognition of a mistake and a subsequent regret? Or is it something impressed upon us when others assume our fault? Or, does it lie somewhere in the middle?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Examining Spade and Marlowe\u2019s stories makes me believe that guilt comes from within. Sam Spade laughs breezily in the face of accusations, making sly comments and quips. He is positive of his innocence, even if the audience is not completely sure, and so he is able to separate himself from the guilt the detectives attempt to place on him. Similarly, Marlowe\u2014despite being a clear suspect due to his location at the time of Mariott\u2019s murder\u2014harbors no sense of shame for his unfortunate circumstances. Both Spade and Marlowe are able to rationalize their situations and argue the coincidence of their position with dark crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before reading The Expendable Man<\/em>, I viewed Spade and Marlowe\u2019s self-assuredness as admirable, rational qualities. But upon analyzing Hugh\u2019s paranoia and conscripted guilt, I began to view their aplomb as less of something to respect and more of a benefit of their privilege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who gets to bask in their innocence, and who does not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hugh is not able to disassociate himself with the guilt that is so forced upon him because he is reminded of it everywhere he turns. Venner lurks in shadows, Marshal Hackaberry calls him up whenever he sees fit, and Fred Othy attempt to frame him. He cannot escape this innocent guilt not only because outside forces coerce him, but because these forces begin to seep into his skin, consuming his consciousness as well. The external guilt even gaslights Hugh into believing he might\u2019ve done something wrong, even telling Ellen he wished he would\u2019ve done things differently. This heavy feeling weighs him down even after the true murderer was found, so much so that Hugh [wondered] if he would ever be cleansed of his innocent guilt,\u201d even as he made his way back to the protection of his home (243).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike Spade and Marlowe, Hugh cannot simply write his guilt off. He cannot laugh in the face of authoritarian accusations like Spade. He cannot justify his unfortunate circumstance of being at the wrong place at the wrong time like Marlowe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But is Bob\u2019s guilt inescapable simply because he is not the confident, dynamic, sharp man that Spade and Marlowe are? Or does this separation of guilt come from something more than personality; does it come from skin color? Does \u201cinnocent guilt\u201d only exist for the Black, the dark, and can the \u201cpure\u201d whites escape it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I believe both of these influences play a role in disregarding innocent guilt. Because Spade and Marlowe are white men, they have been given the privilege to fortify their qualities of confidence and sophistication, which therefore allows them to avoid any unjustified innocent guilt. But because Hugh is a Black man who is systematically oppressed and immediately pinned as the first suspect, he cannot escape the guilt that others force upon them.<\/strong> Hugh cannot have faith in the justice and legal system as Ellen assure him to, because those systems have perpetually proven themselves to be against men like Hugh. And so, despite his innocence, Hugh must submit to this guilt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I read Hugh\u2019s story and compared his emotions to those of Spade and Marlowe, I began to question what causes guilt. Is guilt an internal recognition of a mistake and a subsequent regret? Or is it something impressed upon us when others assume our fault? Or, does it lie somewhere in the middle? Examining … Continue reading “Guilty of Being Innocent”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4361,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4361"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions\/183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}