Courcy Island
The avowed aim of the crime fiction genre is a quest for justice for the victims of crime. This is driven by our fears and desires. It is the moral responsibility of the detective to solve the crime, and see that moral order is restored. As humans we have an innate sense that justice must be served; the quest of the detective becomes ours as well. Murder, being the ultimate crime reflects our fear of death and our desire to see moral retribution. It is part of the human condition to understand the world around us and from this desire stems an existential anxiety and a fear of the arbitrary and inexplicable cruelty of fate. Life is fraught with moral ambiguities. Appropriately the title the skull beneath the skin refers to the fact that death
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It is not only a backdrop for the action but also creates atmosphere and helps provide clues that are necessary in the investigation. Typical of the Intuitionists text, Courcy Island is a classic closed setting physically and socially cut off from the outside world, which can only be accessed by boat. In this respect the investigation is limited to a certain location and group of people, creating an atmosphere of fear and suspense, intensifying the sense of immanent threat- “Here on the southern shore where the mainland couldn’t be seen, it was easy to imagine that the island was totally lost at sea..”. Crime fiction is often set in a hostile world, which appears dangerous and threatening. In the novel, this danger is alluded to by the awareness of the characters of its violent and bloodstained history including its chambers of horrors and its morbid past of murders, plagues and tortures, “ They saw the skulls at once. One whole wall was patterned with them, a grinning parade of death”. As Cordelia begins her investigation she learns many dark secrets and we as an audience realize that the occupants of Courcy Island may go to extreme and violent measures to protect these secrets. Not only does this indicate danger in the past, it alludes to danger in the
It is not only a backdrop for the action but also creates atmosphere and helps provide clues that are necessary in the investigation. Typical of the Intuitionists text, Courcy Island is a classic closed setting physically and socially cut off from the outside world, which can only be accessed by boat. In this respect the investigation is limited to a certain location and group of people, creating an atmosphere of fear and suspense, intensifying the sense of immanent threat- “Here on the southern shore where the mainland couldn’t be seen, it was easy to imagine that the island was totally lost at sea..”. Crime fiction is often set in a hostile world, which appears dangerous and threatening. In the novel, this danger is alluded to by the awareness of the characters of its violent and bloodstained history including its chambers of horrors and its morbid past of murders, plagues and tortures, “ They saw the skulls at once. One whole wall was patterned with them, a grinning parade of death”. As Cordelia begins her investigation she learns many dark secrets and we as an audience realize that the occupants of Courcy Island may go to extreme and violent measures to protect these secrets. Not only does this indicate danger in the past, it alludes to danger in the