Huffed Masculinity. The Female Threat in Cain’s Double Indemnity

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Koblenz-Landau, language: English, abstract: Double Indemnity was first published in 1935 and affirmed James M. Cain’s status as a novelist. By reading it, one can learn why, but that is not the only observation that can be made. It is noticeable that Phyllis, the Femme Fatale of the story, constantly oversteps the boundaries of her gender, thus posing a threat to men. The question that started this Term Paper was: How much of a threat to patriarchal masculinity is Phyllis and is this threat contained? The thesis is that Phyllis subverts patriarchal masculinity in two spheres, the business sphere and the domestic sphere and by doing this, threatens it. The goal is to look at several instances where she does it and deduct if the threat she poses is contained or not. In order to prove this thesis, a very short overview of the concept of sex and gender will be given which is a basic concept in cultural studies and needed when moving on to discuss masculinity during the 1930s. This will be followed by a look at the term hard-boiled fiction as it was perceived back then and the main character and the femme fatale of said genre. The literary analysis consists of a look at the world itself by using Huff’s casino metaphor, a closer look at Phyllis’s and Mr. Nirdlinger’s relationship, concluded with Phyllis’s motivation. Based on the theory and the analysis, it will be discussed if the female threat is contained or not and an outlook will be given.