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Discuss how the composer's ideas are conveyed through the textual forms

and features prescribed in the text you have studied.

"The life and crimes of harry lavender" composed by Marele Day isdescribed as a witty, wryly humorous and fast-paced thriller novel. The

story revolves around a female protagonist , laudia !alentine. he

challenges the conventions and expectations of their time by her feminist

approach towards her occupation and male dominance. #eing an

independent private detective, laudia's' strong will power and courage

had fuelled her to solve the mysterious death of Mar$ #annister. The

e%ects, style and structure of this &ustralian crime ction creates

suspense for the target audience and the hard boiled sub-genre. The

central themes and concerns explored within this text are deception, goodvs evil and corruption within a modern society.

(#ac$ground info) The turn of suspicion began with a note only stating on

it "terminal illness", this note was anonymously given to Marilyn

#annister, mar$'s sister. The notion behind this clue led to Marilyn to

contact an old school friend to examine the case. Mar$'s death was

proclaimed as cardiac arrest which Marilyn also thought was suspicious.

 The cause of the death was ydney's ruthless criminal underworld whichfollows to the main culprit *arry +avender. *arry's character portrayal of a

godfather li$e gure was built upon the foundation of his childhood. *e

was a young isolated holocaust survivor which also shaped his cold-$iller

nature. Days novel is seen as deceptive as the character portrayal of 

ally !illos is a fa$e faade for the maority of the novel. Day employs

descriptive words such as /cute, 0ighty and ultimately dangerous1 which

is a modern day appropriation of a femme fatale, beautiful but morally

duplicitous. ally vilos layered ma$e up represents the external mas$ she

wears to the world. The signicance of the recurring mirror motif 

symbolises the fa$eness of allys re0ection illuminating that appearance

can be deceptive. ally is caught and her web of lies are nally cleared up

as the investigation reveals the truth that she has relations with *arry

+avender as his illegitimate daughter, epitomised in the repetition of third

person narration couple with ellipsis in /2 was his3his3his3daughter1.

 The disclosure that sally is the person who inected heroin into Mar$s

body and played a maor part in his murder has been encapsulated

utilising collo4uial language coupled with alliteration in /2 wanted them to

thin$ it was the smac$1 hence deceiving the law about the actual motive

behind Mar$s death. During Mar$s funeral, Day further deceives the

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audience with sallys fa$e grief at the funeral which is highlighted through

the rhetorical 4uestion in 1why5...why5...1. ally is metaphorically

re0ected to be as the city of ydney as Day via becoming the humanised

face of the city outwardly glamorous but inwardly despoiled again

emphasising the theme of appearance vs reality. *er callous insensitivityis uxtaposed with valentines integrity as days employment of sport

imagery coupled with assonance in /she loo$ed at me cautiously, waiting

for me to open service1 helps characterise the cat and mouse relationship

between valentine and sally. Day utilises sally to continuously deceive

valentine and the audience whilst depicting that crime is a game that sally

vilos intends to win.

 The 2mportance of good vs evil are strengthen by laudia valentine andharry lavender and the power play that develops between them in a race

to nd the last remaining copy of bannisters manuscript. laudias

investigation for answers to mar$ bannisters deaths brings her in grave

danger with the antagonist harry lavender. The use of rst person within

+avenders memoirs, assists in creating an underworld presence and

reveals another perception of ydney, although this polish holocaust

survivor never appears in person. Days utili6ation of emphasi6ed history

sets up the impact of harry lavender depicted by the unmista$able tone of 

strength whilst showing a star$ uxtaposition of dull and vile symbolism of 

lavender as he is given a gurative feeling of being similar to 7cancer',

which is gradually obliterating the city of ydney. This is uncovered

through laudias expression, "the guiltlessness of a period past, before

the stench of lavender. #e that as it may, the stench had dependably been

there". Days utili6ation of the city of ydney and the solid rule of harry

lavender, underneath the citys "spar$ling exteriors", extend the

understanding that appearances can be misleading. The useful rule of 

lavender if further implied through laudias analogy, "2 felt li$e an onion

with intense chestnut s$in peeled o%". Marele days decision of her home

town ydney as a setting, incites a response from the peruse that the

novel is one of revelation, investigation and a 4uest for truth. The

relationship in the middle of valentine and lavender is additionally obvious

as we made mindful that appearances can be beguiling as laudia is

gotten between the universe of wrongdoing and an aching for some

steadiness. & consciousness of valentine and her childrens mortality are

exemplied by 0ashbac$s to her youth whilst strengthening laudias

unpredictable and defenseless characterisation. This is portrayed through

the hyperbolic explanation couple with recurring theme of the eyes

symbolism "the length of 2 didn't begin draining from the eyeballs".laudia straightforwardly addresses the audience about how she sees the

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world in her gurative, alliterative description of "the most established

lady on the planet showed up through everything 2 could see an eye,

modest blue la$e in a desert of wrin$led hills". !alentine determines that

being a female in the hardboiled investigator world van be favourable

position in light of the fact that individuals open up to her e%ectivelywhich helps in the exposure of the pu66le behind who set the defective

pacema$er in imprint rail whilst the gathering of people are presented to

the intention of his demise.

Days characterisation of harry lavender as a supreme gure passes on her

worries that wrongdoing pays inside of a present day society whilst

ma$ing force. +avenders haughty voice is typied through obvious and

meddling utili6ation of rst individual solitary and possessive pronouns, "2"and "my". +avenders rehashed reference to "purple" and his hyperbolic

dreams of a state burial service accentuate his egocentric mentality as

does the way he portrays his life as "history". *is megalomaniac identity

is li$ewise stressed by day through lavenders appointment of the 8de "at

the going down of the citys child they will recollect that me" which

highlights his twisted feeling of self. Day utili6es a change from rst to

third individual dialect "T*9: ;2++ ;&