earticle

영어

Chester Himes’ Harlem Cycle transforms traditional hard-boiled detective fiction through the racial subversion of criminality and the vocational modification of the primary investigative agent. However, despite Himes’ intent to produce a substantially different kind of hard-boiled detective fiction, Harlem Cycle inherits the convention of punishment upon femme fatales and male homosexuals from the traditions of hard-boiled detective fiction. Although Harlem Cycle condemns racial inequality and oppression, it punishes Black femme fatales and Black homosexual men. This paper examines the representation of Black femme fatales and Black homosexual men and their punishment in Harlem Cycle. Black femme fatales are represented as sexually attractive and morally corrupt. Thus, they are deemed threatening to the security of the Black family and home and severely punished. The Black homosexual men in Harlem Cycle are represented not in terms of sexual desire but of criminality, and their harsh treatment is justified because of their villainy. This paper interprets this punishment of Black femme fatales and Black homosexual men as Himes’ attempt to subdue the racial discontent of the Black community by converting their anger ignited by racism into hostility towards women and sexual minorities.