Is the narrator of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd truly unreliable? Or did he reveal to us the truth all along—albeit in a roundabout way? Write a paper that answers the above question, either by making the case that he is not unreliable, or by clarifying the particular kind of unreliable narrator he is—even if this means coming up with a new term (that is, outside the list provided for us by William Riggan.

) Topic Sentence: Make a claim that could be disputable (i.e. not just a statement of fact.

  Hard boiled detectives serve the interests of law and order, but   occupy a moral grey area in the narratives in which they appear.

Reader: “What do you mean? Tell me more.”

2) Expansion: Explain and develop the idea you introduce in the topic sentence.

Although they are often on the lookout for violent criminals, they   are frequently willing to resort to violence themselves.

Reader: “Ok–prove it”

3) Evidence: Provide your reader with a specific example from the text to corroborate your claim.

  In Raymond Chandler’s “Spanish Blood,” the hard-boiled   detective, Sam Delaguerra, tortures the Phillipino   gangster, Toribo, to get information from him:   “Delaguerra jerked the wire taut against the brown   throat. The yell was cut off as though by a switch.   There was a strained anguished gurgle. Toribo’s mouth   drooled” (53).

Reader: “Tell me, explicitly, how to interpret this evidence in light of the claim made in the topic sentence.

4) Conclusion: Finish paragraph by describing implications of evidence for your argument.

Delaguerra uses violence to get information from Toribo, so the reader concludes that hard-boiled detectives are often as violent as the criminals they target in their investigations. They do not represent pure “goodness” : when they behave unethically, they ask the reader to consider if hard-boiled detectives are any better than the villains they chase. This question complicates our relationship to these characters: even though we might want to identify with   them as protagonists, we cannot fully celebrate them as heroes.

In “The Girl With the Silver Eyes,” it is described that Jeanne Delano is beautiful, mysterious, and dangerous.

By looking closely at the text, it can be seen that Jeanne Delano and Belle Marr represent two different versions of the femme fatale.

When Belle tells Sam, “I begin to see,” it is understood that Sam has acted in such a way as to help her cover up the crime of her husband’s murder.

In the following essay, it will be argued that Sam Delaguerra is a more three-dimensional character than Continental Op.

At the end of the story, Belle Marr’s guilt will be seen.