The Generational Gap: The Classical and Hardboiled Detective What constitutes a hero? Rippling biceps encase in spandex? Superpowers like flight or invincibility? Sadly, it is too farfetched to call a man that has the ability to lift a mountain without breaking a sweat, real. Yet, therein lays the beauty of literary heroes. Superpowered or not, literary heroes range from aliens from an obliterate planet, looking to save the galaxy from extinction, to an human man with a lungful of cigarette smoke, looking to deliver his own brand of order to all those who threaten Lady Justice. The detectives, without the safety net of a heightened ability, are exemplified as particularly heroic. They are men, not super men (even though their keen intuition and deductive logic and reasoning borders on supernatural) and throughout the lengthy history of crime fiction there has always been a clever and vigilant detective there to bring the slipper villain to justice. When looking back, Edgar Allen Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin represents the classical detective archetype that roots itself in intellect over action, whereas Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe represent the hardboiled model of detecting that relies on instinct and paranoia. Regardless of the country or the era, the classical detective and the hardboiled detective anchor themselves as heroes for their time, through their contradictory social class and distinctive language. To commence, the classical detective and the hardboiled detective come from juxtaposing social classes. This detail heavily influences the mentality of the detective, thus propelling them to solve the mysteries for completely separate ideological reasons. For the classical detective, solving the enigma is a quest he can accomplish in his spare time. Coming from titanic wealth, the classical detective is exempt from the peasant worry of earning money to survive (Porter 156). Knowing this, the classical detective devotes essentially all his time to reading novellas of information and observing the common man. With crime solving being a mere hobby, the classical detective becomes a knight searching for the Holy Grail; a person uninterested with the payoff, but the quest that will lead to glory. On the same note, crime solving is a game for the classical detective, a way to amuse themselves, while simultaneously revealing their superior intellect and outsmarting all those who are not privileged to the same level of higher education, namely the police assigned to the case (Porter 156). The classical detective, while being pompous and pretentious, is the hero readers love to hate. When the situation appears grim and the case becomes a true puzzle that borders on unsolvable, the classical detective swoops in and fills in the glaring question marks that link all the seemingly random evidence together. Much like a white knight leading the cavalry, the classical detective storms in after the front lines have gone down, offering hope and winning the war. The hardboiled detective, on the other hand, solves mysteries and crimes for the monetary gain. The prestige and glory that the classical detective achieves by solving a mystery is undermined by the paycheck the hardboiled detective collects at the end of a case. Quite literally, crime solving is a job for the hardboiled detective and obligation, weights heavily on the hardboiled detective’s shoulders. The feeling of pride that serves to elevate the enormous ego of the classical detective is replaced by a feeling relief at a job well done for the hardboiled detective. Though, what makes the hardboiled inherently heroic is the idea of the ordinary person rising to the occasion and overcoming all obstacles that would seem insurmountable to the common man. Coming from a lower income social class, the hardboiled detective does not have epic volumes worth of scientific literature at his disposal to assist him in his crime solving, nor does he spend his time waxing poetic on forms of music or literature (Chandler 86). Marlowe expresses his obvious dislike for the upper class when he states, “you people with a lot of money are really something…” (Chandler 225). While wealth and education act as a staple of classical detective literature, hardboiled literature involves the detective possessing a heightened sense of intuition to go along with his impeccable sense of right and wrong. Moreover, whereas the classical detective can sit on his pristine white horse and regale the bumbling police with the way in which events unfolded, the hardboiled detective is resilient and is not afraid to get down and dirty to solve his case. Fistfights, dodging bullets and car chases seem to follow the hardboiled detective like a stray dog and the detective’s willingness to solve a case despite the threat to his well being makes the hardboiled detective a working class hero. As well, the language in which the detective uses demonstrates his stance of heroism. Classical detectives tend to fight with words and wit and the hardboiled detective chooses to put crime in its place with his sarcastic speech and twin fists of law and order. The supercilious language of the classical detective furthers his elevated social status and purposefully belittles those around him (Porter 163). Dupin, Poe’s brilliant detective from The Purloined Letter, utilizes language in a way that leaves all those around him dumbfounded and starry eyed, making sure the blows in which his characters come to are merely verbal as opposed to physical (Porter 163). As Dupin states, “this reponse of the schoolboy lies at the bottom of all the spurious profundity” (211). The classical detective wields his snark and disdain like a flaming sword that he uses to command the attention of those around him. Often times, the language is overly ostentatious, yet the authoritative and omnipotent undertones ring clear. For instance, Poe writes, “"Than whom," said Dupin, amid a perfect whirlwind of smoke, "no more sagacious agent could, I suppose, be desired, or even imagined” (204). The classical detective, essentially, exemplifies the British ideal of a flawless being with flawless insight and heightened reasoning that all culminate in a mythic hero that borders on godlike. The hardboiled detective, on the other hand, is the American working man that makes a living by exposing secrets, outsmarting villains and bringing the corrupt to justice. The manners in which the hardboiled detective speaks, is a reflection of the cynical and paranoid times in which they are written. Often crass and crude, the sarcasm is much more openly pointed to than in the elegantly veiled classic detective. For instance, Marlowe says, “I know he was a good man at whatever he did. No one was more pleased than I when I heard you had taken him on as your... whatever he was” (The Big Sleep). The gruff and realistic feel of the dialogue helps ground readers to the time frame while simultaneously allowing them to relate to the detective. Yet, what makes the hardboiled detective likeable is his alarming sense of self and his ability to lighten any mood with a superbly crafted sense of humor. Marlowe jokes about the distinctive hardboiled way of speaking when he says, “You know what he'll do when he comes back? Beat my teeth out, then kick me in the stomach for mumbling” (The Big Sleep). Yet, what makes hardboiled detective fiction so fascinating is the ability to mesh humor and cynicism, intertwining them into one solid thread that weaves the rest of the tale. Chandler summarizes the overall feel of his story, The Long Goodbye, when he writes, “hard little men in hard little offices talking hard little words that don’t mean a goddamn thing” (61). The bleak and terse writing style divulges the ways in which the hardboiled detective views the world, yet what makes him heroic is his courage, determination and attempts to right a world that is so blackened by immorality and despair that even the most righteous of men cannot begin to scrape away the corruption. In short, detective fiction presents a reader with two polar opposite portrayal of characters. With the classical detective, his wealth, intelligence and haughty attitude serve to raise him from the shackles of humanity and present a being that is so divine that he can logically and expertly solve any case placed before him. With the hardboiled detective, crime solving and detecting becomes an adventure where instinct and habit reign supreme in a world where violence is just as probably as peace. In the end, social class and language become merely a generational gap which allows for the true definition of a hero to be filled in by the reader. Works Cited Chandler, Raymond. The Long Goodbye. Toronto: Random House of Canada Limited, 1953. Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Purloined Letter”. Tales, Volume 1. New York: Wiley & Putnam, 1845. 200-218. Porter, Dennis. “The Detective Hero.” The Pursuit of Crime: Art and Ideology in Detective Fiction. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987. 146-188. The Big Sleep. Dir. Howard Hawks. Perf. Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart. DVD. Warner Brothers, 1946.