Women’s Role in Crime Fictions

After I have studied crime fiction for one semester, I have many questions in my mind. One of them is Why women seem to be the problem in one way or another? Such as in The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. Most crime fiction that I studied has a men protagonist except The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson that both men and women are both protagonists. Many women in fiction showed a bad reputation to the reader, in my opinion.

In The Big Sleep, femme fatale is the main characteristic most females in the story have, such as Vivian and Carmen Sternwood. Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo might be the protagonist, but she is an insane girl who does illegal things and does not follow the role of society. Vesper in Casino Royale is a double agent, and she made a major scar in Jame Bond’s heart. Marge in The Talented Mr. Ripley is pretty useless, in my opinion. I give these examples to show you that many women’s roles in crime fiction seem to be the problem to all men protagonists.

Most crime fiction in the past wrote by men, so it showed how men thought of women in society. Every woman has some pressure on being a good girl to follow what men say. Until today we still see that in our society, especially in a conservative family. Feminism is new to many people, and most people have known just the surface of real feminism. On the other hand, I think maybe people do not have to understand feminism 100 percent, but I think that people should understand that everyone is equal. Women have every right that men have, and that all. I hope to read more about a female protagonist in other crime fiction.