In what ways are people and their experiences brought to life through distinctive voices?

Distinctive voices allow responders to vicariously journey into the world of the speaker. These distinctive voices reflect their context through language of a unique individual whilst allowing insight into their psyche. The experience that we have of their lives is influenced through their persona, purpose and assumptions expressed in their language and voice. Marele's Day 1995 crime fiction novel “The Life and Crime of Harry Lavender” portray the life of its protagonist Claudia Valentine a female detective who challenges us with stereotypical gender assumptions and whose purpose is to solve a mystery, additionally the distinctive voice of the antagonist Harry Lavender allows the responder to experience his perspective of superiority over others and understand his purpose of constructing a legacy for himself through his memoirs.

The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender both supports and subverts the traditionally male “hard boiled” detective through the inferential choices of language and a first person point of view presented by the female protagonist, Claudia Valentine who embodies a 1980's feminist values in the highly corrupted patriarchal context in which the novel in set. Claudia's distinctive voice is introduced by Day's attempt to manipulate the reader's inferences. The metonymic sexual colloquialism “the good-looking blond” is employed in order to obfuscate the gender of the persona by exploiting and challenging cultural assumptions that the conceptualisation of gender is fluid, additionally her libidinous tone conveys her sexual promiscuity as well as her attempt to dehumanise her sexual partners. Claudia's misanthropic and brusque behaviour towards society conceals her vulnerability however through her inner voice as she converses with the novels 'femme fatale' Steve Angell the reader is allowed to journey vicariously into her vulnerable psyche. Through the biblical reference and pun in “meeting an angel had certainly brightened up my day” the reader can see a softer tone in Claudia's thoughts as she compares his characteristics to one of an angel. Through the language and persona of Claudia Valentine, responders are allowed to vicariously experience her life and personal encounters and gain insight into her psyche as a female detective solving the murder of Mark Bannister amidst a violent and morally corrupted 1980's urban context.

Harry Lavender is the antagonist of the novel and his distinctive voice is established through italicised texts which allow the responders to vicariously experience into his inner psyche. His voice is different to that of Claudia as he uses high falutin diction and pompous expressions to portray his narcissistic nature. The pun in “at the going down of the cityson... they will remember” creates ambiguity between the death of Lavender and the end of an era (fin-de-siecle angst) for Sydney whilst self-aggrandising by assuming he will leave a lasting legacy of tribute and adoration. Through his texts it is presented that he is a WW2 Holocaust survivor and orphan, these experiences of diaspora have shaped him into a malicious prominent crime figure. The historical allusion in “the Nazis killed all my family” allows the reader to empathise with him about his past tormentous experiences which have consequently forced him to adapt a facade of cynicism and misanthropy to protect his inner vulnerability. The …... in “I stand on top of my city” conveys his belief that he has attained such immense power throughout the city of Sydney that has consequently made it ‘his’ city because of the influence he holds, there is a recurrent belief that his authority and power will transcend his own imminent demise. Harry Lavender evinces a grandiose tone as he projects the belief that he is omnipotent. Through his language the responder is allowed to vicariously experience the personae's psyche and furthermore allowed to empathise with his experiences and his purpose of securing a legacy of pompous nature. Both Claudia Valentine and Harry Lavender share the context of the novel however differ in purposes as their voices represent the right and wrong side of the law. Their misanthropic behaviour towards society conceals the inner vulnerability that they both possess and disguise through their adaptation of “hard-boiled” characteristics, this allows them to mask their weakness and survive within a morally corrupt milieu.

Al Pacino's rhetorical oration from Tom Hackford's The Devils Advocate(1997) is a persuasive speech designed to persuade his son Kevin Lomax, he uses a combination of logos, ethos and pathos to seduce him into joining him in the reign of evil. Throughout his speech he attempts to shift Kevin's credibility of God's power and gain credibility himself. Through the use of imperative language in“look but don’t touch” he is satirising God's hypocrisy in giving humanity choice and then setting restrictive rules. The anthropomorphism “God is a sadist” is a blasphemous attempt to demean God's power and his credibility; this will consequently shift Kevin s allegiance. Al Pacino uses colloquial expression in “Im peaking now” to end his speech in order to aggrandise himself to his son and portray the power he has over humanity. Through the use of 'fin-de-siecle angst' this speech is able to illustrate that humanity has been on the same cycle of destruction and renewal as a consequence of its internal struggle between God and Evil “since the whole thing began” There is a similarity between the characters of Al Pacino and Harry Lavender as they are both attempting to secure a legacy, Al Pacino through his son and Lavender through his autobiographical book. The personas share similar characteristics as their voices are arrogant and self-aggrandising with a pompous tone as they boast of their achievements and the influence and impact they have had which will ultimately lead them to achieve a lasting legacy.

In conclusion, it is irrefutable that a distinctive voice allows responders to journey vicariously in the psyche of an individual through their use of language and unique expressions. Day's crime fiction novel 'The Life and Crime of Harry Lavender' is comprised of two distinctive voices, which allow the reader to empathise with both the protagonist and antagonist of the novel.