Lavender

Aaron M

Social Aspects of Lit

Prof Henderson

04/22/05

Lavender

Lavender is a mystery that unfolds in a way not atypical of other mystery stories, but sets itself apart by defying certain characteristics and conventions. There are many details to the plot (mainly to the descriptions of the characters) that are unexpected and deny the reader a chance to confirm their stereotypes about who a detective is, how they should act, and what they should look like. Specifically, in the role of the unconventional protagonist (detective?), Easy Rawlins is so surprisingly human, honestly cowardly, and unromantically realistic that the story seems plausible to the point of disappointment that the characters aren’t actually real.

Easy somewhat reminds me of Walter from “A Raisin in the Sun”: He’s an intelligent black man living in a big city, he has problems with his marriage and he works a blue collar job (also, I could see Sidney Poitier or Danny Glover, both of whom have played Walter, playing him in a film version instead of Denzel Washington, who took on the part of Easy in the film adaptation of “Devil in a Blue Dress”). Many of the characters in “Lavender” appear in other works by Walter Mosley (this is the first one that I’ve read however). In this story Easy learns of his friend Mouse’s death, which he is somewhat responsible for (though it is not explained in Lavender, I’m guessing it is in an earlier tale). I wonder if he still would have helped EttaMae find Willis if he hadn’t felt obligated to because of his part in her husband’s (Mouse) death, and because of his discovery of Bonnie’s alleged infidelity. My guess is probably not since Easy seems to be rather self absorbed (but to be fair, who isn’t?)

Willis is an amusing character in that I can relate to him easily. I too love playing music, and I’ve fallen for the wrong kind of girls before, though none as appropriately named as Sin. Mosley’s employment of creative and nuanced names for his characters is interesting. Willis for example, chooses the alias Little Jimmy Long, a name that suggests to me that while