35 pages • 1 hour read
James M. CainDouble Indemnity
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1936A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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The final chapter relies heavily on impressionistic imagery and vivid descriptions of Phyllis, but cannot describe Phyllis and Huff’s final moments because of the narrative perspective. How might the narrative differ if Cain chose to frame it in a different way, such as in third person or with multiple perspective characters? Think about how a specific scene might be conveyed differently if it was told from a different perspective. Why might Cain have chosen first-person confessional specifically?
Phyllis rationalizes her need to murder as a love of Death. Why do you think Phyllis’s self-understanding and the description of her by others are so different? What would the significance of her lying (or not lying) about her motivations mean?
Phyllis is presented as a woman with almost mystical powers of seduction. Keyes, on the other hand, is a man obsessed with statistics, science, and empirical measurements. What do you make of this difference of characterization between the two? Why is the femme fatale heavily related to mysticism while the detective is a man of rationality and science?
Why do you think refusing Lola’s kiss brings Huff peace? What might this suggest about his inner turmoil and guilt? Is Huff as corrupted and cynical as he presents himself to be?
Why does Huff record Norton and Keyes deciding how to handle the insurance claim in his testimonial? What do the conversations between Keyes and Norton suggest about Huff’s description of the insurance industry as a “gambling wheel”?
Huff claims that the “blood-red drapes” of the “House of Death” do not mean anything and were not significant. Yet, the color red does feature prominently in Phyllis’s Death costume. Why might Huff dismiss the colors of the curtains as insignificant when the color red is so prominent in Phyllis’s characterization?
Phyllis is often described as an animal. She is a “leopard” (20), a rattlesnake” (70), and a “cobra” (105). Why does Cain use these metaphors of predatory animals? And what does this dehumanization suggest about the archetype of the femme fatale?
Why does Phyllis and Huff’s relationship immediately fall apart after the murder is finished? What does this imply about their relationship and the nature of their greed? How does this relate to Huff’s “unhealthy excitement” that Phyllis makes him feel (86)?
Cain creates a parallel between the marriage of Sachetti and Lola and the “marriage” between Huff and Phyllis. Compare and contrast the marriages between the two different couples. What do their different circumstances and outcomes suggest about the themes of Corruption and Money, Temptation and the Femme Fatale, and Innocence and the Ingénue?
Phyllis describes Death both as a man she wants to marry and as herself. The blurry line between these identities can be seen as masculinizing Phyllis. Giving killers gender identities that are not strictly the same as their assigned gender at birth is a common biased trope in older crime and horror fiction. It often serves to villainize diverse gender identities. How might the blurry line between Phyllis’s own identity as a woman and Death as a man relate to Huff’s fear of the power she holds over him? Do you think this blurry line in Phyllis’s identity suggests anything else about her character or the themes of the novel?
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By James M. Cain
