The Thin Man

The Thin Man is unusual for a hardboiled detective novel in that it is humorous, and the theme of Humor as an Antidote for Darkness features throughout. Hammett’s readers were in the first years of the Great Depression, and the darkness of the genre was only too present in the real world of 1933. Hammett capitalized on the desire for escape that took people to theaters to see 42nd Street and King Kong the same year The Thin Man was published. The rich, carefree, and humorous couple was an antidote for the bleakness of reality and a counterbalance to the usual grit of hardboiled fiction.

Detectives in this genre are typically sarcastic, and Nick Charles retains the biting wit of his colleagues. However, he lacks the bitterness that usually accompanies the hardboiled protagonist. Nick enjoys life, making his sarcasm less venomous and his wit a method for eluding questions and making light of dark situations. In Nick, the typical world-weary detective transforms into a fun-loving, intelligent husband who disarms people with his wit and sidesteps tough questions with humor. The sarcasm proves his street-smart credentials, but he delivers it with a wink that lightens a situation as dark as murder. When Wynant’s body is discovered, Nick’s quip about him being as “thin as the paper he’s writing letters on” is typical (190). It adds a smile to an otherwise grim moment.

While the wordplay is mostly credited to Nick (though Nora gets some good lines as well), the behavior of the characters also helps lighten what might otherwise be a dark tone in the novel. Dorothy and Mimi both constantly make a play for Nick and provide ample opportunity for what could be marital strife and drama. These situations end up appearing ridiculous in the hands of Nick and Nora, such as when Nora finds her husband embracing Dorothy. The couple make faces at each other over her head and go on with business rather than make a scene.

Gilbert also provides comic relief, as his off-the-wall questions to Nick become even more ridiculous when treated with the logical, often witty seriousness with which Nick responds. Information about cannibalism and what being shot by a gun feels like isn’t necessarily funny, but that Nick knows the answers to the obscure questions and the way he responds with factual evidence make the gruesome inquiries seem silly. The darkest things in the world, even the darkness of the Great Depression, cannibalism, and murder, can be lightened by Nick’s straightforward wit.

Physical comedy also abounds. Near the beginning, the dog, Asta, is described as knocking over a table at a department store, and this type of comedy doesn’t stop until the final reveal. People throw pans at each other, have barroom brawls, and escape out of windows in ways that both acknowledge gritty violence and render it ridiculous. Nick grabbing Mimi, who is in a violent tantrum, while Gilbert ineffectually flails could be seen as disturbing, and yet it becomes funny with Nick yelling at Gilbert, “We can fight afterwards” (147), and Nora solving everything by throwing cold water on it. Likewise, the policeman John Guild’s shock at Mimi cursing Macaulay with a string of profanities is humorous. That Nick has to take care of subduing the murderer because Guild is so startled is a humorous way to end an otherwise dark unmasking of greed and murder.

All of this contributes to the lightness of the novel, which walks the line between the hardboiled genre and comedy, making it unique in that it uses humor to play against Hammett’s usual hardboiled tone and mood.