The Black Mask · Chapter
No Sinecure explained
Raffles and Bunny are living in a small flat in Albany, where Raffles is restless and bored with their quiet life.
What happens
Raffles and Bunny are living in a small flat in Albany, where Raffles is restless and bored with their quiet life. He decides to take up a new challenge: breaking into a house in the country, but the plan goes awry when they discover the house is occupied by a woman who recognizes Raffles. The chapter explores Raffles' identity and his inability to settle into a normal life.
Themes in this chapter
Crime and Identity
Raffles' identity as a gentleman and a criminal is central, as he struggles to reconcile his past with his present desire for excitement.
Risk and Thrill
The chapter emphasizes Raffles' need for the thrill of risk, as he finds ordinary life unbearable without the danger of crime.
Characters to notice
- A. J. Raffles
Restless and bored with his quiet life, Raffles decides to plan a burglary for excitement.
- Bunny
Bunny is living with Raffles in Albany and is reluctantly drawn into Raffles' schemes.
Key passages
“I was never more restless than in the weeks that followed our return from the war.”
Raffles was extremely unsettled after coming back from the war.
Shows Raffles' dissatisfaction with peacetime life.
“It is a sin to be a sinecure.”
Having an easy, pointless job is a moral failing.
Reflects Raffles' belief that idleness is wrong.