zName: Medvei Krisztina, Marton RolandInstitution: Petru Maior University, Trgu-MureSpecialization: REYear: 3rd

Raymond ChandlerTHE BIG SLEEP

2014Structure

Medvei Krisztina: The author: Raymond Chandler The setting Point of view Plot Overview CharactersMarton Roland: Title: The big sleep Themes Motifs Symbols Narrative modes QuotationsBibliography

The author: Raymond Chandler

Raymond Thornton Chandler was born in Chicago on July 23, 1888. His father was an engineer, who abandoned his family after he divorced Raymond's mother in 1895. When Chandler was seven, his mother took him to England. He attended preparatory schools. In 1907, become a British subject. After receiving a strong, classical education, Chandler tried his hand in freelance work. By 1908, he was writing for such London periodicals as the Academy and the Westminster Gazette. In 1912, Chandler decided to move back to the United States. When World War I came, he served in the Canadian Expedition Force and was later involved with the R.A.F. In America, Chandler settled in Los Angeles. He didn`t liked this city because it was so difficult to find a job. After that Chandler begins to write. Raymond Chandler was a `clasic` because of his inventiveness, the fat place and accurate ear for American `tough`speech.[footnoteRef:1] Dr. Mac Shane's identified Chandler, in ''The Life of Raymond Chandler'' (1976), as a mystery writer, a major literary stylist, a novelist and also as a keen observer of American life. Raymond Chandler was one of the originators of the hard-boiled detective story and Dr. Mac Shane compared him to Joyce, Tolstoy, Chaucer, Twain and Conrad, helped change all that. We also can read in nytimes.com that Frank Mac Shane says that "If you want to know what California is like, read Raymond Chandler." This writer started writing pulp fiction stories in 1932 at the age of 44. A year later, his stories began to appear regularly in Black Mask magazine. So we can discovered that Raymond Chandler wrote many hard-boiled novels like "Farewell, My Lovely," "The Big Sleep," "The High Window" and "The Lady in the Lake". [1: American literature since 1900; edited by Marcus Cunliffe; Volume 9 of the Penguin Histoty of Literature; 1993; p 397.]

In Raymond Chandler`s hands, the pulp crime story became a haunting mystery of power and corruption, set against a modern cityscape both lyrical and violent. With humor, and an unerring sense of dialogue and the telling details of dress and behavior, he created a distinctive fictional universe out of the dark side of sunlit Los Angeles. In the process, he transformed both crime writing and the American language. Now Chandler joins the authoritative Library of America series in a comprehensive two-volume set displaying all the facets of his brilliant talent. Stories and Early Novels include every classic story that Chandler wrote in the 1931 and did not later incorporate into a novel. With s poet`s sensitivity he transcribe the moods and textures of a world of gangsters and crooked politicians, lost soul and small-time operators. Against that backdrop we see the gradual development of his most indelible creation, the classic private eye whose hard-boiled exterior guards a sentimental and essentially moral nature. In his first novel, The Big sleep (1939) that character finds his full-fledged form as Philip Marlowe: at once tough, independent, brash, disillusioned, and sensitive a man of weary honor threading his way (in Chandler`s phrase) ``down these mean streets`` among blackmailers, pornographers, and murderers for hire.[footnoteRef:2] [2: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The Library of America, 1995, New York, the book cover]

So, The Big Sleep broke away from the previous style of detective fiction, which includes narratives such as the Sherlock Holmes tales and the novels of Agatha Christie. Chandler not only broke away from the language of previous detective fiction, but was also unconventional in plotting, in his play with order, and in the addition of more than one plotline. So we can remark that, Chandler was an alcoholic, a depressive and a man given to bouts of nerves. He suffered from painful skin allergies, including one that spread over his chest and neck which could be relieved only by the use of morphine. He died of bronchial pneumonia at 70 in 1959, 26 March. [footnoteRef:3] [3: American literature since 1900, edited by Marcus Cunliffe, volume 9 of the Penguin Histoty of Literature, 1993, p 78]

The setting

The Big Sleep is set in 1930s October. This we can found out from the book, where says on the page 596 that: there were promissory notes filled out in ink, dated on several dates early in the month before, September.[footnoteRef:4] The place where are going on the actions is Los Angeles and Hollywood during the Depression. Also we can found out the exact address where is the Sternwood`s house on the page 595. That address is the following: General Guy Sternwood, 3765, Alta Brea Crescent, West Hollywood, California. From there we can see that the action, generally, takes place in Hollywood, more exactly in California. During the novel we meet a lot of smaller places like Near Las Palmas which was Geiger`s place; Beyond Realito where Mona Mars was hidden and a lot of other places which are included in Los Angeles and Hollywood.[footnoteRef:5] Also we can observe the description of the old oil wells from page 757: She wanted to show me the old oil wells down the hill where your family made some of its money. The place was pretty creepy, all rusted mental and old wood and silent wells and greasy scummy sumps. This was the place from where the Sternwood`s becomes rich and also this was the place where Rusty Regan was killed.[footnoteRef:6] [4: Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p 596] [5: Compare with Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p 595] [6: Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p 757]

Point of view

The narrator was Philip Marlow, who tells the story at the first person singular, because of the I. The story was told in the immediate past and Marlowe he doesn't know everything that's going on. Because of this the point of view was "limited". Also this was possible because Marlow`s job, as a detective, ask to infer, deduce, observe, and piece together clues. In order these things we can say that the narrator is omniscient. Also we can see in Student`s Encyclopaedia of American literary Characters that Marlow narrates providing commentaries on the action that are peppered. [footnoteRef:7] [7: Student`s Encyclopaedia of American literary Characters, Volume I, A-F, Matthew J. Bruccoli and Judith S. Baughman, p 121]

Plot OverviewThe novel has 32 chapters and in each chapter we can found something new about the story.The story started in October, when Marlow enters the Sternwood mansion in Los Angeles at 11:00 on a morning. Here he meet the butler, Norris, the chauffeur whose name is Owen Taylor and a girl whose name Carmen Sternwood. Philiph Marlow was a private detective, who had a mission from General Sternwood. This mission contained in the discovering why was he blackmailed by Arthur Geiger and who is he. Marlow discovered that he has a book shop and where he lives. He follows the man and one night he sees that Carmen has gone inside to this man. After a time he enters too. There he had seen that the man was died and Carmen was drugged and naked, sitting on a chair. Geiger had been taking pictures of Carmen, but these disappeared. He took home Carmen. During the novel we discovered that Geiger was a pornographer who was killed by Owen Taylor. This was found dead in the Pacific Ocean, near the fishing pier in Lido. There he had a conversation with Bernie Ohls who was the D. A`s chief investigator. From him he discovers that Taylor was in love with Carmen Sternwood, and thats why he killed Geiger. Than appears Joe Brody and Agnes Lozelle, who was in relation whit Geiger. Brody has the photos which were taken on that night from Carmen. They wanted money for these photos. Marlow went after the photos to Brody, where they have a discussion about this murder and the photos. Than appears Carmen, who also comes for the pictures. She shoots, with a gun into the wall. After that, bells the ring. In the door was a young man, whose name was Carol Lundgren. This man murders Brody. Carol Lundgren was Geiger's homosexual lover, and he kills Brody because he thinks Brody killed Geiger. The pictures are returned to Marlowe, who takes care that they do not fall into the wrong hands again. After that Marlowe, retailed Carol to the police. There he tells the whole story from the beginning, missing the parts in which were Carmen and Eddie Marsh. Eddie Marsh was the owner of the Cypress Club. He was also at Geiger`s house and his wife was said to run away whit Rusty Regan. The newspapers release the story of the blackmail, but in a form that is nothing like the true story. General Sternwood paid Marlow for his job. Marlowe being still curious about Rusty Regan's whereabouts, he doesn`t see himself as finished. Meanwhile, Marlowe realizes he is being followed by a man in a gray Plymouth sedan. That man was Harry Jones. He wanted some money for some information about Mona Mars. Before he can meet Marlow to say where is Agnes, he was murdered by Lash Canino, Eddie Mars's vicious gunman. Agnes telephoned to Harry, but Marlow answered the phone. So they meet, and Agnes said where Mona Mars is. She got some money for this information. After that Marlow was gone to find Eddies wife. He found, but there he has a fray, and he killed Canino. After that Marlow was again at the police. There we found out that Mona Mars was founded and she hadn`t run away with Mr. Regan. General Sternwood asked Marlow to visit him. There they have a conversation. So the General asked Marlow to found out where is Mr. Regan. After that Marlowe meet Carmen. He returns Carmen's gun. The girl asks him to teach her to shoot. Down in the abandoned Sternwood family oil field, Carmen turns her gun on Marlowe in an attempt to kill him. Marlowe foreseeing this turn of events, has loaded the gun with blanks. He figures out, in the end, that Carmen killed Regan and that Vivian paid Eddie Mars's man, Canino, to hide the body. Regan has thus been dead throughout the entire novel, lying at the bottom of an oil sump on the Sternwood fields. So at the end, Marlowe solves the puzzle. He allowed Vivian to go free as long as she gets Carmen the help she needs to alleviate her insanity. For that they have three days. If they didn`t run away he will get them at the police. Eddie Mars never receives just retribution. Marlowe and Vivian promise not to tell the General about Regan because it would break his heart. The novel ends with Marlowe's thoughts about death, as an escape, and with his thoughts of Silver- wig.

Characters:Main Characters Mr Philiph Marlowe - The narrator- Doghouse Reilly- -thirty three years old, went to college, he can speak English, he worked for Mr. Wilde, the District Attorney, as an investigator once. , He says he is not Sherlock Holmes or Philo Vance. He was a private detective, and he is intensely loyal to those whom he has chosen to serve. He refuse the sexual advances of Sternwood`s daughter. He is honest, he says: I`d like to offer you your money back. It may mean nothing to you. It might mean something to me. He will solve the puzzle at the end. [footnoteRef:8] [8: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 750]

The General- He had black eyes, his face with the bloodless lips and the sharp nose and the sunken temples and the out ward tuning earlobes of approaching dissolutions. He had long narrow body, he had wrapped thin claw like hands, a few lock`s of dry white hair clung to his scalp. He was a widower and he had two young daughters (Carmen and Vivien).[footnoteRef:9] [9: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 592]

Carmen Sternwood- was the General`s girl. She was twenty or so, small and delicately. She wore pale blue slacks, her hair was a fine tawny wave cut much store than the current fashion of pageboy tresses curled in at the bottom. Her eyes were slate-gray and she smiled with her mouth and she had little sharp predatory teeth, as white as fresh orange pith and as shiny as porcelain. Her face lacked color and didn`t look too healthy. She went to half of dozen schools of greater and greater liberality, and ended up where she started. She is still a child who likes to pull wings off flies. She don`t have more moral sense than a cat. She had a beautiful body, small, lithe, compact, firm, rounded. She killed Rusty Regan.[footnoteRef:10] [10: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p.590; 596; 614]

Vivian Regan/Mrs. Regan She has been married three times, last time of the ex-bootlegger Rusty Regan. She went to good schools of the snob type and to college, is spoiled, exacting, smart and quite ruthless, not have more moral sense than a cat. Her knees were dimpled not bony and sharp. The claves were beautiful, the ankles long and slim and with enough melodic line for a tone poem. She was tall and rangy and strong-looking. Her hair was black and wiry and parted in the middle and she had hot black eyes. She had a good mouth and a good chin. There was a sulky droop to her lips and the lower lip was full. She loves her sister and she wanted to protect her. She also likes to play roulette.[footnoteRef:11] [11: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 596; 600]

Rusty Regan- He was the ex-bootlegger, a big curly-headed Irishman from Clonmel, with a smile as wide as Wilshire Boulevard. He wasn`t leaved even legally in the United States. He had an Irish face that was more said than merry and more reserved than brash. He had straight dark brows with strong bone under them. He also had a forehead wide rather than high, a mat of dark clustering hair, a thin nose, a wide mouth. Ha had a chin that had strong lines but was small for the mouth. His face looked like a little taut. He was killed by Carmen.[footnoteRef:12] [12: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 682]

Secondary Characters Mr. Arthur Gwynn Geiger- Was a man ``In his early forties, I should judge. Medium - height, fattish. He would weigh about a hundred and sixty pounds. He had fat face, Charlie Chan moustache, tick- soft neck. Well dressed goes without a hat, affects a knowledge of antiques and hasn`t any. His left eye is glass. He will die in chapter 6. He was a pornographer and he had a books shop, whit these kinds of books. [footnoteRef:13] [13: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 609]

Agnes Lozelle - A woman- She was wearing a tight black dress, she had long thighs. She was an ash blonde with greenish eyes, beaded lashes, hair waved smoothly back from ears in which large jet buttons glittered. Her fingernails were silvered. Also her smile was tentative, but could be persuaded to be nice. She was green-eyed, thigh swinging ash blonde. She works at Geiger`s shop. She also has a relationship with Joe Brody, and after his die, she was with Harry. [footnoteRef:14] [14: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 607; 649]

Carol Lundgren- He kills Joe Brody. He has moist dark eyes shaped like almonds, and a pallid handsome face with wavy black hair growing low on the forehead in two points. A very handsome boy indeed, the boy from Geiger`s store. Also he was Geiger's homosexual lover, and he kills Brody.[footnoteRef:15] [15: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 661]

Taggart Wilde- He was the District Attorney who lived at the corner of Fourth and Lafayette Park. He was a middle-aged plump man with clear blue eyes that managed to have a friendly expression without rally having any expression at all.[footnoteRef:16] [16: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 667-668]

Another man- Captain Cronjager- He had a cold-eyed hatchet-faced man, he had neat well-kept face, he wore a well-pressed brown suit and there was a black pearl in his tie. He had the long nervous fingers of a man with a quick brain. He works for Eddie Mars in secret.[footnoteRef:17] [17: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 668]

Captain Gregory He works of the Missing Persons Bureau laid my card down. He was a burly man with tired eyes and the slow deliberate movements of a night watchman. His voice was toneless, flat and uninterested.[footnoteRef:18] [18: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 678]

Owen Taylor- He was a slim dark young chauffeur, in shinny black leggings. He was died in chapter 9. He was the Sternwood`s chauffeur. He runs away with Carmen in Yuma and wanted to marry her. Unfortunately her sister brought them back and had Owen heaved into icebox. He had also prior back in India, attempted hold-up six years ago. He killed Geiger and after that he died in an accident.[footnoteRef:19] [19: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 589; 624]

Harry Jones- He was a very small man, not more than five feet three and would hardly weigh as much as a butcher`s thumb. He had tight brilliant eyes that wanted to look hard. He wore a double-breasted dark gray suit that was too wide in the shoulders and had too much lapel. He used to do a little liquor- running down from Hueneme Point. He wanted to help Agnes, and get some money from Marlow. He was killed by Canino.[footnoteRef:20] [20: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 711]

Bernie Ohls- He was the D. A`s chief investigator, who gives Marlow`s the lead to General Sternwood.Joe (Joseph) Brody- The General paid five thousand dollars to let her daughter Carmen alone. He was some kind of gambler, on Brittany Place, Apartment 405. He was long-legged, long-wasted, high -shouldered and he had dark brown eyes in a brown expressionless face that had learned to control its expressions long ago. Hair like steel wool grew far back on his head and gave him a great deal of domed brown forehead. His somber eyes probed at me impersonally. His long thin brown fingers held the edge of the door. He had some photos about Carmen, for which he want to get money. He was killed by Carol.[footnoteRef:21] [21: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 645]

Eddie Mars- He was a gray man, all gray, except of his polished Black shoes and two scarlet diamonds in his gray satin tie His hair underneath it was gray, he has thick gray eyebrows, a long chin, a nose with a hook to it, thoughtful gray eyes that had a slanted look because the fold of skin over his upper lid came down over of the lid itself. He has a club and he can manipulate the characters.[footnoteRef:22] [22: Compare with: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 639]

Mona Grant-Mona Mars-Silver-Wig- Eddie Mars`s wife, they didn`t lived together, her hair shone like a silver fruit bowl. She wore a green knitted dress with a broad white collar turned over it. Her small fall firm chin turned slowly. Her eyes were blue, she wear a wig, her own hair was clipped short all over, like a boy`s. She saved Marlow`s life. [footnoteRef:23] [23: Compare with: (Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p.733)]

Lash Canino in Vardi`s- He does a job for Eddie Mars. He had bump a guy off between drinks. He had short, heavy set, brown hair, brown eyes, and always wears brown clothes and a brown hat. Even wears a brown suede raincoat. He drives a brown coupe. He was killed by Marlow. [footnoteRef:24] [24: Compare with: (Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 715)]

General Sternwood`s grandfather-He appears in a portrait. Here he was an office and he had a neat black imperial, black mustachio, hot hard coal-black eyes.Big Cops- carrying giggling girls across the bad place, they appear only once.The Jeweler- has an establishment on the other side of the road, parallel with Geiger`s place, he was a tall handsome white-haired Jew in lean dark clothes, with about nine carats of diamond on his right hand.[footnoteRef:25] [25: Compare with: (Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 604)]

A woman- peered out of a door almost opposite when Marlow was at Brody and there was going on a shooting.A man who asked what happened, and scuttled into the apartment house, when Brody was killed.[footnoteRef:26] [26: Compare with: (Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 661)]

A tall hungry looking bird- with a cane and a big nose, Marlow fallowed him and found a book. [footnoteRef:27] [27: Compare with: (Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p 608)]

A small dark woman She is reading a low book at the desk, she describes Geiger to Marlow. She works at a book shop.[footnoteRef:28] [28: Compare with: (Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 608)]

The taxi man- Jack- a fresh faced kid. He drives when Marlow follows Brody. [footnoteRef:29] [29: Compare with: (Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 627)]

The butler- Norris- He conduce Marlow to the General Sternwood. He knows the truth about Mr. Regan, but he doesn`t say anything. Push Walgreen- Henry picks up bets.Mr. Schiff- coordinates the Glendower Apartments. He appears when Marlow search for Agnes.Art Huck- have a garage and he run paint shop. He repair Marlow`s car.[footnoteRef:30] [30: (Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 727)]

Doc. Dove- the doctor who says that the cause of the death, of Owen Taylor, was the broken neck. He was a small man with glasses and a tired face and a black bag. He was a corner`s man.[footnoteRef:31] [31: (Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p 623)]

An ambulance- They are present when the police found Owen Taylor`s body.A maid-Mathilda- She was a middle-age woman with a young yellow gentle face, a long nose, no chin, large wet eyes. She works at the Sternwood`s house. [footnoteRef:32] [32: (Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 600)]

The bartender- works at the Cypress ClubLanny- want to steel Vivien`s bag. [footnoteRef:33] [33: (Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 695)]

Two mens who works to Mr. Mars, we dont know their names. [footnoteRef:34] [34: (Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 642)]

Larry Cobb- went to the Club with Mrs. Regan. He was a big blond man, who was also a playboy.[footnoteRef:35] [35: Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The big sleep, The Library of America, 1995, New York, p. 634, 697)]

Title: The big sleep

The novel written by Raymond Chandler, The big sleep has a very good explanation of the title in the end of the novel: "What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell. Me, I was part of the nastiness now. Far more a part of it than Rusty Regan was. But the old man didn't have to be. He could lie quiet in his canopied bed, with his bloodless hands folded on the sheet, waiting. His heart was a brief, uncertain murmur. His thoughts were as grey as ashes. And in a little while he too, like Rusty Regan, would be sleeping the big sleep."[footnoteRef:36]Death is the meaning of the big sleep. Doesnt matter if one is reach or poor, good or bad, sooner or later everyone is going to face the big sleep [36: The last paragraph in the novel]

ThemesMasculinity if one of the dominant themes in the novel The big sleep, every male character is rough, not afraid to die, they are like the machos, many arguments, fistfights and shooting by challenging the masculine figure:"I'm not crazy about yours," I said. "[] I don't mind if you don't like my manners. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings. But don't waste your time trying to cross-examine me."[footnoteRef:37] [37: Third chapter, pg. 19-20]

Art trundled two muddy flats in sullenly, kicked the door shut, let one of the flats fall over on its side. He looked at me savagely. -"You sure pick spots for a jack to stand on," he snarled. The brown man laughed and took a rolled cylinder of nickels out of his pocket and tossed it up and down on the palm of his hand. "Don't crab so much," he said dryly. "Fix those flats." "I'm fixin' them, ain't I?" "Well, don't make a song about it."()The teamwork must have been very nice. I saw no signal, no glance of meaning, no gesture that might have a special import. The gaunt man had the stiffened tube high in the air, staring at it. He half turned his body, took one long quick step, and slammed it down over my head and shoulders, a perfect ringer.[footnoteRef:38] [38: The last paragraphs from the chapter 27]

The great depression era in America influenced the novel, giving another theme for it:The Cynicism of 1930s America: The Big Sleep takes place in a big city in America during the 1930sthe period of the Great Depression when America was, as a whole, disillusioned and cynical about its prospects for the future. Chandler mentions money throughout the novel as an ideal, a goal for the seedy crime ring that lives within the novel. Many of the characters kill and bribe for money. The opening page of the novel claims that Marlowe is "dressed up" because he is about to enter a house that is worth millions. Money, in short, is something that is coveted, enjoyed, and respected. This makes perfect sense given that the economy of the 1930s in America was in serious turmoil. Also, many of the characters find themselves in troublesome situations, such as Agnes Lozelle and Harry Jones, therefore mirroring the desperation in which Americans found themselves throughout the period about which Chandler is writing.[footnoteRef:39] [39: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bigsleep/themes.html]

We can include the theme of love:"Move closer," she said almost thickly. ()"Hold me close, you beast," she said. I put my arms around her loosely at first. Her hair had a harsh feeling against my face. I tightened my arms and lifted her up. I brought her face slowly up to my face. Her eyelids were flickering rapidly, like moth wings. I kissed her tightly and quickly. Then a long slow clinging kiss. Her lips opened undermine. Her body began to shake in my arms.[footnoteRef:40] [40: The last paragraph from the chapter 23 pg. 62]

They both love each other yet they have different goal and obstacles before they can dedicate themselves to each other entirely. Marlowe has to discover the murderer and Vivien has to deal with her corrupt husband.

Motifs

The big sleep by Raymond Chandler is based on the chess board motif. The chess board motif is a turn-based strategy, meaning that each character has one shot after giving the round to the other one. There is this constant interacting between the characters and events and they relate to each other. The most important aspect of this motif is that the characters try to anticipate the others move and as always the protagonist, hero is the one who successfully anticipate the antagonists move. Some of the characters represent chess pieces and they even act as they role are assigned. Marlowe = Knight, Vivien = Queen, Eddie Mars = King.The motif of the knight is present throughout The Big Sleep in that it is a point of comparison with Marlowe that continuously comes into the picture. The book begins with a symbol of the knight in the form of the stained glass (a portrait of a knight rescuing a lady) and continues later on when a chessboard appears (upon which the knight piece is moved).The appearances of this motif imply that Marlowe is a knight of sorts. He does not take advantage of Carmen Sternwood, and he seeks out truth even when he is not being paidas we see in the quest for Rusty Regan, for example. In the end, however, the knight solves the dilemma, but justice is not necessarily served to all. Eddie Mars goes free and the truth is not for all to know; although Marlowe knows the truth, he will not share it with his client. We might fairly ask how knightly Marlowe's behaviour is, and whether or not he remains a knight throughout, given that he consistently says that this is not a world in which knights can prevail. In one sense, Marlowe appears to fulfil his duties because he holds the truth from his client for the sole purpose of not wanting to injure him. This, however, has a flip side, as the truth is an ideal, something Marlowe has wanted to reach. The answer to all of these questions lies in the fact that he is a modern day night, perhapsa knight who, within the realm of reality in 1930s Los Angeles rather than the realm of the stained glass, must bend his morals.[footnoteRef:41] [41: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bigsleep/themes.html]

Finally there is the motif of the weather, it seems that every time somebody dies or a big conflict is going to start the thunder appears, many times there is raining and just a few times is sunny just as always when the conflict is over.

Symbols

The paintings they symbolizes the characters and their role: Knight rescuing a naked woman Marlowe rescuing Vivien from her husband who is the killer. Oil pump paintings representing the power that hold the Sternwood family.The orchids in the greenhouse very smelly almost unbearable still it is the life source of the general Sternwood. Symbolizing hard life.Rain symbol of unclearness, a covering of the mystery, characters unable to see through the mystery. Immediately raises as the mystery is solved.Thunder as I mentioned thunder is brought with the conflict and murder.The Chessboard - Another significant symbol of knighthood appears the second time Carmen needs to be rescued, when she appears in Marlowe's bed, undressed. It is here that Marlowe looks down at the chessboard in his room and, significantly, moves the knight piece. However, within the same scene, he realizes that it was the wrong move, and he retracts it, claiming that knights have no place in such a world: "Knights had no meaning in this game. It wasn't a game for knights." This admission does not necessarily mean Marlowe has lost; it simply means he is misplaced, and does not belong in such a world. He does not sleep with Carmen, he takes her home, remains chaste, and upholds his knighthoodeven if the world does not recognize it, and even if it means that he will lose the game as a whole. In the end Marlowe is not any happierperhaps he has lost in some ways. Nevertheless, he has lost only because he remains a "knight."[footnoteRef:42] [42: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bigsleep/themes.html]

Narrative Modes

Modernist elements: unstable social levels as we have the first encounter of the detective with Mrs Rutledge, she tries to remind the detective of him being in a lover level and she in a higher level but the detective is clever and smart and he is facing her: I grinned at her with my head on one side. She flushed. Her hot black eyes looked mad. "I don't see what there is to be cagey about," she snapped. "And I don't like your manners." "I'm not crazy about yours," I said. I didn't ask to see you. You sent for me. I don't mind your ritzing me or drinking your lunch out of a Scotch bottle. I don't mind your showing me your legs. They're very swell legs and it's a pleasure to make their acquaintance. I don't mind if you don't like my manners. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings. But don't waste your time trying to cross-examine me." She slammed her glass down so hard that it slopped over on an ivory cushion. She swung her legs to the floor and stood up with her eyes sparking fire and her nostrils wide. Her mouth was open and her bright teeth glared at me. Her knuckles were white. "People don't talk like that to me," she said thickly. I sat there and grinned at her. Very slowly she closed her mouth and looked down at the spilled liquor. She sat down on the edge of the chaise-longue and cupped her chin in one hand.[footnoteRef:43] [43: Last paragraph third chapter]

Mystery: The Big Sleep falls under the genre of mystery since it's about a detective trying to solve a crime. We have many of the standard elements found in a good mystery story: blackmail, murder, gambling, gunfights and sex (or at least sexual situations).But The Big Sleep isn't exactly your typical mystery story. For one thing, Marlowe doesn't have the superior intelligence of a Sherlock Holmes when solving the case. He makes blunders, some of them costly, and he's portrayed as a flawed, vulnerable person. And when Marlowe finally succeeds in solving the crime, we're not left with that warm and fuzzy feeling of exhilaration that the criminal has been caught and justice has been served. On the contrary, The Big Sleep ends on a pretty bleak, cynical note, and Chandler doesn't tie all the loose ends neatly together in a big red bow (for example, we never know for sure whether Owen Taylor was murdered or committed suicide). So while The Big Sleep certainly belongs in the mystery genre, it's also a novel about a man named Marlowe who just happens to be a detective, and we spend just as much time figuring out what kind of person Marlowe is as we do piecing together all the clues.[footnoteRef:44] [44: http://www.shmoop.com/big-sleep/genre.html]

Quotations

1. I don't mind your showing me your legs. They're very swell legs and it's a pleasure to make their acquaintance. I don't mind if you don't like my manners. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter nights.(R. Chandler, The Big Sleep pg.7)

2. She lowered her lashes until they almost cuddled her cheeks and slowly raised them again, like a theatre curtain. I was to get to know that trick. That was supposed to make me roll over on my back with all four paws in the air.(R. Chandler, The Big Sleep pg.2)

3. It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, mid-October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark little clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.(R. Chandler, The Big Sleep pg.1)

4. I`m not Sherlock Holmes or Philo Vance. I don`t expect to go over ground the police have covered and pick up a broken pen point and build a case from it. If you think there is anybody in the detective business making a living doing that sort of thing, you don`t know much about cops (R. Chandler, The Big Sleep pg.750)

BibliographyRaymond Chandler The big sleep(1939) published: First U.S. Printing: April, 1971.Raymond Chandler - Stories and Early Novels, The Library of America, 1995, New York.American literature since 1900, edited by Marcus Cunliffe, volume 9 of the Penguin Histoty of Literature, 1993Student`s Encyclopaedia of American literary Characters, Volume I, A-F, Matthew J. Bruccoli and Judith S. Baughman.http://www.shmoop.com/big-sleep/genre.htmlhttp://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bigsleep/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/17/arts/frank-macshane-dies-at-72-expert-on-raymond-chandler.html http://articles.latimes.com/1999/nov/27/news/mn-37986

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