270427
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Mind Map by emily_harborne, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by emily_harborne
over 10 years ago
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The Big Sleep
- Raymond Chandler
- Raymond Thornton Chandler was born in Chicago on July 23, 1888,
- The publication of The Big Sleep, then, came during the heart of the Great Depression and just before the start of
World War II. Therefore, the novel, not surprisingly, carries with it much of the cynicism of 1930s America. The
catchy dialogue of the main character, Philip Marlowe, is the epitome of what came to be known as "hard-boiled"
style—the racy, clever, tough street talk of the detective narrative. 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.
- The publication of The Big Sleep, then, came during the heart of the Great Depression and just before the start of
World War II. Therefore, the novel, not surprisingly, carries with it much of the cynicism of 1930s America. The
catchy dialogue of the main character, Philip Marlowe, is the epitome of what came to be known as "hard-boiled"
style—the racy, clever, tough street talk of the detective narrative. 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.
- Raymond Thornton Chandler was born in Chicago on July 23, 1888,
- The novel opens on an overcast morning in
mid-October. It is thundering, foreboding rain. Philip
Marlowe, a tough, cynical, yet honest private
detective, is hired by the old, ailing General
Sternwood to help him "take care of" Arthur Gwynn
Geiger, a homosexual (possibly bisexual)
pornographer who has been blackmailing the
General with potentially scandalous pictures of the
General's daughter, Carmen Sternwood.
- Later, Owen Taylor, the Sternwoods' chauffeur, is found dead in the Pacific Ocean, near
the fishing pier in Lido. It is unclear whether Taylor's death is a murder or suicide. As the
plot unfolds, Marlow begins to figure out that Taylor was in love with Carmen Sternwood,
and that it was Taylor who killed Geiger in retaliation for the naughty pictures of Carmen
that Geiger had taken.
- The novel ends with Marlowe's thoughts
about death—"the big sleep"—as an escape,
and with his thoughts of Silver- wig.
- The Cynicism of 1930s America The Big Sleep takes place in a big city in
America during the 1930s—the 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 Corruption of American Society
Branching out of the cynicism of the Great
Depression, Chandler chooses not only to
represent a world of money-hungry people,
but also chooses to make this world dark
and corrupt. No one, not even the law, is
exempt from corruption in this novel:
newspapers lie and cops can be bought.
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