The Simplicity of Raymond Chandler’s the Big Sleep

Raymond Chandler would the like us to believe that The Big Sleep is just some other example of tough detective fiction. He would like proofreaders to see Philip Marlowe, Vivian Regan, Carmen Sternwood, Eddie Mars, and the rest of the characters as all good guys or bad guys with no deeper meaning or symbolic representation to them. I found the moderate simple and easy to understand the line was that it was too easy, too simple. Then came one blow up that totally stood come out of the closet from the rest of the book &emdash the chessboard. Marlowe toyed with it whenever he got the chance, and it probably helped him think of a neighboring move in a particular case.I found it rummy that Chandler made such a brief mention of chess, provided I did not realize why until I finished the book and had metre to think to the highest degree what I had read. In a very physiquele sense, the entire unexampled resembles the game of chess. Each character is a piece, and the learn of the game is survival. Though the ultimate goal in chess is to hook on possession of the king, the underlying strategy is to eliminate as many pieces as one possibly can. This serves as insurance in the overall goal. being that the characters/pieces determine the direction of the goal, let us look at them to begin.I have chosen to examine two characters in-depth and therefore put them on the board with the rest of the people in the novel. Philip Marlowe does not correspond to the cavalry of the chessboard. Chandler assumes that the reader lead fall into the easy trap of produceing Marlowe to the office staff of the knight. After all, he is the main man in the novel, the one who involve to solve the case. His self- commentary in the opening chapter lures the reader into believing he is a typical white knight hero. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didnt worry who knew it.I was every social function the well-dressed private detective ought to be (3). This is a fittin g description of a knight only because knights must possess equivalent qualities in order to be heroes. The main idea here is goodness, and Marlowes description exudes this goodness. However, as we progress throughout the novel, his goodness mutates into something with more of an edge on it. By the end of chapter eight, Marlowe goes to bed full of whiskey and frustration (42) and, the next twenty-four hours (chapter nine), wakes up with a motormans glove in my mouth (43).It is safe to conjecture Marlowes sobriety is questionable, especially when he tells Bernie Ohls and us that, Ive got a hangover (43). Is this the carry out of a knight? I do not think so. Similarly, his situation towards everyone else in the novel detracts from his knighthood. For example, look at his treatment of Vivian Regan, who I ordain talk about a little later. They ar talking for the firstly condemnation and she tells him how cold-blooded a beast he is. Or shall I call you Phil? Sure. You can ca ll me Vivian. Thanks, Mrs. Regan. Oh, go to hell Marlowe (61).More of the selfsame(prenominal) follows with other characters in each instance, Marlowe does not exhibit any gentleman-like qualities that a private eye should exhibit. So, if Marlowe is not the knight on the chessboard, what is he? I believe that he is more of a rook or a bishop piece and not a knight. When we think about the knight on a chessboard, it has a good amount of flexibility provided check performance. However, a rook or a bishop can move as far as it wants to move, even if the directions be not many. Movement is substantial to Marlowe because he thrives on getting his task done.This requires a great hired hand of movement on his part. This movement includes our next subject, Vivian Regan. A funny thing happened when I was writing up the previous conversation between Marlowe and Vivian. rather of typing Mrs. Regan, I typed Mrs. Marlowe instead. I do not attrisolelye that to a simple lapse in thinking , but more to the concomitant that Vivian is equivalent in manner to Marlowe they could easily be mis payoffn for a conjoin couple. Vivian possesses the same sharp tongue, the same penchant for drinking, and other Marlowe-esque qualities.For example, there is the part where she is gambling in Eddie Mars casino and conveys a bet that the house cannot cover. What kind of cheap outfit is this, Id like to know. Get busy and spin that wheel, highpockets. I want one more play and Im playing table stakes. You take it away fast enough Ive noticed, but when it comes to dishing it out you start to whine (138). That sounds like the language Philip Marlowe might use if he ran into a convertible situation. scour after he foils a would-be robber in the park lot, she still shows little signs of thanks. Nice work, Marlowe. Are you my bodyguard now? (143).Vivian complements Marlowe perfectly, but is she a rook/bishop on the chessboard in the novel? Yes, but provided that Marlowe is not the sa me piece as she is. In other words, if Marlowe is the rook, then Vivian is the bishop, and vice-versa. I do not see Marlowe and Vivian as cohesive as Chandler might want us to believe nonetheless, they do possess similar qualities. After talking about two of the more prominent characters, it is time to devise a chessboard strategy that makes some kind of sense.I mentioned earlier that the point in chess is to capture the king, but another goal includes getting other pieces out of the way first. If I were to assign sides, I would put people like Eddie Mars, Joe Brody, and Carmen Sternwood on a polar side than Marlowe, Vivian, and General Sternwood. Why? The first group while full-grown Marlowe some kind of help is more concerned with their own safety, and individuals are not afraid to knock off anyone who messes with them. How come Carmen is included in this group?Many people would say that she is neither here nor there, but when she comes to Brodys apartment and confronts Marlow e at the very end, she shows her true colors. In addition, there is the fact that she murdered Rusty Regan because he would not jump in the switching with her. This is where the chessboard strategy begins to unfold. Chandlers style not only pertains to his simile/ parable use and his abbreviated sentences, but also to his construction of character movement in the novel. In chess, what one piece does to another or where it moves to straightway affects the movement of other pieces on the board.For example, moving my rook three spaces whitethorn not mean capturing a piece, but it does give the opponent something to date in terms of future moves. He does not want to make a move now that would jeopardize him later. Similarly, what happens in Joe Brodys apartment affects a good amount of the characters in the novel, from Carmen to Eddie to Marlowe to Vivian, and so on. In addition, that part affects what goes on in Eddies casino and Geigers house. While there may not be direct influenc e, there is definitely an indirect sort of influence. What does this say about Chandler as an author?It says that he likes to give his readers something to look for in his novels, and that the something will not always be apparent at first. Digging up the chessboard motif would be no easy task for roughly readers because of its brevity in the novel. The average reader would not read this book for analysis he or she would read the novel for pleasure. It is only because we &emdash as English majors &emdash are trained to look beneath the find that I was able to put this together. This also says something about the world that Chandler lived in.His was a world of thinking about the next move and being careful about what one did, which is evident in the novel. It was hard to trust anybody because everyone had egotistic motives on their minds. That factor also corresponds to the chessboard in that a psyche might move a piece for individual reasons while not even considering the rest of his or her pieces. That might lead to consequences later. Chandler cannot warn us about keeping track of all of the moves in the story because they are unfolding as we move with Marlowe (who obviously cannot warn us, either).It is up to the reader to keep track of everything. The Big Sleep is not a novel about chess. It is about how people and events interact and relate to one another, similar to the game of chess. As I mentioned before, the characters and their individual actions ultimately had an effect on the overall strategy and goal, which for Marlowe was to find Rusty Regan. He eventually observed the late Mr. Regan, but it was only after a series of moves on the chessboard of life.