Similes in The Big Sleep
In response to Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, I have just one question. Why all the similes? There isn't a single page in the novel that doesn't display this annoying literary device. Everything is "like this" or "like that." It never ends! Similar to decoding a secret message that isn't difficult to understand, but nevertheless tiring due to the overwhelming amount of messages, the novel is frustrating to read. The following analysis acknowledges Chandler's creativity in developing his main character, Philip Marlowe, with his usage of simile. However, the excessive style of the novel creates a dominating force that ultimately leaves the reader unfulfilled at the end.
Chandler goes into great detail describing the different characters--most notably, the women. There are many sections where the shrewd detective is quick to notice (and make analogous) certain physical features of the Sternwood daughters; not that I blame him. Early in the novel he observes Mrs. Regen's legs in the following manner. "They were visible to the knee and one of them well beyond...The calves were beautiful, the ankles long and slim and with enough melodic line for a tone poem" (17). I think that every guy reading this book perked up when reading of Vivian's legs. In this sexual sense, the similes work. Those long sentences would be much easier to read if there were more comparisons of Vivian's legs to a "melodic line for a tone poem".
Carmen Sternwood is described with profoundness but in a different (less sexual) sense than her sister is. Marlowe encounters her on many occasions and is thorough in describing her--from her first flirtations to her continuous irritations. In t...
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...be something similar to, "It was raining again the next morning, a slanting gray rain like a swung curtain of crystal beads...I was as empty of life as a scarecrow's pockets" (159). There is only so much of that a human being can actually absorb.
And that is precisely why The Big Sleep is a novel that has a hard time coming off as a pleasant reading experience. If the reader has to sift through all the repetition of Marlowe's observations, then it subtracts from the novels overall themes, which I believe are the most captivating parts. Perhaps if it were a short story or if Chandler displayed mercy on our souls by using similes lightly, then the novel would produce a stronger effect.
Works Cited
Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep. New York: Vintage Books, 1996.
Kemp, William. The Writing Process: Chandler 202. January 14, 1999
The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler’s first novel, served as the kickstarter to the hard-boiled detective fiction genre that his work would eventually come to represent. Philip Marlowe, a private eye on the sketchy side of Los Angeles, dons the archetypal role of a hard-boiled, fast talking hero on the edge of legal and illegal. Marlowe represents a character capable of communication with everyone; from a seedy criminal to a district attorney. The detective is able to converse with even the shadiest of characters as an equal due to his lack of fear, overabundance of confidence, and overall mental toughness. “ Tsk. Tsk.” I said, not moving at all. “Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains. You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail. Put it down and don’t be silly, Joe” (Chandler 79). This kind of calm, collected nature under intense situations is the mental cowboy equivalent to a victory in a shootout in the Old West. Marlowe’s collected presence under high...
In addition, Theodore uses the figures of speech throughout his poem to impact the reader and his message about the life to death. One of the figures speeches he uses is the metaphors. A major metaphor in "The Waking" is of sleeping and waking up. This is a comparison to living and death which is very important in this poem. Another metaphor is where it says a "lowly worm climbs up a winding stair". This journey for the worm talks about the experiences throughout life. The Author also writes "Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?" This is a metaphor to a higher being called "Light" that takes life away, sometimes without understanding. Another metaphor Roethke uses is of the "shaking". By this, he means the struggles that we all experience
No dearth of similes exists in this book. Sometimes Chandler decorates a page with more than four. They stand out. The similes are the fragrance of the flower. The only circumstance in which no simile can be found on a page is if the page is full of dialogue. Chandler's similes function interestingly in his text &emdash; they seem to be the only art in his concise style. Some of his similes are almost silly, so they really stand out from the casual mood of the text; "his neck stuck up out of [his coat] like a celery stalk" (25). Yet others are beautiful and create very strong images such as those in Chapter Twenty-six when Marlowe is tracking Henry Jones. Marlowe picks a lock and " there was a dry click, like a small icicle breaking.
The Big Sleep Movie and Novel & nbsp; On first inspection of Raymond Chandler's novel, The Big Sleep, the reader discovers that the story unravels quickly through the narrative voice of Philip Marlowe, the detective hired by the Sternwood family of Los Angeles to solve a mystery for them. The mystery concerns the General Sternwood's young daughter, and one Mr. A. G. Geiger. Upon digging for the answer to this puzzle placed before Marlowe for a mere $25 dollars a day plus expenses, Marlowe soon finds layers upon layers of mystifying events tangled in the already mysterious web of lies and deception concerning the Sternwood family, especially the two young daughters. & nbsp; When reading the novel, it is hard to imagine the story without a narrator at all. It certainly seems essential for the story's make-up to have this witty, sarcastic voice present to describe the sequence of events. Yet, there is a version of Chandler's novel that does not have an audible storyteller, and that version is the 1946 movie directed by Howard Hawks. & nbsp; Hawks' version of The Big Sleep is known to be one of the best examples of the film genre-film noir. "
When dealing with adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD may become a challenge for many parents. Knowing the facts about this disorder and how to treat the problem is the key to a healthy lifestyle for adolescents as well as families. Many therapies and medications are available to families with children with ADHD but many questions that parents have with their children with ADHD is which therapy is best and what would work best with their children and their quality of life. The question of which therapy, alternative versus medication therapy would improve adolescent’s quality of life and behavior modification.
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Contrastingly, Mrs. Darling, his wife, is portrayed as a romantic, maternal character. She is a “lovely lady”, who had many suitors yet was “won” by Mr. Darling, who got to her first. However, she is a multifaceted character because her mind is described “like the tiny boxes, one within the other, that come from the puzzling East”, suggesting that she is, to some extent, an enigma to the other characters, especially Mr. Darling. As well as this, she exemplifies the characteristics of a “perfect mother”. She puts everything in order, including her children’s minds, which is a metaphor for the morals and ethics that she instils in them. Although ...
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Glock, M., Jensen, P., and Cooper, J. (1998). Diagnosis and treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Retrieved March 23, 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://odp.od.nih.gov/consensus/cons/110/110_statement.htm
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