How does Chandler characterise Joe Brody in "The Big Sleep?"
How does Chandler characterise Joe Brody? The characterisation of Joe Brody is initiated very early on in the novel. Inevitably, since Joe does not actually appear until page 78, this characterisation begins with what is said about Brody by other characters in the novel and the narrator. It should be noted however that character’s testimonies are to be recognised as being of varying levels of reliability. On page 16 of the novel, Marlowe is being briefed by General Sternwood with regards to his assignment as a private detective investigating an alleged blackmailer. As he is giving some background information, Sternwood refers to an earlier incident in which he paid Joe Brody $5,000 ‘to let my daughter alone.’ This immediately creates the impression that Brody is a rather unscrupulous person, accepting money to end his own involvement with a young woman. It also suggests that he possibly inhabits a lurid world and is himself an unsavoury character, after all it is doubtful that the General would pay him a large sum to leave his daughter alone if he was of a pleasant nature. However, the question of reliability is applicable here as there is the possibility at this stage that the General is simply overprotective and restrictive (although it soon becomes evident that this is not the case). On page 69, Carmen bluntly states that she ‘Hates’ Brody. This again gives the impression that he is not a pleasant person, in that he inspires such strong negative emotions among those he has been involved with. However Carmen has been established as being anything but a reliable character and therefore this may cast doubt over the reliability of her impressions of Joe. In terms of what the narrator says about Brody before the actual meeting, there is a similar kind of implication as to what kind of character he might be. He is described as having ‘played around’ with Carmen, and having been paid $5,000 to ‘find some other little girl to play with.’ It is
possible to infer from this that he is a seedy kind of person, the phrase ‘play with’ hints at an ability to influence young women, in particular to achieve his own ends, in this case ultimately for financial gain. Marlowe also identifies Brody as the prime suspect with regards to both the missing nude photos of Carmen, and the transportation of Geiger’s obscene books, as well as linking him with the murder of Geiger himself. The picture being built up through the comments made both by other characters and the narrator is one of a character involved in the seedier ...
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possible to infer from this that he is a seedy kind of person, the phrase ‘play with’ hints at an ability to influence young women, in particular to achieve his own ends, in this case ultimately for financial gain. Marlowe also identifies Brody as the prime suspect with regards to both the missing nude photos of Carmen, and the transportation of Geiger’s obscene books, as well as linking him with the murder of Geiger himself. The picture being built up through the comments made both by other characters and the narrator is one of a character involved in the seedier side of Los Angeles life, someone who is certainly no stranger to criminal activities (albeit on a small scale). The initial description of Joe Brody’s physical appearance seems to suggest that he is not a particularly threatening character. He is described as being ‘long legged, long-waisted and high shouldered’ and this implies that he is in fact rather slender and not physically imposing or intimidating. He has a face which had ‘learned to control its expressions long ago,’ which suggests that he has had involvement with the kind of people who make this kind of ability a useful thing to possess, and Marlowe’s comment that his ‘domed forehead’ ‘might at a careless glance seemed like a dwelling place for brains’ leads the reader to believe that he is the kind of person who might exude the aura of having brains, or being street-smart, despite this not actually being the case.Later on in the book, on page 126, Brody is described by Marlowe as being a ‘two-bit chiseller.’ In addition, up until the point of the meeting between Marlowe and Brody, he has generally been characterised as a small-time crook. When Brody’s apartment is initially described, it seems to be rather different to what one might expect of a ‘two-bit chiseller.’ The room that greets Marlowe is a ‘cheerful’ one, with good furniture and not too much of it’ and a ‘plush curtain’ draped across one of the doors. This is in contrast to the extravagant and ostentatious display of wealth encountered at locations such as Geiger’s place and the Sternwood’s, and the general impression is one of good taste. The kind of lifestyle that this hints at is one which requires money, and when this is set against what we have learned of Joe Brody so far in the novel, it seems that he might be living beyond his means in his yearning to be seen as a ‘big-shot,’ further adding to the idea that he is a small-time crook with the (unfulfilled) ambition of going on to bigger and better things.In terms of his relationships with other characters, the idea of his being able to impress and influence young women is added to through his relationship with Blonde Agnes. It is inferred that she has initially been impressed with Joe’s ambitions and ideas, and has obviously been informing him with regards to the situation with Geiger, as she works at his store. However it is also apparent that she has become disillusioned with Brody, as is evident from the ‘uncomplimentary speculation’ with which she regards him and her declaration that he is only a ‘half-smart guy.’ This allows the reader to infer that despite his talk and his ideas, Joe is frequently unable to deliver upon such promises and realise his ambitions. This seems to have encouraged a lack of respect for him among those he has had dealings with, notably from Agnes as discussed and also from Carmen, who threatens him with a gun (although this might be more out of anger at the way he has treated her in the past rather than contempt due to his ineptitude). Brody’s initial behaviour and manner projects a sense of hardness, which seems forced, and he seems to be unnecessarily confrontational-‘you got a funny sense of humour…take it away and play on it somewhere else’-presumably to try and emphasise this supposed hardness. The implication here, when viewed alongside the idea of him being a petty crook unable to command real respect, is that he feels that he needs to project this image in order to assert himself as he has no genuine toughness with which to command the respect he seems to crave. He also seems to be deliberately laconic and uncooperative, giving Marlowe the reply ‘You said what?’ upon hearing a name he is clearly familiar with-Geiger. This idea is reinforced through his tone when he talks to Marlowe, with ‘no more inflection than the voice of a faro dealer.’ Furthermore, Brody goes on to pull a gun on Marlowe while offering him a cigar, a trick Marlowe is singularly unimpressed with, despite Brody’s conviction that it is ‘neat.’ Brody’s voice mirrors that of ‘the tough guy in pictures,’ and all of these factors strengthen the central idea of him trying desperately to cultivate an impression of toughness and awareness, which is recognised instantly by Marlowe, whom we already know to be acquainted with far tougher characters. All of this is undermined by Brody’s evident paranoia and fear, as he gestures at blonde Agnes to hide behind the curtain while speaking to Marlowe, and his lack of self control when he finds out that Carmen is prepared to testify that it was Joe that killed Geiger-‘That godamned little hotpants!’-as well as his somewhat desperate asking of Marlowe for money in return for the pictures, and the fact that he turns ‘green’ when confronted with Carmen threatening him with saying that she saw him kill Geiger. In the same way, Brody is shown to have nervous mannerisms, such as the licking of his lips. All of this seems to go against the image of streetwise ‘cool’ that Brody seems eager to convey. He is also later described as being visibly ‘scared,’ and begs of Marlowe ‘don’t let her kill me!’ His actions, when under pressure, contradict the hardness he tires to project. An example that demonstrates this to great effect is his reaction to the pistol-wielding Carmen. He tries to placate her in a ‘small, flat voice’ which is nothing like the one with which he speaks to Marlowe in order to try and present himself as being cool. Similarly, he says quite casually to Agnes that it might be necessary to ‘pop’ Marlowe, despite the fact that Marlowe later states that ‘he was no killer type,’ and that this is the general consensus of the rest of the characters in the book who mention Brody. When speaking to Marlowe, Brody uses a wide variety of non-standard grammar. Even when Marlowe is attempting to speak at a similar level to Brody in order to accentuate his ‘hardness,’ Brody still uses much more non-standard constructions than Marlowe despite the attempt at convergence on behalf of the former. For example, when giving an account of his activities on the night of the murder of Geiger, Brody does so using the present tense-‘There’s a car in front of Geiger’s and another one up the hill…’-which hints at a lack of education on the part of Brody. Similarly, Brody omits unaccented auxiliary verbs-‘You think I’d go back there…?’ Although Marlowe does do the same thing at several points-‘What you do for a living?’ he does not use non standard grammar with anywhere near the same frequency as Brody and when he does, it is clear that he is doing so in order to provoke a certain kind of response from Brody, especially when his language begins to diverge away from Brody’s as he attempts to distance himself from him in order to re-assert his superiority, his lexis and grammar of now a higher register. This point can be illustrated effectively when we look at the way Marlowe talks when considering Brody’s story of his whereabouts in the night of the murder. ‘That seems reasonable.’ Although there is nothing here that could be described as sophisticated vocabulary or grammar, the overall tone seems to be the authoritative one of a high ranking policeman interrogating a suspect, with no grammatical inaccuracies whatsoever, and it is far removed from the manner in which we presume Brody would utter a similar statement. With Brody, it is clear that non standard grammar is a regular feature of his speech rather than a device he uses, as with Marlowe. Again we are given the impression of a lack of formal education, and perhaps a style of speech that has again been cultivated to exude defiance and hardness.
