Critical Analysis Of Chapter two Of The Big Sleep

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Alex Morris        1twoS        Mr Piper

Critical Analysis Of Chapter two Of ‘The Big Sleep’

Raymond Chandler uses character, setting and language to great effect in the second chapter of ‘The Big Sleep’ to begin to craft his novel. The character of General Sternwood is used to set up the atmosphere for the shady metropolis of Los Angeles, which is reinforced through the general’s setting and also to introduce both plot lines, of Geiger and then through the mysterious introduction of Rusty Regan.


Chapter two sees Chandler begin to map the environment of the LA setting and attempt to demonstrate its variety. He is drawn to the great estates of the wealthy, private landscapes at the Sternwood’s mansion, whose distinct atmosphere sets up detailed presentation of its inhabitants. The setting in chapter two mirrors the running themes of the chapter, with the French doors signifying sophistication and the family portrait of the Sternwood mansion inferring tradition and respectability. The portrait of the family featuring eyes of ‘coal black directness’ however, indicates there may be more than meets the eye with the Sternwood family and in particular, behind the ‘leaden mask’ of General Sternwood. Just as the eyes in the portrait form a porthole into the work of art, so too do the eyes of the characters allow a glimpse of their true selves hiding beneath. The apparent respectability of the grand mansion masks a fundamental core of horror, corruption and death.

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The greenhouse in which Sternwood and Marlowe convene also helps to set the mood and the tone for the novel by acting both as an extension of the ailing General Sternwood and a microcosm for the corrupt world of LA that surrounds and decays him.

The greenhouse, ‘warm as a slow oven’ with a ‘soft, wet heat’, is a small-scale version of the fraudulent city of LA, in which rain pervades and thieves such as the blackmailing Mr Geiger cloy around the General. General Sternwood, crippled by debauchery and ‘two thirds dead’, is dehumanised with repeated animalistic imagery of ...

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