"The Big Sleep" is about a private detective that is trying to solve a blackmailing case for a dying millionaire. The detective, Philip Marlowe, finds that the case not only involves blackmail, but also murder. This book was Raymond Chandler's first novel and it explores the oppressive and corrupt society of 1930's America. Chandler uses Philip Marlowe as the immoral yet heroic protagonist.
The corruption of 1930's society is present in the government of Los Angeles. Throughout the novel Chandler brings to question the credibility of the police. Vivian Sternwood is the daughter of General Sternwood, the man Marlowe is working for. She says this about the police system: "He didn't know the right people. That's all a police record means in this rotten crime-ridden country." She obviously implies that one could ignore the law if he or she was influential, powerful, or rich. When Vivian says this statement, she shows the reader how corrupt the police are.
The Big Sleep (1946 film)
The October 1934 issue of Black Mask featured the ...
English: Title page of Marlowe's Hero and Leander,...Another example of how the police are corrupt in the novel is how they allowed Geiger, an illegal pornography vendor, to continue his immoral and illegal business for their own personal gain. This crooked action shows the unethical and unprincipled manner of the police. In this instance the misconduct the police show proves the corruption of the society as a whole in the 1930's.
The newspapers in the city of Los Angeles show how the people of the city are corrupt. A person uses a newspaper to understand, but in The Big Sleep the newspapers lie about the truth. One example of the dishonesty of the newspapers is seen when they lie about the murders of two men. Geiger had been killed by the Sternwood's chauffeur, Owen Taylor, but the newspapers claimed that a man named Joe Brody, who was...