Honesty Case
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A world where honesty was going out of style is an opinionated view of America in the 1930s, more specifically, Los Angeles. Deception, greed and corruption began to pollute the United States after The Great Depression and led to an attitude of cynicism about who can be trusted, and why. The first noir crime novel published astonished its audience with its exploitation of such pollutants. In that first novel, pieced together from his previously published pulp fiction stories, Raymond Chandler adds depth and intensity to a mystery within a mystery by giving his readers a morally upright character they can cheer for from beginning to end. Detective Philip Marlowes unfaltering chivalrous code of conduct, personal self-assigned quest for the truth, and brief yet profound moments of reflection exemplifies that depth and intensity as he vigilantly investigates the meaning behind The Big Sleep.
Philip Marlowe is hired by General Sternwood: a millionaire on his deathbed and father of two daughters, Vivian and Carmen Sternwood. It is with much descriptive imagery that Vivian and Carmen are introduced, coming from the perspective of a hard-boiled detective like Marlowe. Vivian has “ankles long and slim and with enough melodic line for a tone poem” (Chandler 17) and Carmen has “little sharp predatory teeth, as white as fresh orange pith and as shiny as porcelain” (5). Both girls are notably beautiful in appearance and the mystery revolves around them as the General is being blackmailed for their gambling debts. It takes Marlowe two short days to solve this mystery, and his investigations uncover Carmens involvement in an underground pornography business – one where she was the naked subject and under the influence of drugs, but to Marlowe “she was always just a dope” (36). Marlowe maintains chivalry as his moral code of conduct even when both sisters attempt to seduce him. He finds himself alone with Vivian after saving her from thugs at the casino and, as any clever detective would, used the opportunity to question her about another facet of the mystery instead of taking advantage of the situation. When he arrives home and discovers Carmen naked in his bed, Marlowe confirms in his mind that something is not quite right with her, and has to make a judgment call on how to conduct himself if he is to remain a part of this mystery. Instead of indulging, he tells her to get dressed and go home, while he is left to brood on deeper thought that while chivalry is not dead and gone, there may be no room left for its values.
On the morning of the third day, Marlowe is sitting in his office when the Sternwoods butler, Norris, phones him to inquire about the status of his investigation. Marlowe confirms it closed “tight as a vault with a busted time lock” (127). After all, there was not much depth to the blackmail mystery. General Sternwood being in poor health simply needed someone to act on his behalf. However, in the past two days, a certain