The Big Sleep written by Raymond Chandler is a detective novel. The novel begins on an overcast morning in mid-October. Philip Marlowe, a brave, righteous, tough, and honest private detective, is hired by the old, dying General Sternwood. The General is being blackmailed by Arthur Geiger, who claims that Sternwood's little daughter Carmen owes him gambling debts. And it's Marlowe's job to track down Geiger's whereabouts. During the visit, Marlowe also senses that there is something fishy going on with the disappearance of Rusty Regan, the General's son-in-law and husband to Vivian. Detective Marlowe investigated Carmen's blackmail and Regan's disappearance. In the process of his investigation, he met many different kinds of people from different social classes. The truth of the case was also very surprising. Philip also revealed the dark side of society at that time when he found out about the case.
Money can be a devil's errand and the upper classes of society protect each other. Marlowe runs into his client’s younger daughter, Carmen Sternwood, at the home of pornographic photographer Arthur Geiger, whose murder Carmen had witnessed the night before while naked and intoxicated. Describing her as a “pretty, spoiled and not very bright little girl who had gone very, very wrong, and nobody was doing anything about it,” Marlowe does not see Carmen’s impropriety as her failure alone, but also that of the responsible figures in her life who are not guiding her effectively. For example, District Attorney Taggart Wilde, an influential friend of General Sternwood, keeps the supposedly respectable family’s name out of the newspapers after Geiger’s murder. Despite doing so, he notes Carmen “ought not to be running around loose,” adding “I blame the old man for that.” With the investigation of Carmen's blackmail incident, the detective found that the rich class protected each other and used their wealth and power to cover up the ugly crimes of the rich.
The novel mercilessly exposes the fact that equality does not exist. Those at the bottom of society can never stand up, and those at the top will never be knocked down. The people at the bottom of society such as Geiger, who took pornographic photos to blackmail Carmen, and Canino, Eddie’s henchman， who killed Jones, are at the lower level of society. They strive hard to change their lives and even commit crimes, but in the end, the people at the bottom of society cannot defeat the rule of the rich class. On the other hand, people in the upper- class control power with wealth. Marlowe’s client, the wealthy and aged General Sternwood, does not need to lift a finger to ensure his intentions are fulfilled. At the end of the novel, Marlowe reflects: “He could lie quietly in his canopied bed, with his bloodless hands folded on the sheet, waiting.” Sternwood’s “bloodless hands” represent the fact he can pay others to do his dirty work. With Marlowe’s colleagues who reveal the truth of the casing layer by layer, they also reveal the darkness of society.
Evil is superior to good. Money is not everything. People will eventually bear the consequences and pay the price for their mistakes. Geiger paid the price of his life for his crime. Bold and capricious Carmen always thought that her father and sister would help her solve her problems with money when she did anything. When detective Marlowe finally found out that it was Carmen who killed Reagan, his sister had been hiding the truth from her. Carmen wanted to kill Marlowe, and finally, she died. An old general who seemed to love his daughter very much indulged her with his wealth and power and finally lost his beloved little daughter forever. Throughout the story, the cynical detective Marlowe is a light in the dark society, a real knight. He investigated the truth of extortion and disappearance and also saw the darkness of society and the ugly faces of those so-called social elites. I think detective Marlowe taught the rich a good lesson. He refused the temptation of money. His integrity told the rich that money could not buy life and justice.
In conclusion, the whole story through detectives Marlowe to finding out the truth of Carmen's extortion of pornographic photos and Reagan's disappearance shows us a society full of darkness, violence, and crime. Detective Marlowe is the embodiment of the brave, tough, and brave knight who dares to reveal the truth in the whole story. As the truth of the case came out, the author revealed to the readers through detectives the dark side of the society with class inequality, full of lies, and the truth concealed by money and power. I think the title of The Big Sleeping has two meanings. One is the truth of sleeping, the truth of crimes committed by the rich covered up by the police and the media. The other is the sincerity of people blinded by money and power. The detective image created by the author is a brave knight. The author hopes that the knight can awaken the sleeping truth and people’s sleeping hearts.
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