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Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep

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Blackmailing a person often ends in the blackmailer receiving cash from a particular person in order to prevent the release of private information to the public. Raymond Chandler’s novel The Big Sleep depicts a wealthy family that hires a private detective in order to take care of a case that involves blackmailing the family to gain money. The author, Chandler, illustrates that people struggling economically will do just about anything to receive money through the conflicts that arise in his novel. Chandler’s message interests his audience greatly due to the fact that many adults living in the United States are able to understand the reason behind every character’s action. As a matter of fact, “four out of [five] U.S. adults struggle” economically, …show more content…

Raymond Chandler published his book in the year 1939, the same time period in which the Great Depression, years 1929 to 1939, took place. During the Great Depression, the Western world experienced an economic decline in which many lost their jobs resulting in an increase in unemployment. As a result, many did not have a source of income which ultimately led Chandler to base his novel on the effects of the economic decline. The effects of the economic downfall parallel to the characters in the novel by trying to manipulate others into sending ransom money through blackmailing. They do just about anything, including illegal crimes, in order to “gain a little dough” (Chandler 84). The protagonist, Philip Marlowe, begins to realize that all the cases involve the only outcome of gaining money. Therefore, the characters are in desperate need of money similar to the people during the Great Depression. Ultimately, because Chandler derives his novel on real events, this actually makes the novel worth reading because anybody from our time of day can easily relate to the characters conflicts because of experiencing problems dealing with financial

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The exciting and prosperous decade of the 1920s suddenly ended when the world faced a severe economic crisis known as the Great Depression. Most men were unaware of the upcoming crash of the economy and were left penniless. What led up to this catastrophe that not only affected our country but the world, globally? After the 1920’s many people began thinking they could get rich easily by buying stocks. This was the beginning of many unexpected problems such as stock market speculation, the failure of many banks, and the problem of overproduction and underconsumption.

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In 1929, the stock market crashed, bringing economic devastation to all of America, and much of Europe. Many Americans were jobless and homeless, causing many problems all throughout America. The American citizens and people frantically tried to create coping methods fro life in poverty, and did what they had to survive, as our government was working to improve life for the American citizen. These fateful years would later be known as, “The Great Depression”, the greatest economic crisis in American History.

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America faced many adversities in its past, one of its greatest adversities was not war nor disease, but in fact, an economic disaster. In the years of 1929 – 1939, America suffered exponential damage to its economy and stock market. The Great Depression had severe effects on the United States such as an economic crisis, the need for a new president, a call for action, and as seen in Of Mice and Men, the cause for migrant workers. The peak of the great depression was unarguably the hardest time of the whole great depression. Between the peak and the trough of the downturn, industrial production in the United States declined 47 percent and real Gross Domestic Product fell to 30 percent (Benson, “The Great Depression”).

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2. In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, Kesey uses images of machinery to compare to Big Nurse, Miss Ratched, and the black boy because of the control they maintain in the ward and destroy the patients individuality. As Chief Bromden, the narrator, is thinking about over the years with Miss Ratched, he describes, “I see her sit in the center of this web of wires like a watchful robot, tend her network with mechanical insect skill, know every second which wire runs where and just what current to send up to get to the result she want” (Kesey 29). Miss Ratched is conveyed as a robot by the Chief with how she controls and knows how to control the ward and the people in it.

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The people of times were at a standstill as there wasn’t anything that can cause people to grow and nothing out there to strive for. The people suffering from the Great Depression were too poor to buy goods and no goods to buy. In addition, people couldn’t have dreams or as stated in the novel nothing “outside the boundaries of Maycomb County” as they were barely trying to live in the present with the crippling economy. Families like the Cunninghams represented the entire farmer population affected by the crash as they suffered severely and their way of life showed the impact. These impacts were evident by the condition of the Walter Cunningham Jr. such as the “absence of shoes ”(pg) that led to hookworms from exposure to the ground.

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The Great Depression was a worldwide economic slump that affected people of all sorts. In the United States, the unemployment rose to an all time high of 25% in 1933. These were desperate times, and desperate measures were taken just so you could get by. Because of these desperate measures, the culture of the country changed. As Lawrence Friedman put it, “Poverty and social disorganization were eating away at the country’s social fabric.”.

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The Great Depression hit the citizens of America in 1930 and created havoc on farmer’s crop profits (Tarshis 8). The banks began to close and lose money. Wheat prices dropped and life for the settlers of the Great Plains became harsh. There was no money circulating throughout the economy given that no one in the region had any to spend without the sales of their crops (Henderson). Families became poor and could no longer manage their farms.

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The Great Depression was a prodigious event that affected every citizen of America in the time period of 1929-1939. At this time, citizens were left unemployed and hungry but had little to no money to spend on food or supporting their family. This event occurred because of the stock market crash of 1929. On the 24th of October in 1929 the stock market bursted and investor began dumping immense shares. This began the start of “Black Thursday” where investor’s stocks “on margin” were wiped out.

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Chandler produces the classic detective novel through his use of conniving criminals, corrupt police, and characters that are slighted by the actions of those in their lives. The novels chief detective, Philip Marlowe, is unable to eliminate every criminal that crosses his path, much to his dismay. Although most of the offenders are apparent from the beginning of the novel, some are not revealed until towards the end. Consider mob boss Eddie Mars; well known by the police officers, along with his hitman Canino, yet no one seems to do anything about it. The absence of action is not a result of ineptitude; it is merely from the mob having control over everything, spanning from bootlegging to covering up murders.

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In 1929, the U.S. was hit with the worst economic crisis in the history of the country, the Great Depression. The Great Depression left millions of people unemployed and cost millions their life's savings. The Depression lasted for ten long years for the American people. Since the Great Depression ended, people have studied it, trying to figure out what happened that started it all. The problem was, in fact, the poor economic habits of the people at the time, such as speculation, income maldistribution, and overproduction.

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It is a great love story only enhanced by the outlandish characters and constant mockery. The pacing of the novel is slow at first until half way through the first volume. The plot then accelerates and by the third volume it is hard to put down. Characters such as Mr. Collins, Mrs. Bennet, and Lady De Bourgh were all hysterical caricatures meant that livened up the novel during times when the plot was thin. The novel would not have been as cohesive or interesting without characters to add comic relief.

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Raymond Chandler’s cynical view, as shown in The Big Sleep, is that people will do whatever it takes to get money, and not many people can be trusted. This draws a parallel to the time period in which this novel was written in, The Great Depression. During this period, people were desperate to do whatever it takes in order to get money. Throughout the novel, people have shown the principle flaw in this view, doing anything to get money, even if it is considered illegal. This can be seen at various points where people attempt activities such as blackmailing the General, murdering Geiger for his business, and other forms of crime.

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From the beginning, he guides the protagonist through a midlife crisis that is almost sure to go wrong. He is a wealthy man, lost in a suspicious part of town in an expensive car. This has trouble written all over it. People in these areas are desperate for money, and robbing a rich man in his Mercedes-Benz would be a more than possible event that could ensue. Most fatal of all however, and most ironic of all, is that “[he is so] intent upon the future that…

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