The Big Sleep Gender Roles

Both Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s, The Sign of the Four, and Raymond Chandler’s, The Big Sleep, depict women as passive characters with little agency. Doyle’s novel, introduces character Mary Morstan as a small, “dainty, young lady”, with a “sweet and amiable” expression. The sole purpose of Mary Morstan’s character, is to act as a love interest to Holmes’ sidekick, Watson. Watson endures the conflict of finding a way around his and Mary’s social and financial differences. This romance between Watson, and Mary, is an important factor in the storyline, further developing Watson as a character. Raymond Chandler choose to introduce the female characters in his novel different than Doyle. Carmen Sternwood is a lead female character in The Big Sleep,

Although Mary is a female character, and female characters are often subordinate to male characters in the majority of literature, it is evident that Mary’s social class allows her to have power. At the time, social class, and wealth, was the highest indication of power and prestige. Watson feels that since Mary comes from a very different class ranking, it would be disrespectful to try and start a relationship with her. Watson states, “…Worse still, she was rich. If Holmes’s researches were successful, she would be an heiress. Was it fair, was it honorable, that a half-pay surgeon should take such advantage of an intimacy which chance had brought about? Might she not look upon me as a mere vulgar fortune-seeker? I could not bear to risk that such a thought should cross her mind. This Agra treasure intervened like an impassable barrier between us” (146). Mary’s social class and wealth intimidates Watson, and makes him feel beneath her. The mere fact that Mary comes from a family of wealth and affluence creates the only sense of power Mary obtains. If Mary were to be a female character, not coming from a family of prosperity, it is likely that she would not be recognized as valuable. Mary has little agency or free choice throughout the novel, because of the way she is represented and portrayed. Mary does not have much to contribute as a character in her own capacity. The only mentions of Mary’s character are relating to her physical beauty and appearance, or her social and economic status relative to