Key Facts
full title ·
The Big Sleep
author · Raymond Chandler
type of work · Novel
genre · Crime novel; detective novel; mystery; noir; Los Angeles fiction
language · English
time and place written · Late 1930s, Los Angeles
date of first publication · 1939
publisher · Alfred Knopf
narrator · Philip Marlowe, a private detective, describes the actions that take place as he describes the commission at hand
point of view · First person
tone · The author and narrator share the same tone of darkness and cynical romanticism
tense · Immediate past
setting (time) · 1930s
setting (place) · Los Angeles
protagonist · Philip Marlowe
major conflict · Detective Philip Marlowe is hired to take care of a blackmailing case involving a man named Arthur Gwynn Geiger, a pornographer whose death causes many other deaths. The novel also concerns the search for Rusty Regan, which occupies the second half of the book and becomes a second plot line
rising action · The murder of Geiger; the death of Owen Taylor; Brody's blackmailing and death; Carol Lundgren's capture; Agnes's partnership with Harry Jones and, earlier, Joe Brody; the finding of Mona Grant; Carmen's appearance in Marlowe's bed; General Sternwood's admission of wanting to find Rusty Regan; Carmen's attempt to murder Marlowe in the oilfields
climax · Carmen attempts to kill Marlowe in the abandoned oil field, causing Marlowe to put the pieces of the Rusty Regan puzzle together and link it with the rest of the plot
falling action · Marlowe's explanation to Vivian Sternwood of what he knows about Rusty Regan causing her to confess to the disposal of her husband's body and causing her to promise to help Carmen towards a cure for her madness.
themes · The cynicism of 1930s America; the corruption of American society
motifs · The knight; the weather
symbols · The greenhouse; the orchids; the stained glass; the chessboard
foreshadowing · The portrait and its dark eyes; the stained glass; the weather
