This document provides background information and analysis of Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel The Big Sleep. It discusses Chandler's life and influences, including his father abandoning the family. It outlines the plot, which involves characters killing for money during the Great Depression. The style breaks conventions and influenced film noir. Major themes include the cynicism of 1930s America and the corruption of society. Important characters like Phillip Marlowe and Eddie Mars are analyzed. Key quotations are presented.

1. Chris.Amy.Shaun.
Dr. Moore

3. About The Author
Raymond Thornton
Chandler was born in
Chicago on July 23,
1888.
His mother was Irish and his father
was from Pennsylvania and of
English descent. He was a railroad
engineer, an alcoholic and an
unfaithful husband who abandoned
his family after he divorced
Raymond's mother in 1895.

4. Author Background
Later in life Chandler resented
his father and took on many of
his characteristics after he
married a much older woman
named Cecilia Pascal.
Chandler got involved and made
good money in the oil boom of
the 1920’s in California. His
experience in the oil industry is
what led him to criticize the
corruption of such industries in
The Big Sleep.

5. Reasons For Writing
During Chandler’s time in the oil
business he fell into one of his
father’s vices: drinking.
He lost his job during the Great
Depression and started reading
pulp novels, especially Dashiell
Hammett.
The Big Sleep was Chandler’s
first novel in 1939.

6. Social
Context
The Great Depression

7. The Great Depression
Money is mentioned as an ideal
throughout the novel. The biggest
social aspect of the novel is The
Great Depression. Chandler has
characters that kill for money.
Chandler uses the cynicism of the
era to represent a world of money
hungry people.
Even the police are corruptible in
Chandler’s novel. Everyone has a
price.

8. Style and Influence
Chandler’s style of writing was
different than previous styles of
novels. Chandler not only broke
away from the language of
previous detective fiction, but was
also unconventional in plotting,
in his play with order, and in the
addition of more than one
plotline.
Chandler's innovations led to the
film style of the 1940s and 1950s
called film noir.

9. Themes
The Cynicism of 1930’s America
The Corruption of American Society

10. Themes
Privilege and Entitlement
Meaning of Life

11. Motifs
The Weather
The Knight

12. Symbols
The Greenhouse
The Orchids

13. Symbols
The Stained Glass
The Chessboard

14. Analysis of Major
Characters
Phillip Marlowe

15. Analysis of Major
Characters
Eddie Mars

16. Analysis of Major
Characters
Carmen Sternwood

17. Important Quotations
“I was wearing my powder-blue suit...I
was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I
didn’t care who knew it. I was
everything the well-dressed private
detective ought to be. I was calling on
four million dollars.”

18. Important Quotations
“Vivian is spoiled, exacting, smart and
quite ruthless. Carmen is a child who
likes to pull wings off flies. Neither
of them has anymore moral sense than a
cat. Neither have I. No Sternwood ever
had.”

19. Important Quotations
“She’s a grifter, shamus. I’m a grifter.
We’re all grifters. So we sell each
other out for a nickel.”

20. Important Quotations
“You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were
not bothered by things like that, oil and water were the
same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep,
not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you
fell. Me, I was part of the nastiness now. Far more a part
of it than Rusty Regan was.”

21. Final Thoughts

22. Chris.Amy.Shaun
The Big Sleep