L.A. In "The Big Sleep"

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Solomon Petchenik Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep avoids convention. Many inventive pacing techniques bend the curve of the traditional narrative plot line. The characters, while abundant, are not all essential to the story and just add branches to the realistic scenarios. The character roles, protagonist and antagonist, are never truly defined. All of these techniques are to paint a realistic world not bound by the rules of storytelling. To paint a realistic world, he grounds the events of the novel in a realistic portrait of a 1930s Los Angeles. In fact, Los Angeles plays such a key role in the fabrication of the work, that it acts as a character in the novel. Emotion, individuality, and corruption are all very apparent personality traits in The Big Sleep’s main character, the city of Los Angeles. P.I. Philip Marlowe acts as the plot line’s protagonist, pitted against racketeers in a breeding ground for corruption. He travels from crime venue to crime venue solving the murder of a blackmailer, and finding the location of a missing person. No true antagonist stands against Marlowe, except the force of nature. This nature is his habitat, the city of Los Angeles California. He is inhibited in a literal sense by the weather and vastness of the city as he journeys looking for answers. This facet of L.A. changes with the rising tension of the plot as Marlowe is thrust against the most detestable types of people. From an overcast sky, to a torrential down pour, this apparent change in the foreboding weather is the emotional change of L.A. as the city follows the rising action of our protagonist. As Marlowe traverses the city, he becomes acquainted with the town’s diverse landscapes and varying locations. From casinos and pornography shops, to the dingy or lavish homes of the characters, Marlowe learns every trait of the city and it’s

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