Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

Farewell , My Lovely

California , characters , social concerns

The secret to Raymond Chandler 's considerable appeal is his depiction of the city of Los Angeles , the state of California and his host of socially involved characters in Farewell , My Love (FML . The reading audience can imagine themselves in the city , the countryside .and why do they feel that way ? Because Chandler repeats like a litany the names of the streets on which his characters drive . Sunset is one of the best-known streets in Los Angeles

Farewell , My Lovely is a narrative of

the breakdown of human society and its major nesting place , the contemporary city . The Los Angeles that Philip Marlowe traverses across , its massive breadth along its entire sociological spectrum , is a physically and morally decayed conurbation Of course the irony , the setting is mockingly in the splendid but ever-threatening natural landscape at the end of the American West

Phillip Marlowe , the central character , moves widely across Los Angeles and the surrounding landscape , lives in Hollywood and operates out of an office at the heart of Illusion land ' or the California Dream ' on Hollywood Boulevard . Marlowe may have been betrayed by his friends women and lying clients but the gritty realism in Chandler 's stories about him made the character a natural for Hollywood . The first notion of Hollywood fiction is to relate it solely to the motion picture industry . However , from any critically significant standpoint , the characterization , maybe too narrow a view . If geographical location is at all informing and shaping a body of literature in southern California , then the state clearly is but one of a number of informative regional elements , obviously a major factor and a minor factor while maintaining the historical , geophysical , and socio-psychological central element in Farewell , My Love

Chandlers geographical themes are patterns within patterns , i .e . the city of Los Angeles (of which Hollywood is a part , of Los Angeles County (of which the city is only a part , and of the entire coastal and inland area of southern California (of which Los Angeles County is but a part . If geographical location is indeed an aesthetic factor in the region 's literature , one must seek its effects . Even specific areas are used as key characters in Chandlers ' California world

Characters and Social Issues

Often , the relation between Chandler 's character , Marlowe , and another male , is somewhat dubious , cited in Marlowe 's , He had the eyes you never see , that you only read about . Violet eyes , almost purple . Eyes like a girl , a lovely girl . His skin was soft as silk Lightly reddened , but it would never tan (Widdicombe , 2001 , pg 31

Throughout FML , Chandler 's characters social observation police corruption is examined as closely as any crime scene clue in whodunit narratives . The good cop /bad cop contrast underscores Chandler 's observation that all is not well with the American system of justice

Moreover , at several moments , Chandler explicitly blames the police for encouraging racism . There are plainclothes cops who show no interest in the death of Montgomery , the owner of Florian 's (nightclub , because he 's black : therefore described as Shines , another shine killing

Chandler participates in the discussion of taboo issues , generally , e .g Marijuana cigarettes it is for the episodes themselves that one reads But at that point it becomes clear that a second and narrative very significant group of Chandlerian former dwellings , these are the sumptuous private houses of the various gigolos , from that of Lindsay Marriott , as Marlowe depicts "a lad . [with] a thick , soft brown neck , like the neck of a strong woman " and distinctly feminine affectations ' hidden away above the coast highway

Even here , however , in this general subcategory of the private club or casino into the whole closed enclave of the private development with its gates and private police . Illicit needs associate themselves with these characters and places , in particular the drug sources : from the relatively high-class doctors ' offices

california , Los angeles , The dream

It is a region which begins to emerge in the 1920s , roughly coincident with Los Angeles 's transformation from hick town to metropolis and indeed , with the coming of age of the motion picture industry . Among influences upon its literature , it shares with the rest of the west , a magnificent grandness , an unparalleled variety of landscape a societal newness and a lack of history save for a relatively recent frontier and expressive past . Adhering to the words of Horace Greeley , the magnetic appeal for seekers after fortune , fame or salvation still calls , and many answer

Chandler , in his style , declares Southern California to be a spiritual wasteland . The death of dreams and dreamers has , in fact , been a theme pervading California narratives since the "bust " days of the

Gold Rush

This narrative aims at no such finality . One of its outcomes is some measure of increased clarification of the regional idea from the literary critic 's point of view : that fiction generally associated with the Hollywood-Southern California milieu of the nineteen thirties

A faint music came over the water and music over the water can never be anything but lovely . The Royal Crown seemed to ride as steady as a pier on its four hawsers . Its landing stage was lit up like a theater marquee . Then all this faded into remoteness and another , older smaller boat began to sneak out of the night towards us . It was not much to look at . A converted seagoing freighter with rusted plates , the superstructure cut down to the boat deck level , and above those two stumpy masts just high enough for a radio antenna . There was light on the Montecito also and music floated across the wet dark sea . The spooning couples took their teeth out of each other 's necks and stared at the ship and giggled (Chandler , 286

A California of the mind is the most compelling of American myth pursuit of happiness . A part of this myth , you get different mind , you get the noir myth of California , where people pursue a happiness that is constituted by perpetual difference , deferral , and detour . Then of course the city of Los Angeles , advertised itself as a "heaven on earth could only pursue its own noir myth

Not the California dream trap (manifest destiny turned nightmare destination ) of Chandleresque Los Angeles . The sordid , somber street life of the hostile territory Marlowe somewhat reluctantly traverses contrasts with the urban haven (Japan 's Chiba City /Night City ) that thrives because it provides an ethnic thrill and geographical flavor

In FML , Chandler locates extreme police corruption in Bay City , on the theory that gangsters can only purchase parts of a big city , but can buy a town outright . There , Marlowe 's protection is provided by the financial and political clout of his client , Mr . Grayle , but not before he is beaten by Bay City detectives Blane and Galbraith , who deliver him into the sadistic hands of Dr . Sonderborg , a quack who incapacitates "patients " with dangerous drugs and provides a safe haven for criminals on the run . Chandler 's strategy in less-easily-corrupted Los Angeles County is to contrast an incompetent police detective with one whose intellectual abilities and high ethical standards match Marlowe 's own (Athanasourelis , 2003 , pg 325

Philip Marlowe

In describing Marlowe continuous adventures , Chandler 's wit surfaces given any opportunity . When Marlowe was getting slowly out of bed the morning after his escape from Dr . Sonderborg 's medical horror chamber Chandler describes Marlowe as sick , but "not as sick as I would feel if I had a salaried job

Marlowe began his crusading through the streets of Los Angeles and the surrounding towns looking for ladies to rescue , for the little fellow who needed help , for the wealthy that appeared to be helpless , and for the unscrupulous who deserved a shot of old-fashioned justice

The novel 's comments on region are aimed contemptuously at some of the same targets attacked by West , the area 's occultist charlatans and its medical quacks "Give him enough time " Marlowe says of Amthor "and pay him enough money and he 'll cure anything from a jaded husband to a grasshopper plague . But mostly it would be women . women of all sizes , shapes and ages , but with one thing in common--money " Dr Sonderborg 's sanatorium for dope addicts is a place where , for a fee Marlowe is an idealized portrait of Chandler . He shares some of his physical characteristics as well as his profound sense of alienation and loneliness he 's named after one of the schoolhouses at Dulwich College where he was educated he allows Chandler to anatomize the few strengths and many weaknesses of southern California from behind a literary disguise

The strengths are the climate and the beauty of the countryside . The weaknesses are the tawdriness of everyday life and the corruptness of politicians , of businessmen , and of the police

The hero 's story , according to Chandler , was "man 's adventure in search of a hidden truth " In his knightly role Marlowe rescued ladies who did not deserve it , protected an old man sick and helpless , saw to it that some of the criminal element received its due -- always moving through a lonely world with dignity and integrity , never deviating from his code in a hidden society that made unreasonable demands on any honest man

Moose Malloy

Early in on FML , Moose Malloy kills Montgomery , the black manager of Florian 's bar . Lieutenant Nulty , who is in charge of the case , displays his disinterest in blatantly racist terms : the murder of a black man is of no concern to him or to his superiors , and his lack of motivation becomes a convenient excuse for his incompetence and inaction . He recognizes Marlowe 's interest and intellect and soon depends on the private eye to do his work for him . There is , first , the dream destroyed

The novel 's plot from the opening page on draws its impetus from Moose Malloy 's dream of reunion with his lost love , Velma Valento . Admittedly it is a dream rooted in the sleazy world of gangsters , two-bit nightclubs , and third-rate entertainers it is the dream of a corrupted dreamer (a theme we have seen repeatedly , a ruthless thief and murderer and its object is a deceitful woman . But it is a dream theless and even sentimentalized by Chandler . Such dreams , of course--like the dreams ' of salvation

Once again , Chandler points to California citrus , its abundant sunshine and vast collection of celebrities dreamt by the masses . But in the end - they all must fail . As it turns out , this dream dies only moments before the dreamer himself does , with five bullets shot into him by the very object of his dream

Helen Grayle

Marlowe 's world is full of women as cute as lace pants , loan sharks card sharps , button men , pickpockets and crooked businessmen . Raymond chandler will always be remembered for creating Philip Marlowe , the hard-boiled private eye whose wisecracks flow as freely as the whiskey he drinks by the half pint . Marlowe is a modern-day knight with an office behind a glazed , tinted glass door . The dated , chipped black paint displaying 'Philip Marlowe , Private Investigations ' welcomes in his lively hood

There is a gleeful perversity underlining use of analogies , establishing a degree of difference from Chandler 's characteristic wit . Marlowe provides such of Helen Grayle "A blond to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window (Chandler , 196 . While a blasphemous sight might be located in the image of a religious cleric throwing off his celibacy , an underlying strain of corruptive nature of female sexuality also seems to lurk beneath Marlowe 's psychic

Helen Grayle , the film 's femme fatale , and Marriott 's employer , Jules Amthor , the homosexual head of a blackmail ring who employed Marriot When Marlowe does meet Helen at her mausoleum-like home , Chandler 's Marlowe assesses , the Grayle mansion is really "not so much . It was smaller than Buckingham Palace , and probably had fewer windows than the Chrysler Building

As an elderly Mr . Grayle drones on about his jade-collecting hobby for instance , Marlowe gazes at Helen , who is sitting to one side obscured by a wing-backed chair . The restricted view intensifies what can be seen : her bare leg , shoulder , and neck . Her leg , the scene 's initial focus , is revealed by a slit in her dress that runs from ankle to near-groin . Having both solicited and noted Marlowe 's gaze , Helen adjusts her dress so that the slit moves on top of her now-crossed legs Marlowe , as bearer of the look and agent entranced by the image of woman as sexual difference , then moves to a chair of his own (Chandler , 13 )Marlowe does not hide his appreciation of Helen 's beauty , which is made apparent by the camera 's focus on her low-cut blouse and exposed midriff . The plot turns on the question of Helen Grayle 's identity , her reemergence as the beautiful blonde wife of an influential millionaire .The charade ends when Helen Grayle engages Marlowe to dispense with the social amenity saying "To hell with this polite drinking . Let 's get together on this

Lindsay Marriott

Lindsay Marriott works hard at a role which ultimately betrays him for dreams also die : not only Moose 's dream , but Velma 's too .a desire for respectability so strong that it leads her to self-protective murder . On our way to Lindsay Marriott 's murder in Purissima Canyon , we see "a broad avenue lined with unfinished electroliers and weed-grown sidewalks [where] some realtor 's dream had turned into a hangover " Traditional values again break down . Mrs . Morrison , Jessie 's busybody neighbor voices the modern American complaint "Folks ain 't safe a minute in this town . When I come here twenty-two years ago we didn 't lock our doors hardly " Marlowe recognizes his own separation from traditional values "I needed a lot of life insurance " he tells us "I needed a vacation , I needed a home in the country . What I had was a coat , a hat and a gun (Chandler , V , 156

Reference (s

Toby Widdicombe , 2001 , A Reader 's Guide to Raymond Chandler Publisher Greenwood Press . Place of Publication : Westport , CT . Page Number : 28

Raymond Chandler , Farewell , My Lovely , 1940 , 286 , 156 , 13 , 196

John Paul Athanasourelis , 2003 , Film Adaptation and the Censors : 1940s Hollywood and Raymond Chandler Journal Title : Studies in the Novel Volume : 35 . Issue : 3 . Page Number : 325

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