the big sleep

Chandler 's The Big Sleep and makes the detective act tough is a strong fear of involvement in sexual matters . Thus , Carmen is described as possessing predatory teeth ' Even the vegetation in the General 's hothouse possesses a kind of stagnant lust

The air was thick , wet , steamy and larded with the cloying smell of tropical orchids in bloom . The glass walls and roof were heavily misted and big drops of moisture splashed down on the plants . The light had an unreal greenish color , like light filtered through an aquarium tank . The

plants filled the place , a forest of them , with nasty meaty leaves and stalks like the newly washed fingers of dead men . They smelled as overpowering as boiling alcohol under a blanket (Chandler 159

When Marlowe and Vivian were by the Del Rey beach club Marlowe writes I braked the car against the curb and switched the headlights off and sat with my hands on the wheel . Under the thinning fog the surf curled and creamed , almost without sound , like a thought trying to form itself on the edge of consciousness (Chandler 150 . Actually , danger moves stealthily everywhere in the motions of nature , however much the detective may try to keep it under control : [The] bright gardens had a haunted look , as though small wild eyes were watching me from behind bushes , as though the sunshine itself had a mysterious something in its light (Chandler 230

Here , it seems , women are associated with superpower that becomes a threat to the detective 's masculinity . Women are treated by the detective with something close to respect and fear , a position Vivian Rutledge is not entirely willing to abandon through the hole of the novel . Rather than rebel and lose her powerful position , Vivian plays on her assets , becomes a self-exploiter...