Sexuality According to Chandler

Chandler Essay

April 11th, 2014

Sexuality According to Chandler

In Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye, he defines female characters by their sexuality. The characters' relationships with Marlowe (the protagonist of the novels) details how this trait defines them. Two characters in particular exemplify the different ways Chandler views female sexuality. The Big Sleep's Carmen is portrayed as a promiscuous dilettante living off her father's money and is concerned solely with drugs and having a good time. Throughout the story, this description is never overturned, thus forcing the conclusion that she attempts to sleep with Marlowe purely in pursuit of the pleasure the act would derive. The Long Goodbye's Eileen, by contrast has a character that, while defined by her sexuality, changes as we learn a clearer picture of her sexuality. Our original depiction of Eileen comes before she acts upon her own defining sexuality: Marlowe paints her as an unreal fairy-princess, embodying the ideal of innocent femininity. Each of these women's relationships with her sexuality further elucidates her character. Carmen uses it as an extension of her desire to experience all the pleasure she can from life, while Eileen uses hers to manipulate Marlowe and distract him from her culpability.

Carmen Sternwood is the daughter of a very rich man. Due to her access to what seems like an infinite amount of money, she is able to live a singular lifestyle: one of pure pleasure. It is the only thing she actively pursues and will stop at nothing until she gets it. When Marlowe first meets Carmen she immediately begins flirting with him in a very obnoxious, almost desperate way: “She bit her lip...She put a thumb up and bit it...She bit it and sucked it slowly, turning it around in her mouth like a baby with a comforter,” (The Big Sleep 5-6). Marlowe does not find her amusing to watch or to be with. In fact, the next time Marlowe sees Carmen “Her eyes were wide open. The...