Success in Raymonds Chandlers Farewell, My Lovely - Essay Example

Success in Raymond Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely: A Character Analysis of Phillip Marlowe Farewell, My Lovely is a novel written in 1940 by RaymondChandler. It is part of a detective fiction series featuring the character of Phillip Marlowe, a Private Investigator. The character of Marlowe appears on two other novels, The Big Sleep and the High Window. These three novels, which fall under the Crime and Detective genre, narrate the life of Marlowe, especially his detective works in Hollywood, California.

The setting helps develop the character of Marlowe because it depicts the events (crimes, political, business, and social conflicts) of a highly civilized city. For this reason, the setting becomes the platform of the different characters in the novel; the behavior of the characters (protagonist and antagonist) reflects, directly or indirectly, the behavior of most city dwellers. In connection to this, the character of the protagonist easily fits the setting as he represents the typical Private Investigator.

His character also creates a contrast between him and the other characters in the story. The character of Phillip Marlowe in Farewell, My Lovely is a stereotype because he follows the usual characteristics of a Private detective. His character is closely related to the typical investigator commonly seen in detective and crime films. In a superficial view, Marlowe qualifies the standard of a typical Private Investigator who paints his name in front of his office door, gets his room cluttered with books and liquor, smokes, and enjoys the company of women (Chandler 31).

His adeptness in pursuing criminals may be attributed to this adeptness in playing chess. While using his resources as investigator enables him to solve crimes, his by-the-book knowledge and cleverness are substantial to his success as an investigator. While it can be said that Marlowe signifies the typical detective, whose morals and principles tend to bend in times of uncontrollable situation, he also shows different attitudes, which set him apart from the most common perception of detectives.

In relation to this, Marlowe can also be seen as morally upright because he considers using arms only when the situation becomes uncontrollable. He is reflective and philosophical person who considers settling conflicts with honest and peaceful talks first. As Marlowe delves on the lives of the criminals in the city, he realizes that by-the-book knowledge alone cannot help him in solving the crimes. The realities of the city make Marlowe realize the difference between the real and the illusion especially in the dark and corrupt world of politicians, police officers and artists.

As a result, he decides to stand up to what is right, just like the stereotyped detectives. Marlowe’s attitudes are what draw readers into the novel; these make the reader appreciate the story primarily because of the main character. The first task of Marlowe, in his stay in Hollywood Boulevard as Private Investigator, is to pursue a murderer named Moose Malloy (Chandler 15). This task is given to him because his superior, Lieutenant Nulty, refuses to take the case. Seeing the efficiency of Marlowe in handling the case, the Lieutenant appoints him to take the task.

Along with the case of Malloy, there are other troubles including a murdered Hollywood playboy and a drug-dealing psychic. In the course of his investigations, he encounters different kinds of people including crooked cops and business persons, as well as drug dealers and blackmailers (Chandler 249). Although the plot of the novel is comparable to other crime stories, the character of Marlowe is the most significant and influential in developing the entire sense of the novel. Marlowe’s character draws the attention of the reader because of his dual and seemingly unpredictable nature.

As I read the novel, I found out that the world of business, politics, and entertainment (especially in Hollywood) is full of different kinds of people (honest and liar, loyal and unfaithful and anything in between). While dealing with these kinds of people is difficult, Marlowe, as a principled man, confronts these people with honor. In the last part of the novel, although Marlowe failed to detain Malloy, he still looks up to a beautiful day with hope (Chandler 306). In the end, he succeeded in his ventures and solved those crimes.

The success of Marlowe as a detective lies in his attitude in dealing with people, not merely on his intellectual abilities. Although in some points in the story he fails to accomplish his task, he still has a positive behavior toward his weakness and failures. However, although he fails in this case, he was able to reveal the true identity of Mrs. Grayle. Taken together, Marlowe, as a fictional character, is successful in uplifting the morale of detectives, as well as setting a new standard with regard to the people’s perceptions on private detectives.

Work Cited Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2009. Print.