The Big Sleep

“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 describes the greenhouse where the aging General Sternwood spends his days. Hot and dank, the place reeks of the corruption of wealth and entitlement. Designed to intimidate, it uses medical necessity to force guests to adapt simply to have an audience with the owner. Chandler often uses environments as a characterization tool: Here, Sternwood is connected with putrid rot and decay—rather than being a place that fosters life and growth, the greenhouse reminds Marlowe of “the newly washed fingers of dead men.”

“This room was too big, the ceiling was too high, the doors were too tall, and the white carpet that went from wall to wall looked like a fresh fall of snow at Lake Arrowhead. There were full-length mirrors and crystal doodads all over the place. The ivory furniture had chromium on it, and the enormous ivory drapes lay tumbled on the white carpet a yard from the windows. The white made the ivory look dirty and the ivory made the white look bled out. The windows stared towards the darkening foothills. It was going to rain soon. There was pressure in the air already.”

This famous description uses Vivian Sternwood’s sitting room to describe her character. It suggests someone of wealth who’s a bit spoiled and self-indulgent, with expensive tastes that follow solid principles of aesthetics but verge on the overdone. Vivian thus is intelligent and perceptive but driven by greed. The all-white decor also helps her to feel a purity she can’t find in her daily life. The rain that threatens beyond the windows suggests trouble brewing, however.

“I didn't ask to see you. You sent for me. I don't mind your ritzing me or drinking your lunch out of a Scotch bottle. I don't mind your showing me your legs. They're very swell legs and it's a pleasure to make their acquaintance. I don't mind if you don't like my manners. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings. But don't waste your time trying to cross-examine me.”

Both Vivian and Carmen Sternwood try to flirt with Marlowe, but he doesn’t take the bait—one of his defining features is sexual abstention. The author thus establishes quickly his detective’s independence of character, lack of fear, and saucy personality.