In the novel The Big Sleep, the main character, Philip Marlowe, is an excellent example of the hard-boiled detective, found in the noir genre. The Merriam Websters Dictionary defines noir as “detective fiction featuring tough, cynical characters and dark, sordid settings.” (Black) When Philip Marlowe is hired by old General Sternwood to track down a blackmailer, he is immediately thrust into the sordid and filthy world of General Sterwood's two daughters, Carmen and Vivian. Marlowe finds himself embroiled in extortion, kidnapping, pornography, seduction and murder, to name just a few saucy traits. The detective of this genre is generally characterized by several common traits. For example, in Film: A Critical Introduction, by Maria Pramaggiore and Tom Wallis, they state, "Like the cowboy in the Western, the hard-boiled detective is a loner." (351) Marlowe is not friends with either the cops or the criminals, and often not even with the people who hire him, like himself. This doesn't bother the hardened detective at all. Pramaggiore and Wallis also state: "He is an investigator who stands just outside the law, and yet remains the moral center of the film." (351) Philip Marlowe has a meeting with Canino, during which Marlowe makes this statement: "I didn't want him with an empty gun." » (Chandler 202) The apparent reason for this is that Marlowe knew he was going to have to kill Canino, and he made sure that even though he had to do it in cold blood, he did not want to be incriminated. book, Critical Survey of Mystery and Detective Fiction, he states "Marlowe is the new incarnation of the questing knight, challenged by the modern dragons of well-connected gangsters and titled millionaire middle of paper.... ..air and air for you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the wickedness of how you died or where you fell. I was part of the wickedness now. Big Sleep, characterizes the hard detective. genre with its darkness, futility, cruelty, despair and a main character who reflects all of this in detail. Works Cited Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep. New York: Vintage, 1992. Print. Pramaggiore, Maria and Tom Wallis. Film: a critical introduction. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2006. 351. PrintWebster, Merriam. "Black." Merriam Webster. Merriam-Webster, nd Web. March 30, 2014..Yarbrough, Scott D. “Tough Detectives.” Critical Survey of Mystery and Detective Fiction, Revised Edition (2008): 1-9. Literary reference center. Internet. March 31. 2014.

Essay / In the novel The Big Sleep, the main character, Philip Marlowe, is an excellent example of the hard-boiled detective, found in the noir genre. The Merriam Websters Dictionary defines noir as “detective fiction featuring tough, cynical characters and dark, sordid settings.” (Black) When Philip Marlowe is hired by old General Sternwood to track down a blackmailer, he is immediately thrust into the sordid and filthy world of General Sterwood's two daughters, Carmen and Vivian. Marlowe finds himself embroiled in extortion, kidnapping, pornography, seduction and murder, to name just a few saucy traits. The detective of this genre is generally characterized by several common traits. For example, in Film: A Critical Introduction, by Maria Pramaggiore and Tom Wallis, they state, "Like the cowboy in the Western, the hard-boiled detective is a loner." (351) Marlowe is not friends with either the cops or the criminals, and often not even with the people who hire him, like himself. This doesn't bother the hardened detective at all. Pramaggiore and Wallis also state: "He is an investigator who stands just outside the law, and yet remains the moral center of the film." (351) Philip Marlowe has a meeting with Canino, during which Marlowe makes this statement: "I didn't want him with an empty gun." » (Chandler 202) The apparent reason for this is that Marlowe knew he was going to have to kill Canino, and he made sure that even though he had to do it in cold blood, he did not want to be incriminated. book, Critical Survey of Mystery and Detective Fiction, he states "Marlowe is the new incarnation of the questing knight, challenged by the modern dragons of well-connected gangsters and titled millionaire middle of paper.... ..air and air for you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the wickedness of how you died or where you fell. I was part of the wickedness now. Big Sleep, characterizes the hard detective. genre with its darkness, futility, cruelty, despair and a main character who reflects all of this in detail. Works Cited Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep. New York: Vintage, 1992. Print. Pramaggiore, Maria and Tom Wallis. Film: a critical introduction. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2006. 351. PrintWebster, Merriam. "Black." Merriam Webster. Merriam-Webster, nd Web. March 30, 2014..Yarbrough, Scott D. “Tough Detectives.” Critical Survey of Mystery and Detective Fiction, Revised Edition (2008): 1-9. Literary reference center. Internet. March 31. 2014.

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