The Big Sleep | Social Concerns/Themes
Although Chandler's fiction displays no overt social criticism, a convincing case can be made for Chandler as a keen observer of American life. If he takes aim at any social malady at all in The Big Sleep it is the deterioration of the American family and its primary cause — the corruptive influence of wealth. The Sternwood family is wealthy, but their money has only brought them the promise of unhappiness. They try to buy it off, as the father General Sternwood does when he purchases Marlowe's services to rescue the family's good name from scandal, or as the daughter Carmen...
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