Posted by Steven on 18/7/2012, 9:57:39, in reply to "Re: Farewell, My Lovely"
76.186.47.15
: ******SPOILERS******
I got the impression as well that the clinic, the fortune teller, and the gambling boat were all introduced to demonstrate that there was a vast, loosely connected, criminal underworld through which Marlowe had to navigate to get his answers. It wasn't just a case of following THE trail to THE criminal, but determining WHICH trail and WHICH criminal was the right one. This adds to the moral ambiguity of the story, as Marlowe is not out to eliminate crime, just to carry out his assignment.
I had the impression that Velma was concealing her origins more to maintain her social standing, but fear of Malloy makes sense too.
I agree that the writing is more the attraction than the story itself.
--Previous Message--
: ******SPOILERS******
:
: Guillermo,
:
: I think that we can take Hemingway's explanation in
: Chapter 33 at face value as far as the Sonderborg
: clinic. (I love the Hemingway joke.) Similarly, most
: of the rest of the novel is wrapped up in Chapter 40
: (which starts with Chandler using Anne to mock the
: wrap-up chapter).
:
: As for Velma, she herself is incapable of love. She
: doesn't understand it. Therefore, she assumes that
: Malloy will kill her for setting him up. She has
: always assumed he had figured it out, which he
: probably would have (he's smarter than he first
: appears) if he were not blinded by love. When he
: finally does realize, she shoots him in terror. We
: know that Malloy would never have hurt her, but she
: does not. I believe hiding out from Malloy is the
: main reason that she must conceal her identity.
:
: Chandler was famous for his elaborate plots. He often
: employs the technique he uses in FML of employing
: two apparently independent plots (Plot 1: Malloy,
: Velma, Mrs. Florian; Plot 2: Marriott, stolen jewels,
: Mrs. Grayle) and then starts to weave them together.
: But I, at least, do not read Chandler for the story as
: much as for the language and style. Chandler once
: said, "I live for syntax." And he's darn
: good with it, but most of us are struck primarily by
: his outrageous similes and metaphors. The
: "tarantula on a slice of angel food" is
: perhasp the most famous from FML. . Check out this
: sentence: "She had pewter-colored hair set in a
: ruthless permanent, a hard beak, and large moist eyes
: with the sympathetic expression of wet stones."
: That's from The High Window . Great stuff.
:
:
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: ***SPOILERS***
:
: I finished. I liked it a lot, even better than
: "Red Harvest". But there's something I can't
: understand: why is Velma interested in disappearing
: everybody that knew her before she married the
: millionaire, if he knows everything about her past and
: has no problem with it? There seems to me to be no
: motive for her murdering Marriott and Malloy, her life
: is all settled and yes, Malloy might have been a
: nuisance, but not a danger. And what's with the
: Sonderborg clinic, and the psychic, and all that
: stuff? Does anybody understand everything and can
: explain?
:
:
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