How Does Chandler Set Limitations On Anti-Normativity?

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Recommended: Noir genre analysis

Noir is an extremely complex genre in which all social and cultural norms are challenged. This genre is filled with crime and corruption in order to shed light on the reality of the world and how anti-normative life can actually be. In the novel The Big Sleep, author Raymond Chandler uses the darkness and immorality of noir in order to set limitations on anti-normativity. Chandler portrays the subject of anti-normativity as someone or something that strays from the common aspects of society such as patriarchy, benevolent parenthood, monogamous and loving marriages, appropriate gender roles, and repressed sexuality. The most prominent anti-normative characters in The Big Sleep who Chandler uses to illustrate this idea are Phillip Marlowe, Vivian Sternwood, the general, and Arthur Gwynn Geiger. In order to set limitations on anti-normativity, the main character in the novel, Phillip Marlowe, is affiliated with crooked people and is surrounded by a world of corruption and deceit, yet, Chandler allows him to maintain a …show more content…

If he were to sleep with Carmen, he would not only be disrespecting his client, her father, but he would be aligning himself with Carmen’s inappropriate and scandalous behavior. Since Marlowe was not even tempted by the young, beautiful creature lying naked in his bed, Chandler is proving that Marlowe’s character is not as much of a part of the immoral, crime-filled world that he is surrounded by. Even though Marlowe has a number of dishonest traits, the small part of him that is still clinging on to morality is why Chandler allows him to live throughout the entirety of the novel. Thus, Chandler is setting limitations for anti-normativity. He is asserting the fact that it is acceptable for most people to have scandalous and immoral tendencies, as long as they don’t cross the very thin line into completely deviant

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