Similes in The Big Sleep Essay -- sleep

Similes in The Big Sleep      Ã‚   In response to Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, I have just one question. Why all the similes? There isn't a single page in the novel that doesn't display this annoying literary device. Everything is "like this" or "like that." It never ends! Similar to decoding a secret message that isn't difficult to understand, but nevertheless tiring due to the overwhelming amount of messages, the novel is frustrating to read. The following analysis acknowledges Chandler's creativity in developing his main character, Philip Marlowe, with his usage of simile. However, the excessive style of the novel creates a dominating force that ultimately leaves the reader unfulfilled at the end.    Chandler goes into great detail describing the different characters--most notably, the women. There are many sections where the shrewd detective is quick to notice (and make analogous) certain physical features of the Sternwood daughters; not that I blame him. Early in the novel he observes Mrs. Regen's legs in the following manner. "They were visible to the knee and one of them well beyond...The calves were beautiful, the ankles long and slim and with enough melodic line for a tone poem" (17). I think that every guy reading this book perked up when reading of Vivian's legs. In this sexual sense, the similes work. Those long sentences would be much easier to read if there were more comparisons of Vivian's legs to a "melodic line for a tone poem".    Carmen Sternwood is described with profoundness but in a different (less sexual) sense than her sister is. Marlowe encounters her on many occasions and is thorough in describing her--from her first flirtations to her continuous irritations. In t... ...be something similar to, "It was raining again the next morning, a slanting gray rain like a swung curtain of crystal beads...I was as empty of life as a scarecrow's pockets" (159). There is only so much of that a human being can actually absorb.    And that is precisely why The Big Sleep is a novel that has a hard time coming off as a pleasant reading experience. If the reader has to sift through all the repetition of Marlowe's observations, then it subtracts from the novels overall themes, which I believe are the most captivating parts. Perhaps if it were a short story or if Chandler displayed mercy on our souls by using similes lightly, then the novel would produce a stronger effect.    Works Cited Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep. New York: Vintage Books, 1996. Kemp, William. The Writing Process: Chandler 202. January 14, 1999