You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that, oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell. Me, I was part of the nastiness now. Far more a part of it than Rusty Regan was.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on death and the indifferent nature of existence, contrasting the peace of death with the chaos of life.
In this quote, Chandler explores the existential themes of death and apathy. The imagery of 'the big sleep' conveys a state of peaceful oblivion, suggesting that in death, there is a release from the troubles and moral complexities of life. The speaker contrasts this state with their own awareness of life's 'nastiness,' highlighting the burden of living with the ugliness of reality, which involves grappling with the consequences of violence and loss.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the philosophical implications of death in literature.
Undoubtedly the stories about them [hard-boiled detectives] had a fantastic element. Such things happened, but not so rapidly, nor to so close-knit a group of people, nor within so narrow a frame of logic. This was inevitable because the demand was for constant action; if you stopped to think you were lost. When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.
There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.
Organized crime is the dirty side of the sharp dollar.
When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.
The flood of print has turned reading into a process of gulping rather than savoring.
If my books had been any worse, I should not have been invited to Hollywood, and if they had been any better, I should not have come.
True, Heaven prohibits certain pleasures; but one can generally negotiate a compromise.
Anyone can lie. One need only have the requisite intention - in other words, to say something with the intention to deceive. Faking, by contrast, is an achievement. To fake things you have to take people in, yourself included.
It is only by doing good to others that one attains to one's own good
Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn't misuse it.
Humanity at the centre of the primates, Homo sapiens, in humanity, is the end-product of a gradual work of creation, the successive sketches for which still surround us on every side.
Without theory, there are no questions.
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