Chivalry is not dead. While we’ve heard this saying sarcastically repeated throughout the 21st century, Raymond Chandler’s novel The Big Sleep seeks to preserve chivalrous virtues in a declining moral society. Marlowe’s character flaws are presented throughout the novel through his moral code. Chandler’s portrays Detective Philip Marlowe as a knight, who appears to have a stricter moral code than the rest of society. Marlowe begins the novel by observing a stained glass window portraying a knight lackadaisically liberating a nude lady bound by ropes. Marlow says, “I would sooner or later have to climb up there and help him. He didn't seem to be really trying” (Chandler -). This brief moment sets up a fundamental character trait of Marlowe.
“High school is going to kill me” (Lubar 32) said Scott on his first day of school. In Sleeping Freshman Never Lie, Scott started high school, which was not the only big change. He starts off school trying to win Julia’s heart, doing every activity she does. It doesn't work out too well though. Without knowing them Scott usually judged people on their appearance or how they acted. He also realized that his mom is acting pretty weird, and come to find out she is pregnant. Since Scott is having such a hard time in school he decides to write a journal for his new sibling. His friend group starts to change dramatically. His three best friends he would always thought he would have go off and do other things. Scott changed the most in Sleeping Freshman Never Lie because he became less judgemental, and made new friends.
Wesley Cobble had always been a bully, that is, until he became friends with Scott. Wesley had been known as a bully throughout high school. But that all changed when one morning, Wesley picked up Scott (the main character) and brought him to school, it was as if Wesley had a change in heart and wanted to be friends with Scott. Wesley wasn’t usually the type to make friends, but for some reason, he became friends with Scott, which changed him and benefited him. Wesley changed the most in Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie because he went from being a bully to Scott to being his friend, and he learned to stop stealing.
SFNL Character Change “We plunged toward the future without a clue” (Lubar 1). Sleeping Freshman Never Lie is about a freshman, Scott, and his first year of high school. Throughout the book, Scott loses and makes friends. Two of his new friends are Lee, the scary new girl and Wesley, the senior bully.
“In a few seconds, we had ceased to be men” (PG.36). Elie is a jewish boy from Transylvania and is taken to Auschwitz where he is separated from his mother and sister. His father and Elie are moved the the concentration camp called “Buna” and spend most of their time there. They then had to be evacuated to Gleiwitz, where they ran about 42 miles to get there. They spent about 3 days there and then they were transported to Buchenwald by train. There they are rescued by Americans and a resistance part that attacked the camp. Sadly Elie’s father dies in Buchenwald due to a sickness and being sent to the crematory. Dehumanization of the Jewish people in “Night” ,by Elie Wiesel, happened in a variety of ways and helped Hitler achieve his ideas about Jewish people.
The last knightly characteristic that we will cover in this essay is courage. Both protagonists, Phillip Marlowe and Sir Gawain demonstrate a lot of courage throughout each book. Phillip Marlowe displays this trait in The Big Sleep on page 33 when he says
Have you ever had rights taken away from you because of your beliefs? In the novel, Night, By Elie Wiesel the Jews had their rights stripped away from them by the Nazi’s. Throughout the holocaust the conditions of the Jews’ and the process of Dehumanization got worse.
Those who have managed to live through the unimaginable and inexpressible event known as the Holocaust are very unfortunate. When asked, most Holocaust survivors will say they survived because of luck however that was not the case with Eliezer Wiesel. Ellie survival was based on his traits. He was a young Jewish boy, who was not well nourished he was delicate and weak, he was living in a small town on the border of Hungary.
Lastly, the theme is shown when the bond between father and son is at its strongest. In Night by Elie Wiesel, when Elie and his father are fighting for their lives in the cold, Wiesel writes, “Don’t worry, son. Go to sleep. I’ll watch over you. You first, Father.
In Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie was more loyal to his father than himself. First, Elie continuously kept his father’s spirits up. To illustrate, Elie’s father thought he would die and Elie said this: “We’ll see each other tonight, after work” (Wiesel 75). This detail suggests Elie is trying to cheer up his father which shows his reliability. Second, Elie always tried his best to stay alongside his father.
However, on the very next page of the novel, our view of Marlowe is undermined. As the
Through viewing scenes where Marlowe is beaten up and tied up by Mars' men, we come to realize the strength of Marlowe's integrity and will. Although he is put through much physical pain as well as the mental pain of witnessing horrific acts, he bites the bullet and commits himself completely to the tasks placed before him. Once again, he does not do his task for the small amounts of money, but he does it because he feels it is what he must do.
Don Quixote is a character who read so many books on chivalry, he 'was so absorbed in these books that his nights were spent reading from dusk till dawn…until the lack of sleep and the excess of reading withered his brain, and he went mad'(Cervantes p.26). 'considering it desirable and necessary, both for the increase of his honour and for the common good [he becomes] a knight errant'
This interesting turn of events shows the novels overall restatement of the standard paradigm of sexual relations, with men dominating the women. In her final attempt to make the calls, Vivian offers Marlowe the option of being set free in exchange for not prying any longer. Marlowe, however, exerts his own power and rejects her proposal completely. After kissing, he begins to exert complete dominance of Vivian, reinforcing male superiority. Yet even as this power shift takes place, Marlow shows full dependence on Vivian.
In The Big Sleep, Chandler portrays Marlowe as the knight in shining armor. This establishes a motif of the stained glass window in General Stern wood’s home in the first chapter of the novel and is an appropriate motif in dictating Marlowe’s knightly role in the novel. The stained glass that is reflected in the novel places Marlowe in the position of the knight as it shows a knight who strives to reach a woman to set her free. The fact that he stares at the glass makes him develop the need to offer assistance. This motif is suitable because it sets the stage for what is to take place in the aftermath when Marlowe rescues Carmen. Secondly, Chandler tries to connect Marlowe with the knightly personality from the beginning of the novel that he intended to name his detective the modern knight and a brave man fighting for General Sternwood. He takes the role of the servant to Sternwood’s lord and therefore, in the knightly terms, it is sufficient to say that Marlowe is striving to find justice. Moreover, he is dedicated to rendering his services in the line of duty with much loyalty and honor despite the sexual and financial temptations that come his way. Like the ancient knights, Marlowe has deeply invested in his personal code of chivalry that contain among others, the need to overcome the sexual temptation of whatever magnitude that comes his way. Lastly, as a representation of the modern-day knight, Marlowe comes out in the novel as a tough detective and a brave individual
However, the description of chivalry is not only portrayed through the imagery in the novel but moreover through the behavior of Philip Marlowe. For hundreds of years, the knight is one of the most fascinating figures or motives of the history which has not lost his symbolic brightness and power. If one is looking for a definition of a knight it always includes certain terms like strong, noble, chivalrous, morally straight or protector of the weak as well as the existence of a certain code. According to this code it is the duty of a knight to protect women, children and to have faithfulness. This is exactly the behavior that Marlowe displays throughout the novel. Within the novel there are several passages and examples