Since its emergence, The Big Sleep has been the subject of discussion as to whether a detective novel could be considered serious literature. This question is difficult to answer, mainly because it raises two others: is there anything that resembles "non-serious" literature, and if so, who draws the line between literature serious and “not serious”? Apparently, answering these questions isn't as difficult as it seems, since some critics have already made up their minds. Detective fiction cannot in any way be considered serious literature, since its sole purpose is to entertain or distract the reader. Even if that were the case, one might wonder whether the goal of a literary work is not to entertain or distract the reader, and whether a book that fails to achieve this should be considered a huge failure. Yet it is nonetheless common to view detective novels as trash at worst, shoddy literature more often than not, and light reading at best. Perhaps this is why it is difficult to find Raymond Chandler in a literary companion. Although more and more critics recognize the brilliance of Chandler's work, there are still those who view his works as simply a collection of thrillers. However, if one looks closely at his novels, it is difficult to overlook their brilliance and ignore that Chandler's work is proof of the possibility of producing first-rate literature from a popular genre . On closer inspection, Chandler's debut novel, The Big Sleep, will prove anyone who thinks otherwise wrong. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay At first glance, the novel's most remarkable feature is its ingeniously constructed plot, which carefully spins several plotlines, ties them together into an almost unsolvable knot, and finally dismantles all the lines to return them to the reader as one solid sequence. However, the novel is not limited to its brilliant and complex storyline. One example is Chandler's description of upper class Los Angeles. The very wealthy Sternwood family, which hires the novel's narrator, private detective Phillip Marlowe, is a major symbol of decadence. It is made up of General Guy Sternwood, patriarch of the family, and his two daughters, Vivian and Carmen. The general spends his sick life in a greenhouse, the only climate his lungs can tolerate. Carmen is a young woman who is intellectually underdeveloped and has a pathological need for sex. His older sister Vivian spends her time losing her father's money in an illegal casino. If one examines these three characters closely, it quickly becomes clear that they are not mere stock characters or a mere setting for a detective story. The General is the portrait and symbol of the decadence of Big Money in general. The only source of heat that the old man can find in his house is artificial, the greenhouse. It is surrounded by tropical plants that can survive on their own as little as possible. Even though throughout his life the general has increased the enormous wealth inherited from his ancestors, based on oil which has the same dirty and rotten connotation that Chandler attaches to the Sternwood family, he now literally cannot hold on to this wealth. wealth. Carmen represents the psychological decline of the upper class, a common motif in literature. Money seems to have made her virtually sick, as the family's greed and quest for money left her emotional needs behind and.