Philip Marlowe In Raymond Chandler's The High Window

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Raymond Chandler’s The High Window introduces Philip Marlowe as a private detective. Mrs. Murdock is in need of a private detective, and she heard Marlowe can get the job done. He is hired and his duty is to find Mrs. Murdock’s daughter-in-law, Linda, without anyone getting arrested. Linda has stolen one of the valuable coins that Mrs. Murdock’s deceased husband collected. Already the suspicion starts when Marlowe senses that Mrs. Murdock is not telling him the entire story; she doesn’t want her son, or the cops, to have any part in this investigation. Marlowe keeps readers interested with his sarcasm. We also can imply that Marlowe has been doing detective work for a long time. Marlowe is a clever man who knows, one way or another, how to get the answers he needs from people. …show more content…
When we are introduced to Marlowe, he exclaims, “everything that grew was perfectly still in the breathless air they got over there on what they call a nice cool day” (Chandler, 3). Right away, we know that Marlowe has a sense of humor. Marlowe’s character relates to readers because sarcasm has become a way of communicating. His tone is sarcastic yet serious. When he speaks to Mrs. Murdock, we also see Marlowe’s thoughts. On the outside, for the most part, he is professional. Mrs. Murdock mentions that she has asthma on more than one occasion. Sarcastically, Marlowe says, “I swung my leg over my knee. I hope that wouldn’t hurt her asthma” (Chandler, 11). This implies that he isn’t much for authority. He doesn’t like Mrs. Murdock’s attitude, but she is paying him, so he has to listen to her. It is evident that Marlowe doesn’t care what people think about him. He associates with the rich and he also associates with the poor, like the chauffer. Marlowe talks to the chauffer, at first, to get information. As the conversation progresses, we see that their conversation shifts to more informal. When he talks to Mrs. Morny or Mrs. Murdock he is a lot more

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