The Blond One

Women, to Chandler, must be a joke. Every time a female character is introduced into a scene, her appearance is what is first described. Personality and character come second hand to Chandler, as mere side notes or end details. He portrays woman as weak, stupid and submissive beings, too dumb to answer simple questions, having little knowledge on any given subject, including that of their profession. This attitude, of course, can be attributed to the time in which this story was written.

 

On instance in which I was particularly confused by the women in this story is the murder scene, where Marlowe walks into Arthur Geiger’s house. Carmen sits in shock of what she has just witnessed, motionless in a chair at the table. Her eyes are wide, her mouth is slightly open, showing teeth, and Marlowe notes that she let’s out a quiet chuckle. …A chuckle? She’s laughing? Is this meant to be girlish and cute? Granted, Carmen is not laughing in the face of danger, but the sound that escapes from Carmen’s slight body could be described as something a little more sincere than that of a chuckle.

 

In another scene, Carmen is acting hysterically while they revisit the crime scene. Marlowe slaps her across the face, notes that she isn’t a stranger to such an action. That almost offends me and I’m no feminist. No woman would ever be “used” to getting a swift blow to the cheek and saying so is downright ridiculous.

 

Carmen isn’t the only victim of Chandler’s sexism. There is also the case of “the blonde” who tends to Geiger’s shop. She knows nothing about specialty books of which she is supposed to be an expert. Granted, Geiger’s shop is the front of a smut operation, Chandler still depicts her as a good-for-nothing ditz. Later on when she is with Joe Brody she is still Chandler’s idea of a woman. She gets offended easily, complains, her man does not defend her, and she is still frequently referred to by the color of her hair.

 

Of course I recognize that Chandler’s attitudes reflect those of society in the 1930’s. I do not consider it a character flaw, merely a characteristic of attitudes during this time. Recognizing this as a mass character flaw of the past is what allows us to laugh about it today.

Bryce Rubin