Ending of the Big Sleep

The ending of The Big Sleep was an unexpected one but at the same time you cannot say you did not see it coming. I somewhat thought that the two daughters would be involved in the murder someway or the other just by the interaction they had with Marlow. They both seemed to have an agenda about them, but in all honesty I would not have thought it would have turned out the way it did. I did not see Vivian character shaping out the way it did by the end of the book. This because I never would of thought she would have cared as much for sister as she did and especially for her dying father feelings. This was an eye-opener for me and made me respect what Vivian did for her family. In terms of Carmen killing Mr. Regan I somewhat could of seen her killing him but the explanation of her having a mental illness made the whole mystery somewhat more understandable and gave the book more validity.

To refer back to my original post about gender stereotypes I would have to say that the ending of the book rejects some of the notions I had about the women in the book and especially Vivian. In that she turned out to be a much stronger woman than first perceived and a key factor in keeping her family together.

Pranav Shankla