Before I started this class I had never read a detective book but over the space of three weeks I have read three and as the weeks have passed I become more interested in the premise of corruption in American Society and how it influences the dynamics of each book.

The Big Sleep had many characters kill and bribe for money in the book. What makes this significant it that this thought of corruption is happening during a time of great depression in the United States. Thus money is short, is something that is coveted, enjoyed, and respected. This in turn leads many characters to troublesome situations and mirrors the desperation that Americans found themselves throughout this period. What I found interesting about this motif was that Chandler chooses not only to represent a world of money-hungry people, but also chooses to make the books world dark and corrupt because of it. A great example of this would be the attempted killing of Marlow and where Rusty Regan died. This Example in my view is very symbolic. As this is where the Sternwoods made all their money and at one time can be viewed as a beautiful place, which brought them their extravagant house and luxury lifestyle. Yet the killing of one character and the attempt of the other could apply to a degradation of morality and corruption. Therefore everything in the Sternwoods business was not so clean as once believed, so this feels as a ideal place for a murder to take places as the world of the oil fields are dark and corrupt now and the notion of killing in this setting suits the motif of Chandler thought of a dark and corrupt world.
Another great example of the concept of corruption in American society would be in the GWON. Metcalf throughout his era of being a detective bribes people to get the truth out of them or to find out vital information. Whether this is good or bad is hard to say. Nevertheless, what you can say is with the premise of corruption in the book it lead to a turning point in the book and how Metcalf somewhat changed his attitude when he went in the freezer for 6 years. Therefore, the point I am trying to make is that authors who write detective books seem to use corruption as a pathway to many a subplot as it sets the scene of how they want their society to be view and how it can influence the dynamics of their book.
Pranav Shankla