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The Struggle For Power In Carmen Sternwood's The Big Sleep

1124 Words5 Pages

Power inspires greed,jealousy, and hatred. It corrupts the minds of people whether they are rich, young, poor, or old. It can even make people use violence as a means to attain it. In “The Big Sleep” Carmen Sternwood is characterized as powerless, needy, and impotent however, she resorts to murder in order to compensate for her weakness. Her violent actions are contrary to her personality when she isn’t thirsty for power. This is most clearly exemplified throughout the novel as there are various instances in“The Big Sleep” two books where she is portrayed as helpless and weak. In contrast to her portrayal she is found to be guilty of murder by detective Marlowe and she threatens her blackmailer with a revolver. Chandler makes it evident that Carmen is in a position of need when he depicts her an almost lifeless, drugged up body …show more content…

“Carmen Sternwood pushed him back into the room by putting a little revolver against his lips. Brody backed away from her with his mouth working and an expression of panic on his face.” A gun is used to obtain an advantage in a situation as opposed to solely using physical power, therefore when she walks in pointing a gun at him she has the intention of getting him to do something. In this case she wants her nude pictures back and she intends to get them back by threatening Brody. This is clearly an attempt to gain power in a situation as she wants the pictures and will attain them by using any means necessary . Furthermore she falsely accuses Brody of killing Arthur Geiger. She utilizes this accusation to frame Brody but also as counter blackmail for how he blackmailed her. She is trying to get back at him and demonstrate her power, showing that she can do the same back to him. Using the gun and the false accusation she is trying to use violence as a means of attaining

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