- 期刊
The Hidden Dragon Recherché: A Naturalistic Reading of Carmen Sternwood in Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep
並列摘要
Carmen Sternwood, in Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep (1939), is probably one of the most discussed femmes fatales in hard-boiled detective fiction. Her reckless behavior, perverted sexual appetite, and murderous capacity undoubtedly manifest the typical femme fatale. In ”The Case of the Hidden Dragon,” Stephen Knight claims that Carmen is the dragon hidden in the forest who poses an imminent threat toward the detective knight. If one accepts Knight's claim, it is intriguing to investigate what kind of social background and conditions breeds or allows the existence of such a dragon. In other words, one can assume that a real dragon is what creates Carmen Sternwood. Then who or what is the real dragon hiding behind the scene? Moreover, if one admits that the modern dragons are disguised in various forms, then it is equally intriguing to investigate what they are and Carmen's relationship with them. This essay proposes to look into the social and biological conditions in which Carmen was brought up and the social network within which she operates. It maintains that Carmen is a social product, and therefore the forces that shape Carmen's degenerate character are the real dragon. The paper first studies how the evocative settings in the novel function as symbolic place for brooding social evil and Carmen's deviancy, particularly the sprawling urban jungle of Los Angeles under ceaseless rain and within General Sternwood's smothering greenhouse with its grotesque orchids. Secondly it examines the genealogy of the Sternwoods and traces Carmen's innate wickedness sprung from her ruthless ancestry. The hereditary flaws in Carmen foretell her natural tendency to do evil, delineating the doctrine of naturalism that human kind is a biological and social product. Thirdly, it investigates how her family wealth acts as magnet for evil-doers, which entraps these as well as Carmen herself. Lastly, it analyzes different characters from the underground world with whom Carmen is connected. At the same time it points out that unspoken acceptance and acknowledgement from society foster the general corruption and hypocrisy necessary to allow the existence of crime. By close scrutiny of these characters and social circumstances, it paints a world of greed, hypocrisy, vice and sin that feeds and perpetuates a dragon like Carmen.