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Mosley, Walter. Devil in a Blue Dress an Easy Rawlins Mystery. New York, Washington Square Press, 2002.

Tyler Buchanan March 14th, 2017

Alright so this protagonist Easy Rawlins is one mysterious fellow. We’re fully aware of his very dark past and that it consisted of prostitutes, whorehouses, drugs, alcohol and murder. The question I’m asking though is what was he doing? His ability to kill and that unbreakable swagger most likely came from being in the military, because in the military you learn how to kill efficiently. This is evident when the boys that accuse Easy of bothering Barbara squared up to him, he formally announced to us that he could kill all of them easily and they wouldn’t be able to do a thing. His mental actions also reflect his militant background, as it seems the way he describes people mainly is by their build; How big they are, muscularity and what not. It seems like he’s always thinking of ways he could take such people down. Anyway, we’re aware of his dark past and military history, but his military history doesn’t explain why his past is so dark. That’s something to explore when there’s more info presented though. Beside’s that, I wanna think that mouse is behind a lot of the problems that Easy encounters. In the excerpt before the actual novel we understand that Easy wants to find Mouse and that he will at all costs. That doesn’t exactly sound like something you say when you wanna take somebody out to dinner if ya know what I mean. With those things said though, I’m looking forward to the rest of the story and unraveling who the MC actually is and his background. Knowing as much as I do though, my summation of him would have to be that at some point in the military he committed war crimes possibly or became a hit man using his military experience. I mean, he has killed white men, and appears to be perfectly capable of doing it again. He’s also trying to better himself though, that’s why he’s abstained from doing so so far. Right now he’s just paying his mortgage and trying to get by though and assuming the excerpt before the story took place after “The Devil in the Blue Dress” I wanna hope that there’s a possibility of the MC going berserk and doing something completely graphic and gruesome. I’ve gone on a tangent now though... Oh well.

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Mosley, Walter. Devil In A Blue Dress. Washington Square Press, 1990.

Nicole Gaglione 3/14/17

            When reading Walter Mosley’s Devil In A Blue Dress, the connections to Raymond Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely seemed endless. Much like Chandler’s discussion about having his detective be centered in “real world” crime, Mosley also establishes his novel with crime being seen as a normality, emphasized with the conversation between Easy and Albright as they pointed out the three murders that had occurred just that day, explaining how “things happen every day” (Mosley 65) in terms of crime and are not in fact rare like most people want to believe. Revealing crime as a constant in life within the novel, each author makes the point to show the reader how not only do these acts of violence happen all the time, but they can be committed by anyone and everyone. Due to mass corruption of the system, as pointed out by the “Hemmingway cop” in Chandler’s novel, crime is not limited to just one social group or poor people who have to resort to illegal means of earning money, but rich people as well. Albright brings up how “ ‘The law… is made by the rich people so that the poor people can’t get ahead’ ” (Mosley 64), further emphasizing the corruption plaguing each community, as well as when Easy recalls the ways in which Mouse (similar to name of “Moose Malloy”) should have been the one to die, explaining that “If there was any kind of justice he should have been the one” (Mosley 78) showing that the system fails to convict people/end crime.

Along with how each author depicts crime in the same way within their novels, they also portray their main characters in a similar light. Not only are both protagonists given similar jobs of finding a woman, but their personalities, circumstances, and attitudes often overlap with one another. Both authors set up the character to be a common man who easily relates to the every day person, especially when recognizing that they accept the job of searching for a woman because they need the money in order to survive, contrasting from the Sherlock Homes type of detective who is rich and instead does the job out of curiosity and want rather than need. They are also seen having their own moral code they follow when trying to be honorable in their work, Marlowe is seen doing this several times, like when he returns the money to the psychic since he hadn’t earned it yet, refuses bribes, and feels guilty after his interaction with Mrs. Grayle, later revealed to be Velma. Similarly, Easy refuses to sleep with Coretta since he and Dupree are friends, telling her that he would “be more sorry if I stay” (Mosley 87), as well as him admitting that “Albright had me caught by my own pride” (Mosley 57), revealing the “hero” like quality in both Marlowe and Easy. Both characters are also connected by the way they find their homes to be sanctuaries; as Marlowe describes his apartment as a safe place where he can “keep on living” (Chandler 190), Easy also sees his home as his own paradise when saying how he “loved going home” (Mosley 56) more than anything or anyone else. These similarities between Chandler’s novel and Mosley’s novel are somewhat surprising, since I was not expecting such commonalities between the two separate books/story lines. I am interested to see how many more connections can be drawn between Marlowe and Easy as the story continues.

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Mosley, Walter. Devil in a Blue Dress. New York: Pocket Books, 1995, Print.

Gianna Lee 03/12/17

The first half of Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress was definitely an interesting and intriguing read. One thing I want to mention is Easy’s love for his home. He says, “I loved going home. Maybe it was that I was raised on a sharecropper’s farm or that I never owned anything until I bought that house, but I loved my little home. The house itself was small… But that house meant more to me than any woman I ever knew. I loved her and was jealous of her and if the bank sent the county marshal to take her from me I might have come at him with a rifle rather than to give her up” (Mosley 56-57). This house is the one thing that Easy takes most pride in. It is ultimately what starts everything. He only gets mixed up in Mr. Albright’s business because he loves his home so much, he would do anything to keep it. He even refers to it as if it were a person. I think Easy’s home is a symbol of stability that Easy desires so much. He even says that “I was jealous of his (Joppy’s) success. He had his own business; he owned something” (Mosley 53). Like his jealousy of Joppy’s business, I think the reason why Easy takes so much pride in his home is because it is the one “stable” thing in his life.

Another thing I want to talk about is Easy and Mouse’s relationship. So far, the only thing we know about Mouse are the things that Easy tells us about him. For instance, we know that Mouse was Easy’s best friend and even saved his life. We also know that Mouse is a ruthless killer and intimidates even the toughest of men even though he is only 5’5. What is confusing to me is why Easy hates Mouse so much when they were once best friends. He says, “If there was any kind of justice he should’ve been the one” (Mosley 78). Mouse is also the reason Easy leaves Houston for Los Angeles. Although Mouse is a dangerous guy, he seems to view Easy as his best friend and seems to care for him very much. Why doesn’t Easy value him the same way? Mouse even writes to him expressing how much he misses him. I wonder how their relationship will progress and look forward to meeting Mouse’s character firsthand.

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Mosley, Walter. Devil in a Blue Dress. New York, NY, Washington Square Press, 1990.

3/13/17

The thing that stood out most to me in the first half of Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley, was how bizarre of a character Easy is. One of the first things we learn about him, before ever learning his name is that he has killed a lot of people, specific young people with blue eyes. This makes the reader very skeptical of Easy, and throughout the first half Easy does some other things that are not helpful in convincing the reader otherwise. The reader later learns that Easy killed people in war, but he also calls himself a “killing machine” saying the young boys “couldn’t even run fast enough to escape” him, also that he “could have broken [the boy’s] neck…[put out his eyes or broken all his fingers” (Mosley 99). So while he may have killed people within the scope of war, it is not a far stretch to assume that he either has or would kill people outside of war, which is only further supported when he threatens to take a rifle to anyone that comes to confiscate his house from him.

Another moment that stood out to me and showed the type of character Easy is occurs after he helps Coretta drag Dupree into the house after a night of drinking and putting him to bed. Coretta then decides that she is going to seduce Easy, she first “slid her hand into her blouse, lifting the bodice to air her breast,” Easy then goes to leave and she seduces him again but this time it was through information, “she straddled [him] and whispered” in his ear (Mosley 85). Easy tried to leave when she first became flirtatious but she was so powerful in her manipulation techniques that he stayed and other realized that he should leave when he was brought back to reality by Dupree’s coughing in the other room.

Another moment that the reader questions Easy is when he describes his relationship with his best friend Mouse. He portrays Mouse as a man that “didn’t ever feel bad about anything he’d done” and if he ever thought that Easy was not behind him “he would have seen [him] as an enemy, killed [him] for the lack of faith” (Mosley 93). Easy does feel bad about himself after taking money from Mouse but that does not explain how they came to be on such good terms, which made me think that chances are that Easy and Mouse used to be in business together.

Overall, it does not appear that Easy is a good guy but I do feel a certain level of pity for him as he seems to always be putting himself in bad situation and in the wrong place at the wrong time. So, it will be interesting to see how Easy grows and if he changes over the course of the rest of the novel.

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Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. New York, Vintage Books, 1988.

Tori Santo Tomas 

2/27/17

From this final reading, I paid particular attention to the role of the police officers and Velma’s passing as Mrs. Grayle.

In Farewell, My Lovely, Chandler offers a rare explanation and backstory for the way police officers act. Police officers that become corrupt and follow the money instead of the law never start out as bad people. They are good people who need to support their loved ones by stooping to the level of everyone else and playing the game. “A guy can’t stay honest if he wants to…You gotta play the game dirty or you don’t eat” (Chandler 232). In Chandler’s Los Angeles, crime is everywhere and for the police there isn’t always a way to combat it and defeat it so easily. What do you do when being a cop isn’t enough? As humans we are used to evolving in order to survive in an environment. And for the police, their morally wrong environment forces them to loosen their morals in order to survive financially and safely. This relates to slumming and the imperfectness of human beings, even if they are servants to law and order. Chandler’s quote, “He’s a sinner - but he’s human” struck me that sometimes we forget that everything is not always black and white, good and bad. It reminded me from the discussions about how the Sherlock Holmes books are more fantasized where there is this man who can solve mysteries faster than the average man and isn’t in it for the money. But in Chandler’s novel, he illustrates characters like Marlowe who are not fully bad nor fully good. A man that isn’t a private investigator because he is addicted to solving mysteries but because like all people he needs to make a living. Marlowe encompasses failure, passion, courage, and human nature. Everyone has some bad and good in them and the novel does an excellent job at reminding the reader that humans are naturally messy creatures who never clearly embody good or evil.

Mrs. Grayle’s reveal as Velma serves the novel as the “passing” aspect. Her passing centers entirely around her selfishness for money. She was “a girl who started in the gutter [and] became a wife of a multimillionaire, someone she doesn’t even love in order to have money. Mrs. Grayle even kills the only man who truly loves her, Malloy, in an instant with five shots to the stomach. I saw that murder as Mrs. Grayle’s symbolic murder of her past as a poor young woman. Her selfishness and obsession with solidifying her money causes her to commit murder and betrayal. Chandler uses Mrs. Grayle as an extreme example to highlight the obsession people have with money. And especially for people who decide to “pass” in order to gain more money, it can corrupt and ruin all morals because the desire for wealth outweighs the good.

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Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. New York, NY, Vintage Books, 1992.

As my peers noted it is now clear, upon finishing the book, that Farewell My Lovely regards passing. Velma has been passing as Mrs. Grayle throughout the novel and I found it interesting to compare Velma’s passing to the other novels we have read on passing. The unpredictability of her passing was notable. I think it plays into the unpredictability of the novel itself. The events, the characters, and the setting of L.A are all unforeseeable and constantly changing. The uncertainty in regards to plot and characters is what kept me from growing frustrated with the novel. I also believe that the unanchored plot is what gives Farewell My Lovely a certain edge to it. Chandler isn’t assembling a clear, followable, plot. But rather, he takes the reader on a fast ride through the wicked, seedy, and corrupt world of Los Angles during the thirties. This is what really separated this novel from other crime novels in where the plot is clearly laid out. They contain an obvious hero and villain, usually concluding with a predictable, habitual ending. In Farewell My Lovely there is no single chain of events, and no single thread of logic that can piece together the outlandish events and characters that take place in the novel. The book isn't about cause and effect, in other words, it’s not about a crime being committed and Marlowe coming up with a rational cause and solution. Rather, Its about Marlowe making sense of why the crime happened due to his knowledge on human nature and social order. More so it’s about Marlowe's depiction of Los Angeles and his experience with its inhabitants and the city itself. This is what I found most interesting about the book, maybe because im living in L.A for the first time now and I already see aspects of Bay City in modern day Los Angeles.

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Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. New York, NY, Vintage Books, 1992.

Jessica Burns 2/27/17

There are a few topics I want to touch on in this post.  First, I want to talk about Ch 32, the scene where Marlowe goes to the city hall to talk to the Chief of Police. I felt this scene drew back to our discussions in class concerning the role that police play in the novel. The police don’t seem to be of much help, generally, and during this time period, were very corrupt. The Chief says “Trouble is something our little city don’t know much about, Mr. Marlowe. Our city is small but very, very clean. I look out my western windows and I see the Pacific Ocean. Nothing cleaner than that, is there?” (Chandler, 903). There is obviously crime and filth in the supposed beautiful clean city, just like there is corruption in the supposedly objective, helpful police force. 

Second, I want to talk about Chandler’s writing style. Often, when chandler describes action of characters, he does not simply state what is happening or has happened. He gives the readers clues to figure out what happened. For example, “He had courage. The grabbed for the gun. It wasn’t where he grabbed. I sat back and put it in my lap,” Chandler (899). Chandler doesn’t say Marlowe grabbed the gun before Sonderberg could, he gives us clues to piece it together. This is a detective novel, and Marlowe is using clues to solve this mystery. We, as an audience, also get to put clues together to find out what is happening in the novel. 

Last, I want to talk about the reveal of Mrs. Grayle. Mrs. Grayle, just as she is figuring out Marlowe is on to her is described as follows: “ She leaned forward a little and her smile becayse just a little glassy. Suddenly, without any real change in her, she ceased to be beautiful. She looked nearly like a woman who would have been dangerous a hundred years ago, and twenty years ago daring, but today was just Grade B Hollywood.” As Mrs. Grayle is being found out, her false beauty fades. This act that she is putting on ceases to exist, and this Grade A Actor falls to Grade B.  

There are a lot of symbols of what Hollywood and California represent. I think in some ways Mrs. Grayle represents Hollywood. She is an act, a fake. She has made herself up to seem to be a beautiful, simple housewife when in reality she is cut throat and ugly. This is a parallel to Hollywood. This city seems to be a beautiful glamorous place when, in reality, there is so much wrong with it. 

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Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. New York, NY, Vintage Books, 1992.

Gabby Manzari

Mrs. Grayle is a most complicated character. From the first time she was mentioned and the first time you met her, she was an enigma. It was hard to decipher who she was and what exactly her role was within the story. But the more she talked and opened up, the most curious she became to the reader. She started off seeming like she was a bored housewife and wanted anything she could grasp to entertain herself. Yet, She’s actually so much more than that. Mrs. Grayle from the beginning purposely leads Marlowe and everyone else to believes that she’s a simple housewife. While the whole time she’s Velma. She’s the one who started everything that Marlowe and Malloy have gone through from page one of the book. She was conniving enough to make a wealthy man fall in love with her and overlook her dark past, all while continuously cheating on him. What’s even more interesting is that she’s able to continue to get people to do her biddings to keep her hidden and allow her to continue to lead a riskier life. What’s really confusing is why she felt the need to live this secret life, when her husband definitely knew who she was and her background. It’s also very bizarre that Velma ended up being the one who turned in Malloy. What’s even more curious is that she comes over to Marlowe’s expecting for them to have a certain type of rendezvous but also was carrying a gun with her, clearly ready for the possibility. This hints that she most likely was scared that Marlowe knew exactly who she was. 

As the story continues, Marlowe continues to prove how intelligent he is time and time again. He picks up on things that most people wouldn’t have guessed, and a lot of the evidence that he’s picked up on doesn’t come out until the very end when explaining how he solved the case. Yet the interesting thing is that many of these little pieces of evidence all are posted throughout the story trying to see if the reader is intelligent enough to pick up on them. Marlowe also is intelligent enough to continuously be smarter than the cops to the point that they left him to finish the case himself. Marlowe shows that while he may not be the typical detective, he is more than capable of solving cases that are just as hard as the others are in novels.

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Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. New York, Vintage Books, 1976.

Moriah Tolliver 2/27/17

After finishing this book, I have come to the conclusion that Chandler aimed to show that society makes everyone amoral, especially the heroes. Chandler used Marlowe, the average hard-working American to show this, because on paper, Marlowe has all of the qualities of the “good American”. However, when you look at his individual actions–racist comments, smart comments, beating people, being continuously drunk– one would think this man to be a jerk. Yet, in the end he is able to solve the crime almost because of his amorality. Also, Marlowe is only one example of this thesis. Randall, who is described as the only good and competent cop, says, “‘That’s a rule, like you shouldn’t search without a warrant or frisk a guy for a gun without reasonable grounds. But we break rules. We have to,’” (200). Randall was also an exemplary character in this narrative since he was the only cop who seemed able to make any headway on the case, but even admits that he has to break rules to get his job done. Another example is Hemingway, who at first glance seems like a crooked cop driven by money, but while talking to Marlowe he says, “‘Cops don’t go crooked for money…You know what’s the matter with this country, baby?…A guy can’t stay honest if he wants to,’” (231-232). This interaction shows that even the characters who seem to be the most amoral are driven by the pressures their environment presses on them, whether that be a job well-done or a means of staying fed.

As well as corruption that comes from environmental pressures, Chandler also showcases the obvious injustices that occur simply from societal preferences. One obvious example of this was when Marlowe notes that  Moose was being left off the hook because ‘all he did was kill a Negro,’”(118). This blatant racism was not met with any commentary from Marlowe or anyone else, showing that many injustices were infused with society and acted out by people and no one was questioning them. Another example of blatant injustice was when Randall says, ‘[Velma] was stupid to shoot that dick. We’d never have convicted her, not with her looks and money and the persecution story these high-priced guys would build up,’” (291). This example shows that the privilege wealthy and good-looking people receive is not unknown but it is also unchallenged. At the beginning of this book, I felt like Chandler had nothing to offer in terms of ideas that reach beyond this narrative, but after finishing the story, I realized that Chandler does not have anything to say, but he has a mirror to show to the American people who they really are.

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Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. Vintage Books, New York, 1976.

Gianna Lee 02/27/2017

As what everyone else has said, the story of Farewell, My Lovely has indeed been so well pieced together. I did not expect Mrs. Grayle to be Velma herself and was equally surprised to see that Marlowe figured everything out without anyone else’s help. Marlowe is portrayed to be a “hard-boiled” detective. He’s tall, strong, and goes through so much physically in his investigations. But as we finish the novel, I come to realize that Marlowe is not only hard-boiled but is also intellectual like Sherlock Holmes. After all, it is he who tied everything together.

I also realized that Marlowe is not as bad a protagonist as I initially thought he was. Although he is an alcoholic, says questionable things, and is debatably racist, he is ultimately so driven, hardworking, sensitive, and smart. For instance, throughout the latter half of the novel, Marlowe talks about a little pink bug. He says, “Look, this room is eighteen floors above ground. And this little bug climbs all the way up here just to make a friend. Me. My lucky piece. I folded the bug carefully into the soft part of the handkerchief and tucked it into my pocket” (Chandler 217). He then does the following, “I put the pink bug down carefully behind a bush. I wondered, in the taxi going home, how long it would take him to make the Homicide Bureau again” (218). Finally, as one of the last things he says in the novel, he says, “Did my pink bug ever get back up here” (292)? I found it strange that Marlowe even noticed the bug and was even more confused when he went so far as to carefully pick up the bug and put it behind a bush outside. Even after everything that happened, he still managed to remember the pink bug. I think Marlowe’s interest with the bug shows Marlowe’s depth, sensitivity, and attention to detail. While most would either kill the bug or simply not mind it, Marlowe’s chivalrous act shows his concern and consideration for life. This pink bug may also be a representation of Marlowe himself. Like Marlowe, the pink bug just keeps going and going no matter what.

I also think it interesting to note how the root of all the crime was Velma’s passing as a high class woman. I thought it absurd to have all those murders done just for her to maintain her status. It is shocking to see what lengths people go to achieve a high status. Velma gave up everything; her identity, her profession, and her boyfriend. Just like in Passing, we see yet again the dangers of passing whether it be passing as white, or passing as the upper class.

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Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. Vintage Books. New York, 1976.

Tyler Buchanan 02/28/17

So, we’ve reached the end of the book now. Everything's totally crazy and the story is really complex and well done.The MC is a fairly daring detective that, due to our being able to hear his thoughts, is passing as the stereotypical detective of his time. That is a detective that is a lone wolf that does what he wants when he wants, and will use whatever means necessary in order to get those things. He has a conscience though as he won’t accept pay for a job he hasn't done or he simply doesn't deserve the pay for and he shows regret for some of the questionable acts he partakes in throughout the narrative. With all this in mind we’ve reached the climax and end of this narrative. Nobody ever thought of the idea that the one who Marlowe was looking for the entire time was also passing in a sense. Velma or Ms Grayle had been passing as someone she wasn’t for basically the entirety of the story. Despite what the audience thinks though, I believe that Marlowe knew everything fairly early on. When he’s explaining everything to Ms Grayle toward the end of the narrative, we find that he had no actual definitive proof to solidify the validity of his claims he had merely “thought” of these things. Thought is very thought provoking, lol. Why? Well because thought is past tense, meaning that at any point in the narrative Marlowe could have “thought” of these ideals. This actually isn’t surprising at all though because in our adventures with this character, we are given concrete awareness of his detective skills and keen observational abilities. So essentially with the main character passing as his stereotype and Velma passing as Ms. Grayle, there were two passing narratives in this story. 

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Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. New York, NY, Vintage Books, 1992.

Eric Van Thyne 2/27/17

Well now it seems that we have the reasoning for why this novel is a passing novel.  “A girl who started in the gutter became the wife of a multimillionaire” (Chandler 281), all the while hiding her identity of her past life to the outside world.  The passing was done so well that no one could suspect this high class woman of being the love of Malloy.  From the audience’s point of view Malloy was this overly large guy who did not seem in any way, elegant or other such descriptors.  The descriptions we get of Mrs. Grayle would never indicate in any way that she would be the woman who we have been looking for throughout this whole novel.  These make for many complications throughout the book, but leaves the audience with a sense of closure, especially more closure than any of the other texts we have read thus far.

I feel like this false sense of identity is closely related with Los Angeles.  The entirety of the city in the book seems to be fake and set up.  From the audience’s perspective, the only real people are Marlowe and Malloy, because it seems that everyone else tricked them.  Mrs. Grayle turned out to be Velma, Marriott’s death was planned, the Bay City police department was corrupt, and Amthor and his whole crew are corrupt and in with the police.  This novel gives this portrayal of Los Angeles that makes everything appear fake, and the only thing real is the working American man who cracks down on this case of falsehood.  

This is the novel’s way of glorifying the hardworking American.  We see crime fighters and super heroes whose roles are to fight evil and crime in a corrupt city.  Here, we basically have the same situation.  We have a detective who is cracking down on the case and fighting crime in the city where people are manipulated by money and motivated by greed.  This is exactly what the American audience wants.  They want closure at the end of a novel that reveals the evil villain.  This is just another reason why this novel and Marlowe encapsulate the ideas of the American detective.  Not only does Marlowe go in and do all of his work making an honest living, but his intent is to undertake all of this corruption and do it out of his own good.

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Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. New York: Vintage Crime, 1992.(Part III)

Having read the final pages of “Farewell My Lovely” and the essay by Kevin O’Reilly, it is easier to connect this to the course of the class. Chandler manages to talk about several social classes, and make them all have something in common. Chandler demonstrates that there isn’t really a concrete difference between them. The “high class” which is supposed to be more educated, is not immune to committing any crime. Even the name “high class” doesn’t suit them, they are seen and portrayed as superior, but really have no values. An example is Mrs. Groyle. She doesn’t even care about anyone but herself, she seems to have no moral compass. Being married, to her, means only her economic status, nothing more.

There seems to be a lot of strong female characters whom are not afraid to get what they want. Mrs. Groyle will manipulate into having her way; by lying, flirting and killing.

Chandler did something different with the usual detective stories. He showed the current reality of what was happening. The corruption, the lies, the blackmail, the alcohol and drugs, the murders and the police’s mentality of all these problems that are going around. The police seem to be incapable of taking control of the situation. This is likely due to the fact that the police is quickly corrupted. There are no exceptions when it comes to committing crimes. Even the wealthiest are suspicious.

Marlow starts to work with Randall and even grows to like him. He doesn’t make emotional investments at the beginning. Marlow’s sense of tranquility and peace is being alone in his house, for him that’s home.

Even though Marlowe is easy to dislike sometimes, like when he kissed Mrs. Groyle, he seems to be the one of the few virtuous detective willing to solve a case, no matter how hard or dangerous it is.

At the beginning of the novel Moose describes Velma as red hair. Then when we get to know about Mrs. Florian and Anne we get to know their hair color as well, but as soon as we meet Mrs. Grayle there is no description of her hair. Anne is said to have red hair and I clearly though she could be the mysterious Velma that Moose was in love with.

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Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. Vintage Books. New York, 1976.

Mehreen Mansoor 2/27/17 

In Chandler’s Mystery novel, Farewell, My Lovely filled with lies, deception, and crime we finally find Velma in the last 100 pages of the book. While reading the book earlier, I did suspect that Mrs. Grayle could potentially be Velma. However, I remember dismissing the thought and upon finding out I was still left shocked. Velma’s character is the antagonist of the novel.

I found it important to note that the theme of passing continues in Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely as the previous texts we have read. Although Chandler doesn’t write about racial passing, his is a more mysterious one with the antagonist passing as an entirely different person with a completely different name. Velma Passes as Mrs. Grayle changing everything about her from her name to her appearance, once a “redhead’ (Chandler 27) Velma passing as Mrs. Grayle was, “a blonde” (Chandler 123). In Farewell My Lovely, like the other novels we see passing as means of upward social mobility as Velma finds a Rich man, Mr. Grayle to marry.

The theme of romantic love was another thing that caught my eye in the final part of the novel. Farewell, My Lovely could ultimately be deemed a mystery love story. With the reoccurring theme of characters running after love such as Moose Malloy and Velma, Marlowe and Anne Riordan and finally Mrs. Grayle (Velma) and Mr. Grayle. On the last page of the novel, Marlowe suggests the reason why Velma kills herself is that it would hurt Mr. Grayle who was, “an old man who had loved not wisely, but too well” (Chandler 292). Velma was able to get away passing as Mrs. Grayle, and she knocks everyone who she identifies as a threat out of her way; from Moose Malloy to Marriott. that is why I found the end of the book quite surprising and Velma’s selfless act of killing herself in order to save her husband because she only seems to care for herself.

We also see Marlowe’s character get more and more approval for the seemingly good detective that he is. Randall starts trusting him with the Marriott murder case and Anne Riordan finally asks him to kiss her because she finds him “So marvelous…so brave, so determined” (Chandler 288). It is made clear that Marlowe is a great detective.            

In conclusion, Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely ended little differently than I expected it to end. However, with the progression of his characters and plot, he was able to create a novel full of suspense that gave passing an entirely new meaning to me, proving that passing doesn’t necessarily have a fixed meaning or context. The term passing doesn't merely suggest racial passing.

[passingandslumming]

Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. New York: Vintage Crime, 1992.(Part III)

Nicole Gaglione 2/27/17

            What stood out to me the most in this section of the novel was how Marlowe’s perception of cops shifted from complete disregard and lack of respect, to a humanizing, almost understanding of them. This is seen most clearly with Randall, since at the start of their encounters, Marlowe made it clear that he did not respect him when blatantly lying to him about his involvement in the case and suggesting to Anne, who declared cops as humans too, that “ ‘They start out that way, I’ve heard’ ” (Chandler 89). When originally characterizing cops as a whole other group than being humans like everyone else, Marlowe soon realizes through spending more time with Randall and actually working with him rather than doing things behind his back, that he can be quite likable. When saying, “I was beginning to like him. He had a lot behind his vest besides his shirt” (199), Marlowe opens his mind a little to rather judging Randall purely based on being a policeman, he can recognize that the way in which he does his job is what defines him, not just his uniform and the stigma that comes with it. In this way, I think Marlowe finds similarities in himself and Randall when noticing how he has more to him than what appears, making it easier for him to relate to Randall as opposed to other cops he encounters.

            Marlowe’s changing opinion of the police is also highlighted by his interactions with Galbraith, or whom Marlowe refers to as “Hemmingway.” Further in the text, and after their initial encounter, Hemmingway gives insight into the different types of cops that exist within society, explaining to Marlowe that not all police are bad, emphasizing the fact that ‘Cops like me live in itty-bitty frame houses on the wrong side of town…Cops don’t go crooked for money. Not always, not even often. They get caught in the system’ ” (231). This point of view reveals how even though most of the cops portrayed in this novel seem to be on someone’s payroll and are corrupted to the point of dismissing their duties that come with being a law enforcer, Hemmingway points out that it is not always the case of money being the prime motivator, but argues that many people are not given any better option than to follow orders, legal or not, and mind their own business in order to survive like he does. When explaining how “ ‘a guy can’t stay honest if he wants to’ ” (232), Hemmingway drives home the idea that it is the entire system that is corrupt, not just the individual. Marlowe takes note of this when later contemplating to himself how there is a range of people around him, and that they cannot always be categorized simply as good or bad, but that there are various gray areas to each individual. Stating the differences as being “tough cops that could be greased and yet were not by any means all bad, like Hemmingway” (238) versus “slim, smart and deadly cops like Randall, who for all their smartness and deadliness were not free to do a clean job in a clean way” (238), Marlowe realizes the complications in generalizing people based on occupation when not acknowledging the other factors involved in their behavior and the limits that control how they can do their job. This is also seen when Randall admits how “we break rules. We have to” (200), showing just how corrupt the system as a whole has become, to the point that even cops like Randall who try to be good are forced to use alternative methods in order to do what is right.

[passingandslumming]

Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. New York, Vintage Books, 1988.

Arianna Boadla 02/25/2017

What stood out to me the most when reading the last couple of pages from Chandler’s novel Farewell, My Lovely, was the astonishing revealed plot. After detective Marlowe is able to connect all the dots in this mystery, it is surprising to me that all the crime results from Velma’s rise to become Mrs. Grayle. It seems surprising since the cops were actually looking for a group or gang who thought was responsible for the murder, but it was not a group at all, just a woman.  She gave up her profession as a singer, her name, and her boyfriend to succeed, in order to marry a man who had money. However, she then lives in a constant fear of discovery, and we get to learn she does not actually love her husband. Mrs. Grayle married Mr. Grayle just for convenience, as it is obvious that she got involved with other men. Mr. Grayle did know what his wife did, but Mrs. Grayle says, “It’s all right. He understands. What the hell can he expect?” (Chandler, 136). Helen Grayle manipulated everybody around her because of her lies, and she even manipulated her husband.  Marlowe says in the novel’s last lines, that Malloy and Mr. Grayle both “loved not wisely, but too well” (Chandler, 292).

           Mrs. Grayle is definitely a liar. She does not only change her name and pretends to be another person, but she also causes the murders and crimes in this novel. She wanted to protect her identity, and therefore she killed Marriot first. Marlowe says, “the man who dealt with her and made her monthly payments and owned a trust deed on her home and could throw her into the gutter any time she got funny- that man knew it all. He was expensive” (Chandler, 281). That explains why Mrs. Grayle killed Marriot herself, as he represented a big threat for her, as well as Moose Malloy after getting out of jail. She did not just kill Marriot, but she also killed Malloy and ran away.

           I also wanted to focus on Marlowe’s personality as well. After everything he has to go through as a detective, I noticed that he needs to find tranquility at a certain point of the day. He has a longing for feeling safe, and I learn that the only place he feels safe is at his home. At his apartment, he feels tranquility and also enjoys being by himself. After a long day, he gets home, and he “unlocked the door of my apartment and went in and sniffed the smell of it, just standing there, against the door for a little while before I put the light on. A homely smell, a smell of dust and tobacco smoke, the smell of a world where men live, and keep living” (Chandler, 190).

[passingandslumming]

I too struggled at first in discovering whether the MC was racist or not, I struggled with a bit more optimism but a struggle nonetheless. Your note in the fact that he only appears racist when speaking in front of others, or only appearing racist on his exterior is something to be proud of as well. It is true that Marlowe seems to be a completely different person(not racist) when we hear his inner thoughts. After realizing this I arrived at the same point as well. That the MC was passing as what the general consensus of white detectives at the time was. The characters passing is a different kind of passing and so far the MC has displayed tendencies and qualities unlike any other character. I’d like to think that the MC’s exterior is what he's been conditioned to think or a front of sorts, while his inner thoughts that only the reader hears is how he actually feels. Marlowe is not the hedonistic, white american male that we made him out to be, he’s actually a fairly thoughtful and considerate individual, despite his actions. Great observations on the MC btw, he’s been what I’ve been focusing on as well considering the rest of the narrative seems to have nothing to do with passing.

Chandler, Raymond. Farewell, My Lovely. Vintage Books. New York, 1976.

Mehreen Mansoor 02/20/17

After reading more than half of Raymond Chandler’s Farewell My Lovely, I realized that without verbalizing race as one of the most pressing issues in the novel, Chandler through his various characters of color such as Montgomery and the Native American, Second Planting brings the issue to the forefront of the book.

I found it very hard to determine whether Philip Marlowe, the protagonist of the story was racist or not. I pegged him as a racist man from the very beginning of the book because of the multiple comments he made on the appearance of characters surrounding him but also due to the repetition of the word, “Negro” (Chandler 3) throughout the novel. However, in chapter seventeen amid his conversation with the police officer, Nulty, I realized that all Marlowe was trying to do was pass as what was considered the status quo for white detectives during the 1940’s. Marlowe explains to Nulty that all Moose Malloy did was simply, “kill a Negro” (Chandler 118) which he pitched to Nulty as a “Misdemeanor” (Chandler 118). Although Philip Marlowe was fully absorbed in solving the murder mystery in the search for Velma himself, he tried to disinterest the police officer so could get the job. If Marlowe were truly a racist man, like Nulty, he would have shown no interest in solving a Black man’s murder. However, I also see Marlowe as an opportunist willing to do anything in exchange for some money, accepting any job that came his way because of his, “bank account was still trying to crawl under a duck” (Chandler 42).  

Although I was unable to determine Chandler’s position on race as well as figure out if the protagonist of his novel was racist or not, one thing I could ascertain about Marlowe’s character was that Philip Marlowe was a skilled passer. He pretended to be someone he is not in various parts of the novel. Marlowe played the role he believed would get the job done when he needed it to be done. He also knew how to manipulate everybody around him by his carefully selected words and actions; these characteristics are also what made him a good detective. I was fully able to determine Marlowe’s fraudulent pretense at the end of chapter twenty-seven when he closes the chapter by finally announcing to the reader that there is something more to his character than he has proved thus far, Marlowe proclaims that he had, “nightmares and woke out of them sweating. But in the morning, I (he) was a well man again” (Chandler 190), In my opinion, suggesting that like many people who pass he must pretend to be a “well man” (Chandler 190). 

In conclusion, so far Farewell My Lovely has been a challenging read as I have not been able to identify the protagonist’s interests clearly; nor can I make any determinations of what the ending of the novel may be. However, it is for these reasons that I have found the mystery novel quite intriguing.