Marlowe-isms
Marlowe’s world-weary, cynical worldview describing a corrupt world from the perspective of an idealistic outsider provides a good many ironic one-liners. Examples include:
“there is a kind of silence that is almost as loud as a shout”
“There are places where cops are not hated, Captain. But in those places you wouldn't be a cop.”
“[jail] is not too bad. You don’t meet the best people, but who the hell wants to?”
The Most Ironic Element
Take a trip back through time by reading the previous Marlowe adventures and one thing becomes increasingly clear: this is a solitary sort of guy who not only doesn’t make friends easily, but doesn’t want to. Over the course of those adventures Marlowe has met some men who would have been a much logical choice to become friends with than Lennox. In fact, Lennox would likely be near the bottom of possibilities, just barely above the assorted members of the low-life criminal element. That Marlowe chooses to develop an atypically close relationship with Lennox is probably the most ironic element of the story.
The Most Ironic Moment
One small bit of narration from Marlowe is so dripping with irony that an explanation isn’t necessary at all. While the friendship with Lennox may be the most ironic element, the following is almost certainly the most ironic single moment in the novel:
“Idle Valley was a perfect place to live. Perfect. Nice people with nice homes, nice cars, nice horses, nice dogs, possibly even nice children.
But all a man named Marlowe wanted from it was out. And fast.”
The Lt. Ohls One-Step Plan to Quit Smoking
Irony is so pervasive throughout the novel that it is asserted even in the smallest of details. Like for instance, the appearance of Lt. Bernie Ohls chewing on an unlit cigarette. Why? Because:
“I quit smoking. Got me coughing too much.”
The Peculiar Thing About Money
One might well describe Harlan Potter as a multimillionaire businessman who is really nothing more than bloviating narcissist who loves his own voice, but that would be simply redundant. He is so into the sound of his own voice waxing philosophical on the nature of economics that he forgets the entire thread of his conversation with Marlowe and goes off a tangent that, by the time he’s done, has the detective musing on what made this guy who hates everything really tick. His tangent, however bloated with self-importance, nevertheless ends on a crushing note of ironic sensibility:
“We have the whitest kitchens and the most shining bathrooms in the world. But in the lovely white kitchen the average American housewife can’t produce a meal fit to eat, and the lovely shining bathroom is mostly a receptacle for deodorants, laxatives, sleeping pills, and the products of that confidence racket called the cosmetic industry. We make the finest packages in the world, Mr. Marlowe. The stuff inside is mostly junk.”
