Driven to suicide by forces that he does not seem to recognize.

What is most troubling about Roger is not that he drinks like a fish and has a wife who is perhaps not as solidly faithful as she might be, but that facing writer’s block he is driven to suicide. His dipsomania didn’t stop him from bagging an exceptionally gorgeous British wife. Like Terry Lennox, Roger Wade is a bit of a drinker-more than a bit, actually. Roger Wade is a hack writer and may or may not be the autobiographical representation of how author Raymond Chandler viewed himself in his darker moods. Not that the war stripped away Terry’s natural charisma, as the PI driving the prime suspect in the murder of Terry’s wife to the airport so he can flee the country can tell you. Like many returning veterans whose eyes have been opened, Terry Lennox turns to drink. The Long Goodbye actually verges more into the territory of film noir than The Big Sleep, not least in part due to Terry Lennox being a veteran returning from the horrors of World War II with a newfound sense of the utter futility of looking for a black & white world in the post-war reality. Because Marlowe’s own moral compass is far less ambiguously pointed toward due north, Marlowe persists in doing the right thing despite warnings from the cops, the syndicate and the wealthy elite to just mind his own business. This association with a casual acquaintance draws Marlowe into yet another case that situates him within a world of ambiguous morality among the well-to-do. Marlowe must give his friend-and not even a particularly close friend-Terry Lennox a lift to the airport when Lennox is put in the position of fleeing the country. Marlowe’s involvement in this particular story with a title that is a metaphor for death begins with a favor the kind of favor that makes some people give the long goodbye to the very concept of having friends. Readers of The Long Goodbye may already be familiar with Philip Marlowe from Chandler’s The Big Sleep. Marlowe is, along with Sam Spade and Mike Hammer, is one of the iconic kings of the literary world of private detectives. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler