Long Goodbye Blog Post 1

The Long Goodbye Blog Post 1

Due Tuesday, December 11

Connor Byrne

a)

The dangers of alcoholism are outlined in The Long Goodbye By Raymond Chandler through the actions and words of Roger Wade and Phillip Marlowe. Roger wade, the troubled writer, has a very serious drinking problem that has gotten in the way of his work and his personal success. He has problems finishing what he has started, and is currently in the middle of a book that he cannot finish, “We are in bad trouble over Roger Wade. He can’t finish a book…The man seems to be going to pieces. Wild fits of drinking and temper.” (93) His drinking has gotten to a point where it is out of control and it is clear that no one can help him except for himself. We see this drunken behavior first hand when he writes on the typewriter, “The glass on the table is empty. It would take both hands to pour the stuff now. I could get one out of the bottle maybe to brace me. The taste of the stuff is sickening…You suffer and you take a drink and for a little while it is better,” (204) He knows that he has a drinking problem and has tried to face it but hasn’t had any success. Marlowe has been the one attempting to help Wade with his drinking problem and Wade has confided in him with some things. Wade has told Marlowe that he knows he has a problem but doesn’t seem to want to fix it. Marlowe also has a bit of a drinking problem himself. He seems to want to hit the bottle whenever things aren’t going smoothly. If something happens that doesn’t work in his favor and is putting him through stress, he needs a drink. After Candy interrupts Marlowe and Eileen Wade when they are in bed, Marlowe explains, “I went down the stairs fast and crossed into the study and grabbed the bottle of Scotch and tilted it. When I couldn’t swallow any more I leaned against the wall and panted and let the stuff burn in me until the fumes reached my brain.” (213). After this incident where Marlowe gets extremely drunk he is not functioning to his full capacity and it is clear that he is not thinking clearly, “Something inside me has gone sour. …How much loyalty can a dead man use? Phooey: I was looking at life through the mists of a hangover.” (221) He recognizes that he is hung-over and that the choices he made the night before did not have a good result. Drinking excessively the night before has affected him physically and is causing him some problems with the tasks he needs to get done.

b)

Marlowe conducts himself with the people he comes across every day very methodically and makes everything very simple and easy to follow for himself. I think that this is a way for him to make the process faster and more straightforward. An example of this is when he is discussing Terry Lennox’s death with Harlan Potter, “Maybe you had better let me have my own notions Mr. Potter. They are not important, naturally, but they’re all I have…I'm not finished being methodical, Mr. Potter.” (230) This is a good way to deal with someone that is arguing with you. When Marlowe doesn’t like someone he often will let them know. He acts very cold to the person and is very selective and clever in choosing his words. There is an instance of this when Marlowe has a encounter with the cocky Dr. Vucanich, “I went on out. The waiting patients looked at me with disapproving eyes. That was no way to treat Doctor.” (132) We see another good example of this when Marlowe needs to help Wade up the stairs and Dr. Loring arrives looking like “a man who has been asked to clean up after the dog got sick” (191). He questions Marlowe and seems to be suspicious of him. Marlowe is actually helping Wade out a lot and being much more productive than Dr. Loring, “Just a minute, Doc…This man called me on the phone and I live some way off…I broke every traffic law in the state…found him lying on the ground.” (192). Marlowe does not want to put up with people treating him disrespectfully and will let them know it under any circumstances.

c)

Raymond Chandler’s use of idiosyncratic figurative language is effective in developing character, developing plot, and contributing to theme.  By the different uses of figurative language, Marlowe’s words show us how he feels and what his perspective on a situation is. He says, “She still looked like a golden dream.”  (219) when he was thinking of Eileen which can show us that he is attracted to her. With the way that Marlowe talks, we instantly know whether he likes or dislikes the person he is talking to. With his interaction with Dr. Amos Varley, Marlowe can see what the man is like after he had only spoken one sentence. Marlowe says, “He had that bedside manner, thick, honeyed layers of it. He was wonderful – and he was as tough as armor plate.” (133) He is displaying how he can see right through Dr. Varley’s layers of honey. Marlowe seems to have a gift for telling what people’s characters are like which must help him with his occupation. Marlowe also uses figurative language to add to the setting and the mood of the setting. When he is looking for “Dr. V” and talks to George Peters at The Carne Organization, it seems like a very dull and dreary setting.  Marlowe describes, “A minute later a door in the paneling opened and Peters beckoned me into a battleship gray corridor lined with little offices that looked like cells…gray steel desk with two matching chairs, gray dictating machine on a gray stand.” From his description of the Carne Offices we can get a good perspective on his mood and the setting he is in. 

Why Not? Blog Post 2

Ray Robertson’s essay “Individuality” from Why Not?  was meaningful to me because many of the themes he talks about resonate in my own life. Robertson defines individuality in a way that I can relate to; “a desperate, almost aggressive desire to separate oneself from everyone else – everyone else, that is, but those whom one is imitating” (82). I have been finding my true self throughout my life and especially in high school. The people who I interact with every day and influence me from afar have a great impact on what I do and how I carry out my actions each day. Individuality is trying to be different, and to separate oneself from the way that everyone else is doing it.

Robertson made me think of individuality in a different way and has helped me develop a better understanding of what it is.  He writes “…even the most earnestly eccentric personalities and the most unique works of art have their influences, however unrecognized at the time of impact of hazily perceived long after the fact” (83). This powerful statement shows how many aspects of your every day life are influenced by your past.  There are many things that I do each day without thinking that may have been influenced by something or someone that I interacted with a long time ago or even an hour ago. A conversation or an activity that happened at any date can impact the way you do something at a later date without you consciously thinking about it.  Robertson captured it perfectly when he quotes John Dos Passos, “Individuality is freedom lived” (83). The way Robertson outlines Individuality is well communicated, very clear and concise. This section speaks to me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ray Robertson starts each of his essays in Why Not? with a quote. The quote for “Home” is from the German writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home”(159). This quote is a great start to the essay because it is powerfully simple and most can relate to it. Robertson proceeds to talk about travel and its importance, and how it is interesting to be exposed to different cultures. I strongly believe that traveling is the greatest way to learn because you are exposed to so many new and interesting things. These travel experiences bring many fresh and motivating things to ones life and open you up to the rest of the world.  Robertson then says, “Because as Socrates observed, ‘See one promontory, one mountain, one sea, one river, and see all.’ And that was 2,500 years before the first McDonalds opened up in Prague”  (160). This is a great quote from a classical Greek philosopher, which really goes to show that the world really is becoming a global village and much more uniform.

Robertson observed, “…people may dress differently and eat different foods and drive on the other side of the road, they’re all identifiably a part of the same essentially boorish, selfish, clueless species” (159). We are all so different but at the same time we are all so alike. It makes the world seem like a very complicated small place with many different cultures, religions, languages, and personalities, but also captures the great infiniteness our planet consists of.  This is a very powerful statement of great importance to me because of the different cultures that I am exposed to in the culturally diverse city of Toronto. I have been exposed to many different people in Toronto of many different backgrounds who have helped shape many of the views I have today. 

I have been involved with art since I was very young.  I don’t remember the exact age but I believe I was between the ages of 4 and 7 when I had a great sense of humor (or so I thought).  I believed that drawing with Crayola markers and placing Scooby-doo stickers on the car window that didn’t go all the way down was one of the most entertaining things in the world. I also had a great desire to have a marker in my hand at all times.  I would create masterpieces with just my two index fingers and some watercolour paint. I loved to draw pictures and make up stories with just my hand and a piece of paper.  The problem though was that over the years I seemed to loose that feeling of entertainment from drawing on the car window or on my wall where no one could see. Pablo Picasso put it very well, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”  Although I myself am not an artist by trade, I have an immense love for art and am touched by many of the beautiful pieces that I see from day to day.

Art has inspired me in many ways and has even changed the way I view life. Sometimes there is much more to something than what you see on the surface. Meaning is not always given to you on a silver platter; sometimes you must dig for it. The American author Henry David Thoreau put it well, “It’s not what you look at that matters, its what you see.”  Art can be interpreted differently to different people. This is because everybody is different and nobody is the same. People all are unique in their own way and they will interpret things in their own way.  Aristotle captured the depth and immenseness of art very well, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”  Art influences what I do and how I carry out my activities each day. We are the art that we love. 

Response to “Individuality” from Ray Robertsons “Why Not?”

                I enjoyed “Individuality” because I can find a lot of the things that he is talking about in my own life. Robertson defines individuality nicely and in a way I can relate to; “a desperate, almost aggressive desire to separate oneself from everyone else – everyone else, that is, but those whom one is imitating.” I have been finding my true self all throughout my life but especially high school. The people who I interact with every day and the people that influence me from afar really influence what I do and how I act. Individuality is trying to be different, and to separate oneself from the way that everyone else is doing it. Robertson has made me think of individuality in a different way and develop a better understanding of what it actually is. “even the most earnestly eccentric personalities and the most unique works of art have their influences, however unrecognized at the time of impact of hazily perceived long after the fact.” This is a great statement and can show you actually how much influences you every day. There are many things that I do every day without thinking that may have been influenced from something a long time ago or even a day ago. A conversation or an activity that happened at any date can impact the way you do something at a later date without you consciously thinking about it. The way Robertson outlines Individuality is well communicated, very clear and concise. I have taken a lot out of this section and enjoyed it.