The Lady in the Lake

“‘I don’t like your manner.’ […] ‘I’m not selling it.’”

This is some of Raymond Chandler’s signature witty dialogue between Kingsley and Marlowe. Kingsley initially dislikes Marlowe, and Marlowe replies that he is not trying to be likable, which offers an insight into Marlowe’s independent character.

“His house [has] a garage like the corner pocket on a pool table.”

Marlowe uses a simile to describe Lavery’s garage. The reference to a pool carries connotations of good fortune, luxury, and masculinity, portraying the house as a symbol of Lavery’s wealth and success. The imagery of pool tables is part of the hard-boiled style; it is a familiar pastime for Chandler’s readers.

“I listened to my thoughts. They moved fitfully in and out, like Dr. Almore’s thin nervous hands pulling at the edges of his curtains.”

Here, Chandler uses a simile that compares the movement of Marlowe’s thoughts with the movement of Almore’s hands. This simile develops the character of Almore as a nervous individual. It also personifies Marlowe’s thoughts by having them act like Almore.

“I like to drink, but not when people are using me for a diary.”

This quote shows Marlowe reacting to Bill Chess drinking and talking about his marital problems. Marlowe chooses not to join him in drinking because listening to people is part of his job. Chess is carelessly confiding in a near stranger, and Marlowe wants to take advantage of the confidences. The idea of Bill Chess using him as a diary develops the motif of memory.

“The air was peaceful and calm and sunny and held a quiet you don’t get in cities. I could have stayed there for hours doing nothing but forgetting all about Derace Kingsley and his wife and her boy friends.”

This describes the setting of Little Fawn Lake. As a very small town, it stands in stark contrast with both Los Angeles and Bay City. The sheriff, Patton, who is one of the good cops in the novel, has only seen two murders.

“The thing that had been a woman lay face down on the boards with a rope under the arms.”

This is a description of the titular lady in the lake. In fact, Chandler notes, she is no longer a lady, but a corpse. Death makes the body into an object rather than a subject, as seen in Chandler’s word choice of “the” instead of “her” before the word “arms.”

“Confectioner’s sugar is used to make cake icing. A man would never look there.”

This is an example of the sexism that is prevalent in detective fiction from Chandler’s era. Marlowe argues that only women make icing; the bowl of confectioner’s sugar thus functions as a protected space, safe from men’s eyes and thus fit for the keeping of women’s secrets.

“These small blondes are so much of a pattern that a change of clothes or light or makeup makes them all alike or all different.”

This quote is from Les, an employee at the Prescott Hotel. The idea of many interchangeable blond women in southern California develops the theme of Identity and Disguise. It is easy for Mildred to pretend to be other blond women, like Crystal, because they are perceived all looking alike.

“The guy that sees too much detail is just as unreliable a witness as the guy that doesn’t see any. He’s nearly always making half of it up.”

The motif of memory supports Marlowe’s search for the truth. Marlowe is suspicious of people who remember too much, like serial numbers. If there are too many details, many of them must be either lies or committed to memory on purpose in service of a planned deception. Memory is imperfect, and people who aren’t planning to commit crimes don’t remember such details.

“She put her left hand out to me with a pathetic gesture, like the erring wife in East Lynne.”

This is an allusion to the 1931 film East Lynne based on an 1861 novel by Ellen Wood, directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Ann Harding as Lady Isabella. Marlowe compares Mildred’s performance as Mrs. Fallbrook with Harding’s performance on screen. The theme of Identity and Deception is developed as Mildred and Harding establish false identities through gesture.

“That’s your story […] I don’t have to get stuck with it.”

This is another example of Chandler’s signature dialogue. Marlowe says this to Mildred when she is telling lies about being Fallbrook. Deception can be compared with fiction writing through the diction of story.

“I let the remark fall to the ground, eddying like a soiled feather.”

This is another example of a simile. Here, the comparison is between words and feathers; Marlowe ignores Kingsley’s unethical request that Marlowe lose the gun that killed Lavery, leaving the shameful words to descend slowly without acknowledgement, “like a soiled feather.”

“However hard I try to be nice I always end up with my nose in the dirt and my thumb feeling for somebody’s eyes.”

Marlowe says this to Fromsett when he is interviewing her about handkerchief found at Lavery’s place. This is a good description of Marlowe’s character; again, he is uninterested in making friends. Instead, he is interested in finding the truth, which ends up being a dirty and violent process.

“I want a lot of prints from all over the house, particularly any that seem to be made by a woman.”

This quote from Webber develops the theme of Identity and Deception. While Mildred can appear to be Crystal, they do not have the same fingerprints. However, this quote also is somewhat sexist in assuming that prints from men and women are so different, considering men have hands of all different sizes.

“The thing looked cut and dried to them. A nasty affair between two rather nasty people, too much loving, too much drinking, too much proximity ending in a savage hatred and a murderous impulse and death. I thought this was all a little too simple.”

This is an example of the kind of repetition that Chandler uses throughout the novel. In this passage, he uses the rhetorical device known as anaphora to introduce three successive phrases with the same phrase, “too much.” These phrases describe the general perception of Kingsley and Crystal’s marriage. The fourth time “too” is repeated, it contradicts the previous instances; Marlowe doesn’t think Kingsley killed Crystal. The repetition of “too” also highlights the use of the homophone “two,” indicating that the case involves more than two people.

“An elegant handwriting, like the elegant hand that wrote it.”

This is Marlowe’s perception of Fromsett, based on a note she writes him with information about where to find Florence’s parents. He believes she is elegant in her actions as well as in her looks. His respect for her develops her character and works against the many moments of sexism.

“He didn’t remember. He looked at us like a horse that has got into the wrong stable.”

This passage develops the motif of memory. Lettie, Florence’s mother, remembers Mildred, but Eustace, Florence’s father, doesn’t. Marlowe, given his previous thoughts about memory, is likely to believe Eustace.

“The woman was screaming, wherever she was. The screaming had a thin sharp unreal sound, something like the screaming of coyotes in the moonlight, but it didn’t have the rising keening note of the coyote”

This simile compares the sound of the woman’s scream with the sound of a coyote. Chandler conveys many sensory details by using comparisons. In this case, Marlowe is in the Bay City jail and can only hear, but not see, the woman who is screaming. The comparison to a coyote emphasizes the uncanny, frightening quality of the scream and also highlights the setting, as the screams of coyotes are frequently heard throughout the Southern California landscape.

“‘How you doing?’ ‘Fine.’ ‘Like our jail?’ ‘I like your jail fine.’ ‘Captain Webber wants to talk to you.’ ‘That’s fine,’ I said. ‘Don’t you know any words but fine?’ ‘Not right now,’ I said. ‘Not in here.’”

This is dialogue between Degarmo and Marlowe. After being beaten by other Bay City cops, Marlowe is reluctant to say anything of substance to Degarmo. Repeating the same word develops Marlowe’s character as a wise guy.

“I’ve never liked this scene […] Detective confronts murderer. Murderer tells detective the whole sad story, with the idea of shooting him at the end of it. Thus wasting a lot of valuable time, even if in the end murderer did shoot detective. Only murderer never does. Something always happens to prevent it. The gods don’t like this scene either.”

Here, Marlowe confronts the femme fatale, Mildred, and comments on the cliched nature of their interaction. Even in the 1940s, this kind of scene was common in detective fiction. Marlowe’s comments on how the scene is crafted form a metafictional commentary on the genre.

“Policemen are kind to their feet. Their feet are about all they are kind to.”

This passage develops the theme of Institutional Corruption. Cops are unkind to the people they encounter, ranging from making snide remarks to assault. They sit down whenever possible, and Marlowe turns this into a subtle jab, suggesting that the police are not only corrupt and cruel but also lazy.

“It was a two-storied white house with a dark roof. Bright moonlight lay against its wall like a fresh coat of paint.”

This is a simile that compares moonlight with paint on the exterior of Kingsley’s house. The sense of sight is highlighted in this moment, as Marlowe only looks at the house while Degarmo goes into it. The natural moonlight seems unnatural, adding to the tense tone of this scene.

“And you never saw her last night. Because she had already been dead for over a month. Because she had been drowned in Little Fawn Lake.”

This is the beginning of the parlor scene where Marlowe lays out the multiple identities of Mildred in front of Patton and Degarmo. Marlowe begins by clarifying that the lady in the lake is Crystal. The parlor scene, where a detective reveals that he has solved the mystery, is a standard trope of detective fiction.