I’ve been reading some Raymond Chandler lately, and I recently read “Farewell, My Lovely”. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and recommend it to anyone interested in the noir genre (though saying you recommend Chandler for noire is like saying you recommend Shakespeare for sonnets, or Asimov for high-concept sci-fi. I mean- duh, right?). However, there was a piece of symbolism that I think went right over my head. Most of the way through the book, before Marlowe (the protagonist) goes to confront the lynchpin of the case, he’s talking to someone at the homicide bureau about the case, and notices a bug with pink spots (hereafter referred to as “the pink bug”) that struggled to find a way out of the room he was in. Marlowe is sort of focused on the bug throughout the conversation, and closes the talk with his colleague (who he’s kind of at odds with) by picking up the bug, taking it outside, and putting it in a bush.
There’s some juxtaposition a little later on that makes it clear (in my opinion anyway), that the bug is supposed to represent Marlowe’s own tenacity- a creature in an environment not made for him that constantly beats him down and prevents him from reaching his goal, but he struggles on anyway, because it’s all he knows how to do.
My question is this- at the very end of the book, he flashes back to the bug, and wonders if it’s gone back into town hall by now, and if so, how far along it’s gotten. Why? The line seems kind of out of the place in the ending, which is largely about his relationship with Anne and the kinds of people they both are, and the bug line seems to come out of nowhere. Does anybody have any insight that might explain why Chandler decided to call back to that theme at that moment? Does the bug represent more- or something entirely different- than I thought? Am I reading too much into what was supposed to be a simple analogy in a pulpy-kind of a book? Any insight is appreciated.
by Bobbluered