The Lady in the Lake

How does the setting of Southern California develop the novel’s themes? Which aspects of the novel are unique to Southern California’s landscape and culture?

How would you compare the femme fatale, Mildred, with the woman that Marlowe admires, Adrienne Fromsett? How are other women treated in the text?

Mildred takes on many false identities. How much of the novel’s mystery relies on the belief that her identities are separate women? What does her movement between identities suggest about attitudes toward femininity and identity in Southern California in the 1940s?

The 1946 film version of The Lady in the Lake strays heavily from the novel; director and star Robert Montgomery rejected Raymond Chandler’s script. How would you analyze the lines that made it into the film—what made them endure in different media? How do Montgomery’s changes reflect the different needs of the two media?

The Lady in the Lake is less famous than The Big Sleep. How would you compare the character of Marlowe in these two novels by Chandler, and their respective film adaptations?

How does the motif of hair develop the theme of Identity and Deception in The Lady in the Lake? What symbolic roles does hair play? What attitudes or beliefs does it convey about gender, age, and class?

Marlowe, in his role as a private investigator, commits several acts of dubious legality, including misrepresenting his identity, breaking and entering, and obstructing police investigations. How would you compare his crimes with the crimes committed by the police? What do the similarities and differences indicate about the nature of crime and law enforcement?

Chandler often uses multiple conjunctions instead of commas in lists; he repeats the word “and”—a rhetorical device known as polysyndeton—instead of placing commas between items in a list. What effect(s) does this have?