The Never-Ending Journey of the Sisyphean Hero in The Big...

The subject of heroism has been the focus of art since the beginning of civilization. It should be no surprise that the hero would even be at the heart of a dark genre, such as Noir. However, since the time period of Noir, roughly the 1930s-1950s, is simultaneous with such monumental changes as the transition from a Romantic view of America to a more realistic and even existential view, the hero of this genre embodies a similar ideal in his character. Existentialism pivots around the idea that an individual wanders - often disoriented - in an absurd and meaningless world. In his novel, The Big Sleep, author Raymond Chandler introduces protagonist Philip Marlowe as this new existential hero. Marlowe is a detective who is loyal to his client and his client only. He possesses the qualities of an antihero who is not bound by the law, yet fights against the criminal underworld and works for justice in his own way. In the end he does not receive anything in return, except for the satisfact ion of completing his job. Similarly, Albert Camus describes the punishment of his hero, Sisyphus, who is condemned to roll a rock up a mountain for the rest of eternity. Regardless, he performs his task with neither hesitation nor contempt. Raymond Chandler depicts Philip Marlowe as a private eye who concurrently parallels the Sisyphean hero seen in his moment of consciousness when he takes charge of his fate through cogitation, to reveal that one possesses freedom of thought at every step. Both