How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
A man named Joe Brody had received five thousand dollars from General Sternwood to stop playing with Carmen and find some other little girl to play with. It could be the same Joe Brody. I felt like giving odds on it. (10.22)
Blackmailing schemes abound in The Big Sleep. Marlowe lives in a world where everyone's out to make a quick buck and it doesn't care how they get it. It's interesting that Marlowe uses a gambling metaphor ("giving odds on it") in the last sentence. He feels that his chances are good that he has found the same Joe Brody. Gambling will later become another important sign of the corrupting influence of money.
Quote #5
"You don't put on much of a front," she [Vivian] said.
[…]
"Neither do the Pinkertons," I said. "You can't make much money at this trade, if you're honest. If you have a front, you're making money—or expect to." (11.10-12)
Marlowe's dedication to honest means that he doesn't expect to make much money. Only people who "put up a front" are well off, such as Geiger who fronts his porn racket as a bookstore. Are there any instances in the novel when money is used honestly? No seriously—we're asking.
Quote #6
She crossed her legs and lit another cigarette. "Yes, I like roulette. All the Sternwoods like losing games, like roulette and marrying men that walk out on them […]. The Sternwoods have money. All it has bought them is a rain check." (11.45)
Vivian is a pretty big gambler. She sounds slightly cynical here when she says that the only thing the Sternwoods' money has gotten them is a "rain check." She seems to be suggesting that their money doesn't actually buy them anything concrete. Their money only ensures that they'll get something at a future unknown date. Yeah it sounds pretty confusing and ambiguous to us, too. But her comment here makes more sense when we get to the end of the novel and realize that she's been trying to buy time. She needed time to cover up Rusty's murder so she bribed Eddie Mars to help her. Classy.