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Bernie Ohls
District attorney Wilde is an old friend of General Sternwood’s. Wilde puts Sternwood in contact with private detective Philip Marlowe when Arthur Gwynn Geiger blackmails the General. Marlowe used to work for Wilde before being “fired” for “insubordination.” Wilde turns a blind eye to the L.A. police’s neglect of duty and seeming incompetence, noting that juries ask “embarrassing questions” in a “vain effort” to get to the truth. Wilde keeps his friend Sternwood’s name out of the papers despite both of the General’s daughters being involved in repeated scandals. As such, he represents the failure of authority figures to protect America’s values, allowing moral decay to spread throughout the city.
Taggart Wilde Quotes in The Big Sleep
The The Big Sleep quotes below are all either spoken by Taggart Wilde or refer to Taggart Wilde. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 18
Quotes
“It’s obvious to anybody with eyes that that store is just a front for something. But the Hollywood police allowed it to operate, for their own reasons. I dare say the Grand Jury would like to know what those reasons are.” Wilde grinned. He said: “Grand Juries do ask those embarrassing questions sometimes—in a rather vain effort to find out just why cities are run as they are run.”
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Cops get very large and emphatic when an outsider tries to hide anything, but they do the same things themselves every other day, to oblige their friends or anybody with a little pull.
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I’ve done all my office permits—and maybe a good deal more—to save the old man from grief. But in the long run it can’t be done. Those girls of his are bound certain to hook up with something that can't be hushed, especially that little blonde brat. They ought not to be running around loose. I blame the old man for that.
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Taggart Wilde Quotes in The Big Sleep
The The Big Sleep quotes below are all either spoken by Taggart Wilde or refer to Taggart Wilde. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 18
Quotes
“It’s obvious to anybody with eyes that that store is just a front for something. But the Hollywood police allowed it to operate, for their own reasons. I dare say the Grand Jury would like to know what those reasons are.” Wilde grinned. He said: “Grand Juries do ask those embarrassing questions sometimes—in a rather vain effort to find out just why cities are run as they are run.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Cops get very large and emphatic when an outsider tries to hide anything, but they do the same things themselves every other day, to oblige their friends or anybody with a little pull.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I’ve done all my office permits—and maybe a good deal more—to save the old man from grief. But in the long run it can’t be done. Those girls of his are bound certain to hook up with something that can't be hushed, especially that little blonde brat. They ought not to be running around loose. I blame the old man for that.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
