One may argue The Long Goodbye has a happy ending. That is, Marlowe revenged on the true killer of Sylvia Lennox and proved the innocence of Terry Lennox (to Marlowe himself, or a handful of others, that is). This saga of Marlowe's began with a friendship, and the friend "died", then Marlowe pursued justice and in the end, he made it. What's more, it turned out Terry did not actually die. What could have been a better ending for such a story?
Well, I would not consider the ending to be happy. To use Fitzgerald's language, Marlowe beat on to bear back ceaselessly into the past, but of course, no one could undo what happened. Terry Lennox has committed suicide, and his wife's body was not in full shape. Marlowe happened to have grown a liking to the killer and had to reveal her doings. Roger Wade died along the way. Much had changed and lost, and the Senor Maioranos standing in front of Marlowe simply did not make everything up. It becomes evident in the last chapter, that even though Terry came back, everything has changed. Marlowe, too, recognized it, and after a lukewarm chat, he sent Terry away.
My interpretation coincides with the title: Marlowe finished the goodbye with justice for the Lennoxes, and then it was time to move on.
The Wild Sheep Chase appears to have a comparably gloomy ending. To find the Sheep and the Rat, Boku lost his girlfriend, his business, and in the end, he lost his friend. However, I would argue this to be a happier ending than the one for The Long Goodbye. Marlowe went through the story for a cause--justice for Terry--and in the end, he had the justice, but the cause he almost lost (and one may argue that he did lose the cause). Boku did not have a cause from the beginning; rather, he found the cause along the way. Unlike Marlowe's loss, Buku had a trade-off between parts of his life and the goodness for all. From this perspective, Boku ended in a more appreciative position than Marlowe did.
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