Character Analysis
The Big Lebowski is a millionaire businessman who lost the use of his legs in the Korean War and is wheelchair-bound as a result. He claims to have overcome his challenges and achieved great things, like founding a charity to help disadvantaged urban youth do the same. Although at first glimpse he appears to be a powerful and wealthy man with a sexy, young wife, he's eventually revealed to be a liar and a cheat, scamming The Dude and stealing from his late wife's charity. He uses The Dude as a pawn in his game to unload his spendthrift wife.
The Big Lebowski is pretty full of himself. He claims to be a stickler for personal responsibility and has nothing but contempt for people like The Dude:
BIG LEBOWSKI: My wife is not the issue here. I hope that my wife will someday learn to live on her allowance, which is ample, but if she doesn't, sir, that will be her problem, not mine, just as your rug is your problem, just as every bum's lot in life is his own responsibility regardless of whom he chooses to blame. I didn't blame anyone for the loss of my legs, some Chinaman in Korea took them from me, but I went out and achieved anyway. I can't solve your problems, sir, only you can.
For all of his bluster about being an "achiever," Big's a crook, stealing a million bucks from his charity and setting up The Dude for a world of pain by framing him for stealing it. His charitable work is just to make himself seem important; he's got pictures of himself and various important people hanging all over the walls of his mansion. Fact is, he didn't achieve anything. The money is his wife's, and he's not even able to manage it, according to his daughter, Maude.
He pretends to be distraught about Bunny's disappearance:
LEBOWSKI: Bunny Lebowski ... She is the light of my life. Are you surprised at my tears, sir?
But he deliberately chooses The Dude to handle the ransom delivery because he thinks he's a loser and will screw up the whole thing. He really doesn't want Bunny to be found.
The last we see of Big is after Walter confronts him about being a phony and threatens to "kick [his] phony, goldbricking ass." Walter thinks the handicap thing is phony, too, and dumps the Big Lebowski out of his wheelchair. Oops—that part is real. As Big lies on the floor flailing about, he bursts into tears:
BIG LEBOWSKI: Stay away from me! You bullies! You and these women! You won't leave a man his f***ing balls!
Now, we get it: Big's carefully constructed persona is just a cover for a guy who feels insecure and fearful. He's met his match in Walter and The Dude. We're sure his earlier words have come back to haunt him:
BIG LEBOWSKI: The bums will always lose—do you hear me, Lebowski? THE BUMS WILL ALWAYS—
Lose.
The Big Lebowski's Timeline