This isn’t a story of a noble hero fighting against overwhelming odds. The other thing that strikes me is that, though Spade is continually emphasised as being physically larger, stronger and more threatening than any of the other characters, he is nonetheless on no more than an equal footing with them, and in certain situations at a considerable disadvantage. The opening description of Spade – all those evil “v’s” – as well as frequent mention of him being a “blonde satan” and his general misbehaviour (he seems to commit pretty much all of the seven deadly sins, besides being highly obnoxious in general, particularly to women) would suggest if anything that he’s a fallen angel, but by the end of the story I’d argue his actions and in particular his closing monologue suggest otherwise.
Reading Group contributor Nilpferd provided a neat summary: There is a value system in the book, a sense of right and wrong, but no one sticks close to it. One of the things that most fascinated me about The Maltese Falcon is its morality. I could go on (and please do add other quality moments below the line), but I’m even more interested in the harder long answers. Spade’s arms went around her, holding her to him, muscles bulging his blue sleeves, a hand cradling her head, its fingers half lost among red hair, a hand moving groping fingers over her slim back. The way Hammett can beat the hell out of English:
Spade slapped the mouth, cutting the lower lip. (Nothing, except, as John Huston made Spade say in the film, “the stuff that dreams are made on”.) The quantity and quality of the zingers: “When you’re slapped you’ll take it and like it.” The unflinching brutality:Ĭairo tried to spit in Spade’s face, but the dryness of Levantine’s mouth made it only an angry gesture.
The brilliance of a plot where everyone is potentially guilty, and it turns out that nothing is at stake. The aforementioned and mighty powerful prose. But while it’s possible to have gripes – and it may even be easy to dislike a book with such strong and distinctive flavours – it’s harder to argue against its classic status.Ī more profitable question might be: what makes it so fascinating so many years after it was written? What gives it such enduring power? A few Reading Group contributors have been asking searching questions about Hammett’s portrayal of women, and Sam Spade gives off a whiff of homophobia that hasn’t aged as well as Hammett’s slick, muscular prose.
Of course, the novel isn’t to everyone’s taste.
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