Week 13 Analysis: Close Reading on The Maltese Falcon

This week I will be doing a close reading on a paragraph of Chapter 10 in "The Maltese Falcon" by Dashiell Hammett. This section not only says a lot about the descriptive narration typical of crime novels, but also is great representation of the expertise and tediousness of detectives while also emphasizing what kind of person we are made to assume that Sam is. Below is the paragraph I will be analyzing today:

"In the girl’s apartment he switched on all the lights. He searched the place from wall to wall. His eyes and thick fingers moved without apparent haste, and without ever lingering or fumbling or going back, from one inch of their fields to the next, probing, scrutinizing, testing with expert certainty. Every drawer, cupboard, cubbyhole, box, bag, trunk—locked or unlocked—was opened and its contents subjected to examination by eyes and fingers. Every piece of clothing was tested by hands that felt for telltale bulges and ears that listened for the crinkle of paper between pressing fingers. He stripped the bed of bedclothes. He looked under rugs and at the under side of each piece of furniture. He pulled down blinds to see that nothing had been rolled up in them for concealment. He leaned through windows to see that nothing hung below them on the outside. He poked with a fork into powder and cream-jars on the dressing-table. He held atomizers and bottles up against the light. He examined dishes and pans and food and food-containers. He emptied the garbage-can on spread sheets of newspaper. He opened the top of the flush-box in the bathroom, drained the box, and peered down into it. He examined and tested the metal screens over the drains of bathtub, wash-bowl, sink, and laundry-tub."

As Brigid lays asleep in Sam's bed after what seems like a love-affair, he sneaks over to her apartment to search for the Maltese Falcon or at least a clue revealing where the Falcon could be. He takes extra care to fully analyze the apartment and tried to be as frugal with his search as possible.

From this we see the level of expertise Sam Spade has in terms of his detective work. he inch was checked and e left nothing for chance. He even checked the makeup jars, probing them with a jar. Not only is this a great depiction of detective work shown in many crime-related films and novels, but the writing of which is typical as well. The long, and well explained sentences match the tedious and lengthy works detectives do in investigating. The narrator becomes very descriptive during this part of the chapter and imagery plays a big role.

In terms of Sam as a character, we do know that he is a highly rated detective and we can see that in this scene. After reviewing the scene as a whole however, we are left to assume that Spade is extremely monetarily incline. Initially, Brigid, a.k.a. Miss Wonderly *alias name*, comes in as a client and pays Spade to monitor Thursby, and even  after realizing her story was false, pretended to go along with it for the money. Now, after being given a chance to receive $5,000 for the Maltese Falcon, he not only turns against Brigid, but he begins to use her, pretending to build trust and a sexual relationship so that he can gain information. It is because of which I currently am coining him as a "bad cop." Its a struggle for me to think that only because with the novel's background information, we find that Hammett created Spade's character as the fictional representation of the perfect detective that everyone strives for. Because of this, it is hard to think that detectives strive only for money and not what is just and right. I understand that detectives want to be clean with their work and not miss any details, but I'm not sure if being selfish is a characteristic that they possess. Then again, this is told in third person, so perhaps *and I hope* he isn't a bad cop, and that us as readers are just missing some information.

While this section is narration typical of crime and detective works and depicts the frugality of investigations and detectives themselves, it also gives readers an idea of Spade, and his *seemingly* true inner motivation.




Works Cited: 
“The Maltese Falcon.” The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett, Vintage Books, a Division of Random House, Inc., 1989, p. 90.