The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

1. Of the three women in the book--Brigid, Effie Perine, and Iva Archer--are any fully realized, or are perhaps all three, as stereotypes, three sides of one woman? As a stereotype, what does each woman represent? What does Spade mean, and what does it say about Spade, when he tells Effie, "You're a damned good man, sister."

I don’t think that Spade was necessarily drawn into Brigid, I don’t think that he believed her or even trusted her. He admitted he knew that Brigid was just trying to seduce him to have him stop asking questions, but he figured he’d get some free lov’n in anyways. And I think we all know she didn’t love him; she just knew she could get whatever guy she wanted. Her stereotype must be women can use their bodies to get and do anything they want; that’s a woman’s job, to look good.

I am so confused about his relationship with Iva. I think he is just playing Iva and never really loved her and he is in trouble now that Miles is gone. I think Iva is just love sick for Spade and is quite pathetic about it. I think her stereotype is that women are desperate about men and need them to constantly reassure them, also, that women and super jealous and spiteful.

This is where, of course, I like Effie best. I think she really likes Spade, but she isn’t love sick about it. She has a good, strong head on. The situation reminds me of a lot of “chick flicks.” There is some guy who has an awesome girl “best friend,” but the guy just likes sleeping around with exciting, glamorous girls, but he always goes back to the best friend. I wish they could hook up and Spade could be faithful to her. I think that her stereotype is women can be independent and smart and resourceful. Effie might not seem like a powerful character to us 21st century gals (we might think she is letting herself be a doormat), but I think she was someone to look up to in 1930. She could be considered a real strong feminist type. She didn’t need to be glamorous or needy; she could take care of herself and still enjoy a good relationship with Spade.

2. A blatant stereotype is Joel Cairo: "This guy is queer" [p. 42], Effie informs Spade when the perfumed Cairo comes to the office. Is a homosexual character effective or necessary in the plot? Would he be as effective without sterotyping? Why do you think Hammett created him?

Ummm…. this went completely over my head. I didn’t pick up on the fact that he was supposed to be gay. Oops! I thought that when they kept referring to the smell of his hankies it was going to be important to solving the case later on. And I thought everybody had hankies back then (maybe not silk and colorful, but I thought that just referred to his expensive tastes). I thought when he kept whispering to that boy it was because he was trying to plan something with him, like a getaway. I guess I’m just too innocent for that stuff :)

I am not sure what the purpose was. I think it could have been entertaining, they were probably a lot crueler about guys back then. Also maybe being guy was something that was coming out more in society back then, so it was novel. Maybe it was just that Hammett was trying to make the story realistic or maybe he worked on a case with a gay guy and he was using that guy as a basis for this character. Who knows, I don’t think there is an obvious answer to why.

Hammett’s favorite character was probably Spade, which is probably obvious. Hammett probably saw Spade as his super ego: a really cool guy, who’s super tough, not afraid of danger and gets all the women. What guy wouldn’t want to be Sam?

3. When Spade returns to the office in the last scene, Effie does not greet him with her usual verve. What has happened to the breezily affectionate bond between them? What is Effie's relationship to Brigid? Will Effie forgive Spade, or do we not know enough about her to make predictions?

This was most confusing. I think maybe Effie wanted Spade to be true to his client. Brigid is the one that hired him so maybe he should be or her side no matter what. But maybe she was hurt that he hadn’t listened to her “intuition.” I think Hammett is making fun of how women trust their intuition. I think Effie will forgive him; she doesn’t seem like the grudge holding type.

4. Though it was written more than 75 years ago, The Maltese Falcon is still quite possibly the best-known crime mystery novel in the world. Penned by American writer Dashiell Hammett, it features one of the most famous and oft-imitated private eye of all time - the flinty-eyed, hard-boiled Sam Spade. The Times Literary Supplement says The Maltese Falcon is "the best detective story ever and an exceedingly well written novel." Do you agree or disagree? Did it live up to your expectations?

I am sorry to say that it didn’t live up to my expectations, but maybe they were too high. The copy of my book said that Hammett worked for Pinkerton’s Detective Agency, so I was really excited, this guy knows what he is talking about: he lived it. Here are some reasons I was disappointed.

1. If you mail something after 5 pm on a Saturday is it really going to be in your mail box by 8 am on a Sunday? Seriously? Did the post office use to work on Sundays? Even so it still takes 1 day lag time in 2011 for a letter to travel in a city. This seemed a bit of a stretch, and so easily fixed, just change the days.

2. Captain Jacobi really got into a cab and found his way to Spade’s office before dying with 4 bullet holes. What about the cab driver, wouldn’t he have been all like ummm shouldn’t I drive you to the hospital?

3. What did Sam and his lawyer go and do that one time to cover something or fix something up? We were never told?

4. Why didn’t Miles and Iva get divorced, they would sometimes start to say something but then Spade would jump in and cut them off, so that we never knew. I figured that it meant that it was important to the story, but we never found out.

5. Why did Spade take the 1000 bill, but then hand it over to the police?

I do think, however, that this is an important novel and must be the basis of modern detective stories. Sam Spade is definitely the tough guy detective that takes risks and walks about acting like he knows what’s going on, when really he is clueless, but pulls it all together at the last second. I like that!