The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon was another interesting read. I had heard of the movie version before but have never seen it. The story starts off right in the middle of the action and gives very little exposition or build up to the characters in the story. The story starts with the character know as "Spade." The story jumps right in with Spade talking to another character Cairo about paying Spade to follow a woman around. They have a small chat and Spade eventually returns to hits apartment where the next character, Brigid, is waiting for him. They also chat and it turns out that Brigid has also hired Spade to help her. Context clues suggest that Spade is some sort of bodyguard or private investigator that will help people out if they pay him. Brigid and Spade leave the apartment and go to meet with Cairo. What made this story more enchanting was it's use of imagery and the setting. Being a frequenter of San Francisco lines that set up the imagery like "Herbert's Grill on Powell Street" helps me visually the story more because I know where and what Powell Street looks like. Overall this story has a dark and eerie to it. The characters talk with such a dry and serious tone that whenever I try to envision the characters a black and white scene like something out of Casablanca comes to mind. The complete blandness of the characters, and the delivery in their lines that show just how hollow and devoid the characters are makes me more intrigued in to their characters. The nonchalant delivery of words like " just wanted to know, because if he gets to be a nuisance I may have to hurt him" and "That's good. There goes the curtain. Good night." from characters like Spade give shows his characteristics, mostly as someone who is a worker and puts his job first before his humanity. I think characters like Spade are hard to portray, because instead of making the character seems cold you could make the argument that the author just is not a good writer. This is not the case, and I think the author is able to bring his characters to life because Hammett was an investigator, and he knows the inner working of the trade. I did enjoy this writing and I hope to read more like it in the future
Hi Jaylen!
ReplyDeleteI like your use of context clues and recognition of the writers tone. I think the imagery is what makes this story come to life, as someone who knows San Fran, it changes the depth of the story if you can imagine it. I think the complexity of the Characters is supposed to reflect that of the San Fran residents, and how different each one of them are because of the diverse population. People travel from all around to San Fran, it's interesting to see this portrayed in writing.
Hey Jaylen! The character's speech was very different. It reminds me of the TransAtlantic speech they had back in the 30s and 40s. I feel like our speech is more fluid and less rushed in comparison. The clip of story we were given to read was dark! The whole movie was dark as well. I liked that you pointed out the setting. Isn’t it strange to think that the streets we walk in SF are some of the same streets that people have been walking for so many years, a lifetime ago?
ReplyDeleteHi Jaylen, thank you for you analysis! I too was picturing this story in black and white while reading it, and was also able to better imagine the scenes from being familiar with the city. I did not even know this was made into a movie, so I am glad that you mentioned that! Although this story was very dark, it was also intriguing and the fact that we weren't able to read the whole thing and come to a resolution made it all the more intriguing. I hope to someday read the full story and/or watch the movie!
ReplyDeleteHi Jaylen,
ReplyDeleteyour analysis was great. This was an amazing over view of what the story was about and your understanding of it was really helpful and tied everything together. I didn't know that this was a movie so that was interesting and I liked how you mentioned that this story reminded you about Casa Blanca and I totally agree. That actually made it make more sense and gave me a clearer view of an understanding. Thank you!
Hi Jaylen Thanks for your analysis. I also had chosen Maltese Falcon as my analysis. We both ended up discussing imagery and descriptiveness in ours, however i like that you also mentioned to mood to be "dark and eerie". Mood and tone plays a significant role in how the characters act in this story, so i think it was a good idea for you to mention it. Maybe next time you can elaborate more on a few different literary devices. I would have liked to hear more about the tone and mood in your analysis. Good job so far!
ReplyDelete-April