How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"This damned burg's getting me. If I don't get away soon I'll be going blood-simple like the natives. There's been what? A dozen and a half murders since I've been here. Donald Willsson; Ike Bush; the four wops and the dick at Cedar Hill; Jerry; Lew Yard; Dutch Jake; Blackie Whalen and Pat Collings at the Silver Arrow; Big Nick, the copper I potted; the blond kid Whisper dropped here; Yakima Shorty, old Elihu's prowler; and now Noonan. That's sixteen of them in less than a week, and more coming up." (20.18)
That's a lotta names, half of which we don't remember or haven't even heard of. What's the deal? Hammett seems to be intentionally trying to confuse us or throw us off with this proliferation of dead bodies. It's impossible to remember all their identities, so we become numb to the violence. Hammett might even be riffing off of the stereotypical "Who done it?" mystery, where instead of tracing a murder down to a single murderer, we can't keep track of who was killed or who did the killing.
Quote #8
"I've arranged a killing or two in my time, when they were necessary. But this is the first time I've ever got the fever. It's this damned burg. You can't go straight here. I got myself tangled at the beginning. When old Elihu ran out on me there was nothing I could do but try to set the boys against each other. I had to swing the job the best way I could. How could I help it if the best way was bound to lead to a lot of killing? The job couldn't be handled any other way without Elihu's backing." (20.22)
This is probably the only moment in the novel when the Op expresses actual feelings of regret for his role in starting all the violence. He tells Dinah how he could have chosen other methods, but that the "best" way involved a lot of killing. Do you buy this explanation? Has Personville poisoned the Op with bloodlust, or is he only making excuses for himself?
Quote #9
I was lying face down on the dining room floor, my head resting on my left forearm. My right arm was stretched straight out. My right hand held the round blue and white handle of Dinah Brand's ice pick. The pick's six-inch needle-sharp blade was buried in Dinah Brand's left breast. She was lying on her back, dead. (21.15)
Try to imagine that you're filming this scene and you're looking through the camera lens. First zoom in so that all you can see is the Op's head as he wakes up. Then move the camera slowly down along the Op's right arm and pause at his hand, which is holding a wooden handle. Then very slowly, move the camera along the handle until we realize that it's an ice pick, and trace the curve of the blade down to where it's buried in Dinah's chest. So what was the whole point of that visual exercise? Well, besides the fact that it's fun pretending to be a cameraman, the way Hammett builds up the suspense in this moment is masterful. We don't realize what is happening until the first last second when it dawns on the Op that Dinah is dead.