The Maltese Falcon

by Dashiell Hammett

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The Maltese Falcon Questions and Answers

Why did Brigid kill Archer?

In The Maltese Falcon, who are the murder victims throughout the book?

The Maltese Falcon centers on detective Sam Spade, a character almost as elusive as the falcon itself. What aspects of his personality remain mysterious? Which of his choices retain their ambiguity?

What happened to Joel Cairo? At the end of The Maltese Falcon the police arrest Wilmer Cook, Joel Cairo, Rhea Gutman, and Brigid O'Shaughnessy. Gutman has been killed by Wilmer. Brigid will go to San Quentin. Wilmer will be hanged. Gutman's daughter will undoubtedly be released. Will Joel Cairo be tried for any crime? If so, what? If not, would anyone care to speculate about what became of him?

Why is Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon an antihero under the film noir formula?

In The Maltese Falcon, is the falcon a symbol?  What does it symbolize?  Does the falcon have a different meaning for different characters?

In The Maltese Falcon, how did the ship named La Paloma catch fire?

Discuss Spade and his relationship with women in The Maltese Falcon.

What's the most convincing evidence that Brigid O'Shaughnessy killed Miles Archer?

Did Sam love Brigid in The Maltese Falcon?

Is there any evidence of otherness/racism anywhere throughout The Maltese Falcon?

Are there any significant differences between the novel The Maltese Falcon and the 1941 John Houston movie The Maltese Falcon?

Summarize Chapters 1 and 2 of The Maltese Falcon.

In The Maltese Falcon, is Sam Spade in any real danger of being hanged?

Discuss Wilmer Cook's motivation.

In The Maltese Falcon, what ways do the three female characters both transgress and adhere to traditional notions of femininity?

Describe Sam Spade's clothes.

How does Dashiell Hammett compare Iva and Effie in The Maltese Falcon?

How do Sam Spade and Brigid work together in The Maltese Falcon?

What social themes are present in John Huston's film version of The Maltese Falcon?  Does the film lean left or right, politically?  

Why did the author write the book The Maltese Falcon? What is the author trying to prove?

How is Joel Cairo persistent in the book The Maltese Falcon?

Are Sam Spade's actions in the novel's final scene consistent with his character? What would you have done in his place?

In The Maltese Falcon, on what subject does Gutman give Spade a history lesson? 

In Dashiell Hammett's novel The Maltese Falcon, how does Sam Spade seem selfish?

In the end of the story, Spade has to go back to dealing with Iva. They left this out in the movie. What difference does this make?

What are examples of greed and selfishness in The Maltese Falcon?

In John Huston's movie version of Dashiell Hammet's The Maltese Falcon, which episode from the book was not filmed?

How would you compare Dashiell Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon" with Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep"--the books or the movies, or both? 

What are Joel Cairo's and Brigid O'Shaughnessy's involvement in the plot and what do they want Spade to discover?

In the movie The Maltese Falcon is Spade good at his job?

Who was Joel working for originally in The Maltese Falcon? Did he collude with Brigid and Floyd to help steal the falcon? Brigid mentions she would have liked to have seen Joel go back to his former boss (implying Gutman) but then is surprised that Gutman is in town. If he was actually referring to him, wouldn’t he know this? 

How does this novel relate to the concept of Horace’s dual function of art?

How is Spade's distrust of power manifested in his actions in "The Maltese Falcon"? How important is distrust as an aspect of his character?

How is Tom Paulhaus Sam Spade's friend and confidant?

What is a good way to summarize chapter 10 of The Maltese Falcon?

What's a "newsie"?

In Dashiell Hammett's novel The Maltese Falcon, how did Brigid O'Shaughnessy expect Floyd Thursby to be caught? Brigid wanted Thursby to be suspected of killing Miles Archer because his gun would be found at the murder scene--but how did she expect the police to know it was Thursby's gun or even that he was in San Francisco? How would they know where to find him in San Francisco?

What is The Maltese Falcon about and who are the main characters? What imagery comes to mind after reading the first two chapters?

What is a common argument for this book? Is money really that important to make you lose track of what is morally right and can same be trusted? 

Characterize Sam Spade.

What does Spade drink to seal his deal with Gutman?

Can someone help me with surface and depth in The Maltese Falcon?

How is the theme of hope displayed in this book? (In more than one way.)

Somerset Maugham once criticized the plot of The Maltese Falcon as follows: In The Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade, the detective, pins the murder of Archer on Brigid O'Shaughnessy by pointing out to her that she is the only person who could have committed it, whereupon she loses her presence of mind and admits it. If she hadn't done this, but had coolly answered "Prove it," he would have been nonplussed, and in any case had she got Perry Mason, Erle Stanley Gardner's astute lawyer, to defend her, no jury would have convicted her on the flimsy evidence which was all that Spade had to produce. Was Somerset Maugham right?

Should this book be part of the canon of American literature? If so, is it due to the theme, conflict, and/or American society?

How does this book relate to the theme "in order to succeed, one also must lose?" How can this book relate to this theme about American society?

Although the reader is never privy to the thoughts of Hammett's characters, what might the falcon symbolize to each of them based on their actions?

What aspects of humanity are being critiqued? How ? and Why? 

What are the values of crime fiction in The Maltese Falcon?