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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Brigid offer Spade?

2. Why does Spade he kisses Brigid?

3. Where does Dundy hit Spade?

4. How does Brigid react to Spade's declaration that he met Cairo?

5. How does Spade get to the murder site?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does horse feathers mean in terms of the eighth chapter?

2. How does SPade react to hearing his partners death in the second chapter?

3. What happens when Spade returns to his apartment in the second chapter?

4. Describe the story Spade tells Brigid at the beginning of the seventh chapter?

5. How does Spade react to seeing the young man in the tenth chapter?

6. How does Hammett use characters names to symbolize their function?

7. In what way does Brigid show her desperation for Spade services in the sixth chapter?

8. How does Spade react to Iva's apology in the eleventh chapter?

9. What message does Miss Wonderly leave for Spade in the second chapter?

10. Why does Gutman want to keep Spade on his good side in the seventeenth chapter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the novel's dialogue. How does Hammett's dialogue contribute to the following areas:

1) Character

2) Setting

3) Plot

Essay Topic 2

The Maltese Falcon is part of the crime genre.

1) What are the conventions of the The Maltese Falcon genre in terms of character, language and plot?

2) In what way did The Maltese Falcon help to set the template for similar crime novels? Do modern crime novels still use the ideas used in The Maltese Falcon?

Essay Topic 3

Identify the main themes of the story. Why do you think these themes are so important to the story? How does Hammett use character and setting to express these themes?

(see the answer keys)

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