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G_IN_THE_AIR

The 1941 film version of the
"Maltese Falcon" presents a
problem for the reader. 
         
   The translation between   
   novel and film is so exact 
   that the film sucks all   
   the meaning out of the    
   book.                     
                             
      It's difficult to read    
      "The Maltese Falcon" in   
      anything like the         
      originally intended way,  
      and there isn't much point
      in trying to.             
                                
                                
          Except: the film      
          skips a really        
          interesting           
          story-within-a-story, 
          the chapter           
          "G in the Air".      

   
    In this Chapter, Spade and O'Shaugnessy 
    are just waiting, and there's no obvious
    advancement of the main plot.  

    He starts telling her a story of one 
    of his old cases, for no apparent reason. 
    
    SPOILERS   
               
        Once you read this summary, 
        you may feel like I've sucked 
        the meaning out of this chapter.
                                  
  Spade was hired to find a man who    
  had disappeared mysteriously many
  years ago, walking out on his     
  wife and job, leaving his bank   
  account untouched.  Was he killed?
                      
  No. Spade finds the man,              He's named 
  and gets his story:                   Flitcraft, 
                                        and many fans 
    One day he was walking              seem to call 
    down the sidewalk passed            this "The 
    a construction site, and            Flitcraft      I prefer the  
    an accidentally dropped             Episode".      chapter name...
    girder crashed into the                            though just now 
    sidewalk next to him.                              it puzzles me.
                                                                    
    This near miss brings about                           Why the "G"?   
    a sudden transformation in                                            
    character, he feels like he's                         Maybe there's  
    suddenly learned something                            money in the 
    about life, and he can't just                         air, e.g.      
    go back to his old existence.                         thousands of 
                                                          dollars?           
    So he walks out, and begins anew.                     
                                                          Money raining 
    The part that Spade likes,                            down can be 
    though, is that if you look                           as hazardous 
    at his new life, it looks                             as girders 
    an awful lot like the old                             falling? 
    one with a few details                                         
    changed.                   
                                      
    Spade's conclusion: when
    girders were falling, he
    adapted to a world where
    girders were falling.
    When they stopped
    falling, he adapted back.
   
   

Obvious question:         
                          
   Why is he telling her    
   this story?                 
                            
   Why did Hammett engage in
   this excursion?          


When I was a kid, the theory
that I liked was that this
was Spade's manifesto for        RISK
"living dangerously".

  But why would he feel
  the need to explain
  himself?  For one thing, 
  if anything O'Shaugnessy 
  lives closer to the edge 
  than Spade does, and he 
  pretty much knows that.

     Maybe: he's trying to explain    
     to her one of the things he likes 
     about her.  They're two of a kind.

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