“What is the matter?” he asked. “Has anything happened? You oughtn’t to be here at this time of night”. “ I am beginning to believe that she complained, you told me I oughtn’t to come to the office, and now I oughtn’t to come here. Do you mean I oughtn’t to chase after you?” p.59
When reading this passage I felt bad for Iva because she is making such an effort to reach out to Spade yet he is just playing her in return. In this situation, Brigid O’Shansouy is waiting inside for him and he is rushing off to her, which shows that he would rather be with her than Iva. I realized that there is also a lot of repetition in this passage, Spade says “ oughtn’t” a lot and she uses it against him. When Spade is asking her all these questions he is trying to seem sincere, but when she says “oughtn’t” she is rubbing in his face the fact that he is controlling. Spade is telling her she can’t do this or she cant do that and she is realizing that. Spade is trying to protect Iva and she rejects the protection and takes offense instead. Another repetition that I saw was when Spade continuously asks if anything is wrong and if she is ok. That shows that even if he has other priorities he may still have some feelings for her and that he does care.
I think this passage is really about this time period. It is a time period where the men have most rights and feel that they are superior to women. At the same time Spade is showing how he is playing women but also trying to look after them. Also it could be saying that there are gangs or other related violent people in that area or around late at night because Spade said “ you oughtn’t to be here at this time of night”. This is suggesting that women are the targets in an area like this, late at night and that she is not safe by herself. This also suggests that there isn’t much protection of police officers or other officials. This passage also gives a sense of mystery because it makes you curious as to what Iva had to tell him and why she keeps chasing him. There is something that is pulling her towards him and I think it is the sense of security that she feels when she is around him.
This connects to the book as a whole because throughout this book, Spade is distracted when talking to each person, and always has a lot on his mind. In this scene, the boy following them and his desire to return to Brigid O’Shansouy distracts Spade. Also throughout the book Iva shows a sense of jealousy over all of the women that Spade interacts with. She wants to be the one he chooses and his main priority and this shows that it’s upsetting her that she is not his main concern.
Spade seems to care more about getting information out of Iva over the fact of if she is truly ok or not. He lets her drive away and does not stop her and at the same time questions her intentions of being at his apartment. This connects to the book in general because when he does not let her in, she resorts to other things and lets her jealousy get the best of her. Throughout this book Iva is a character who needs someone to lean on while Spade is the strong character always in control of the situation and is the go to person.