\u201cSpade\u2019s yellow-grey eyes were somber. His face wooden, with a trace of sullenness around the mouth. Cario\u2019s face was twisted by pain and chagrin. There were tears in his dark eyes. His skin was the complexion of polished lead except where the elbow had reddened his cheek.\u201d (46)<\/p>\n
The deep contrast between Sam Spade and Joel Cairo displays a battle between masculinity and identity. Cairo exemplifies a character without masculinity. He shows emotion and that he can be defeated: \u201cchagrin. There were tears in his dark eyes\u201d(46). Tears show a sign of weakness but also present a degree of humanity. While Cairo may have first appeared to be in control his strength or \u201cpolished lead\u201d was merely a \u201ccomplexion\u201d(46). Spade was able to wipe away his painted mask and uncover Cairo\u2019s his true face. Without a mask, Cairo\u2019s personality is readable and gives him his own identity. Cairo\u2019s individuality is seen as negative because of its femininity and humanity.<\/p>\n
In order for Spade to continue to be seen as masculine, he must have a mask or make \u201chis face wooden\u201d(46). Feelings can be read as limitation and therefore are not seen by others. Hammett gives a glimpse of Spade\u2019s internal struggles of masculinity and identity through the description of \u201csullenness around the mouth\u201d and his \u201csomber\u201d eyes (46). Spade\u2019s yellow-grey eyes represent his pride of being in control but embody the animalistic personality of Spade. The eyes and mouth are the only evidence of sentiment. The image of Spade\u2019s mask is similar to that of the fat man: \u201chis face was a watchful-eyed smiling mask held up between his thoughts and Spade\u2019s\u201d(109). While the man begins to show his emotions he safeguards himself with a wall between Spade and himself. His eyes are the only evidence of feeling. \u00a0Although both men are showing strength, masculinity and control, the two characters are so similar they could be interchangeable. They hide behind a wall disguising their personalities and individualism. Hammett expresses that to be masculine means to be in control, to remain mysterious and lack a true identity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cSpade\u2019s yellow-grey eyes were somber. His face wooden, with a trace of sullenness around the mouth. Cario\u2019s face was twisted by pain and chagrin. There were tears in his dark eyes. His skin was the complexion of polished lead except where the elbow had reddened his cheek.\u201d (46) The deep contrast between Sam Spade and … Continue reading Connection Between Identity and Masculinity<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1773,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[70343,70347,1151,6786,70345],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dashiell-hammett","tag-detective","tag-identity","tag-masculinity","tag-sam-spade"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1773"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}