\n
\u201cSpade was immobile in his chair until the fat man, with a flourish and a bow and a jocular \u2018Ah, sir, this kind of medicine will never hurt you!\u2019 had handed him his refilled glass. \u00a0Then Spade rose and stood close to the fat man, looking down at him, and Spade\u2019s eyes were hard and bright. \u00a0He raised his glass. \u00a0His voice was deliberate, challenging: \u2018Here\u2019s to plain speaking and clear understanding.\u2019\u201d(108-109)<\/p>\n
The dichotomy of Spade and the fat man\u2019s behavior towards each other creates a greater understanding of Spade\u2019s true self; he is almost always in control of his surroundings. \u00a0Although it could be said that, in his interactions with the fat man, Spade is not in control of the situation, but the truth of the matter is that Spade is so far in his element that he was able to control the outcome of this encounter. \u00a0Spade\u2019s \u201chard and bright\u201d eyes, in contrast to the fat man\u2019s \u201ccaution\u201d(108) filled eyes, give away the fact that he is the one with the upper hand, even if the fat man has the information that Spade desires. His \u201cdeliberate\u201d and \u201cchallenging\u201d toast is one example of how he is able to hold the power when confronted with a strange environment and someone of whom he has no prior knowledge. When Spade smashes the glass out of anger later on in the conversation, he seems to have forfeited his authority; this is not true, as he reveals his bluff in the elevator while leaving. \u00a0Spade created this ruse in order to fool the fat man into believing that he (the fat man) had control, further demonstrating his mastery of everything around him. \u00a0As a detective, Spade must always have a firm grasp on his surroundings and even the smallest slip up could throw a case astray; Spade\u2019s ability to make cold, calculated decisions in times where he is not in control initially gives him the capability of turning any interaction seemingly weighted against him into a an ideal situation for him. \u00a0It is this power that makes Spade a good detective; if he were not able to take charge in unsavory situations, then he would not have made it past Joel Cairo\u2019s attempt to rob him. \u00a0His command of his surroundings are the reason why he always comes out on top, because he does not allow anyone to dominate him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cSpade was immobile in his chair until the fat man, with a flourish and a bow and a jocular \u2018Ah, sir, this kind of medicine will never hurt you!\u2019 had handed him his refilled glass. \u00a0Then Spade rose and stood close to the fat man, looking down at him, and Spade\u2019s eyes were hard and … Continue reading 2<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1780,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216","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\/1780"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fysdetective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}