How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"He ought to know what a swell chance he's got of hanging a one-legged rap like that on me."
"He's not figuring on proving anything in court," I said.
"No?"
"You're to be knocked off resisting arrest, or trying to make a getaway. He won't need much of a case after that." (6.66)
The Op explains to Whisper that he better watch out because Noonan wants to pin Tim's murder on Whisper. What does this say about the effectiveness of both the police force and the legal system if an innocent man can be imprisoned and convicted of a crime he didn't commit? Nothing good.
Quote #2
"Just because a man's chief of police doesn't mean he's chief. Maybe you're a lot of trouble to somebody that can be a lot of trouble to me. Don't make any difference if I think you're a right guy. I got to play with them that play with me." (12.87)
Noonan admits to the Op that it's all about the "game." To avoid being played for a sucker, you have to be the one pulling the strings. So Noonan might think that the Op is a pretty nice guy, but he still won't let his guard down. Why is Hammett's portrayal of the police force so cynical? Does Noonan have any redeeming qualities?
Quote #3
"It's Noonan you chiefly want, isn't it? Well, if you'll be a nice darling and lay off Max this time, I'll give you enough on Noonan to nail him forever." (13.12)
Dinah is trying to sell information on Noonan to the Op. What's Dinah's role in this world of cutthroat, dishonest men? How does she bend or play with the rules to get what she wants?
Quote #4
"Play with murder enough and it gets you of two ways. It makes you sick, or you get to like it. It got Noonan the first way. He was green around the gills after Yard was knocked off, all the stomach gone out of him, willing to do anything to make peace." (20.25)
The Op explains to Dinah that all the bloodshed is starting to get to Noonan. Does this mean that we're starting to see a sympathetic side to the corrupt cop? Has Noonan broken so many rules and killed off so many people that he's finally experiencing feelings of guilt and regret? Maybe. Or maybe not.
Quote #5
I wondered if the little gambler had done it, or if this was another of the wrong raps that Poisonville police chiefs liked to hang on him. It didn't seem to make much difference now. It was a cinch he had – personally or by deputy – put Noonan out, and they could only hang him once. (22.42)
The Op is referring here to Whisper and whether he had killed Noonan. We almost feel sorry for Whisper because the police keep trying to hang "wrong raps" on him. Where do your sympathies lie? Do you think the police are more at fault for taking advantage of their position of power, or do you think the criminals already get away with too many crimes and deserve whatever punishment comes their way?
Quote #6
I was making one of my favorite complaints – that newspapers were good for nothing except to hash things up so nobody could unhash them. (23.80)
As if it weren't already bad enough to find dishonest policemen running Personville, the Op also complains about the corruption of the media. Elihu owns all the newspapers in town and can control what gets printed. Not much freedom of the press in this neighborhood.
Quote #7
"You're the damndest client I ever had. What do you do? You hire me to clean town, change your mind, run me out, work against me until I begin to look like a winner, then get on the fence, and now when you think I'm licked again, you don't even want to let me in the house. […] I'm not licked, old top. I've won. You came crying to me that some naughty men had taken your little city away from you. Pete the Finn, Lew Yard, Whisper Thaler, and Noonan. Where are they now? Yard died Tuesday morning, Noonan the same night, Whisper Wednesday morning, and the Finn a little while ago. I'm giving your city back to you whether you want it or not." (26.36)
The Op calls Elihu Willsson out on his hypocrisy in one of their meetings together. Having succeeded in getting the rival gang members to kill each other off, the Op returns Personville back to Elihu, all cleaned up. But what the Op doesn't tell Elihu is how many rules he had to break in order to accomplish this goal. As readers, we're left wondering whether or not the Op feels at all responsible for the deaths that occurred.
Quote #8
"You're going to tell the governor that your city police have got out of hand, what with bootleggers sworn in as officers, and so on. You're going to ask him for help – the national guard would be best." (26.40)
The Op orders Elihu to re-establish order in Personville by replacing the entire police force and bringing in the National Guard. What are the chances that the National Guard will be able to reinstate law and order in the city? Does Hammett leave us with a hopeful image of Personville's future or a bleak one?
Quote #9
I spent most of my week in Ogden trying to fix up my reports so that they would not read as if I had broken as many Agency rules, state laws and human bones as I had. […] I might just as well have saved the labor and sweat I had put into trying to make my report harmless. They didn't fool the Old Man. He gave me merry hell. (27.94)
The Op finally admits to us that he recognizes how many rules and regulations he had broken. But we don't sense any remorse here. He's actually trying to cover up all the ways in which he twisted the law. His belief in the code that the end justifies the means raises an interesting moral dilemma. Did the Op break the law in order to uphold the law? Or is he just trying to let himself off the hook?
Quote #10
[Mickey] told me that Reno was dead, that I was no longer officially a criminal, that most of the First National Bank stick-up loot had been recovered, that MacSwain had confessed killing Tim Noonan, and that Personville, under martial law, was developing into a sweet-smelling and thornless bed of roses. (27.96)
Dare we say that we detect a note of irony in the closing words of this sentence? It seems likely that the Op is being sarcastic when he says that Personville is becoming a "sweet-smelling, thornless bed of roses." On the one hand, the gangsters are all dead so in theory Personville should be spick and span now. But on the other hand, the cynicism that pervades the novel makes it difficult to believe that the Op really means what he's saying.