--- Eric Chambers <
nqexile@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
> Kevin Burton Smith wrote,
>
> > The belief that there is a "dingus"
> > handed down from the Knights of Malta,
encrusted
> in
> > jewels covered with lacquer, is fanciful.
Killing
> > people to get hold of it, is
psychotic.
>
> Fanciful? It is a work of fiction, after
all.
>
> And it is never suggested in the novel or
the
> films that the real
> statuette doesn't exist in the FICTIONAL world
that
> they depict.
> Merely that the bird in hand at the end of
the
> story is a fake, which
> gives the ending a rather noirish
poignancy.
******************************************************* I'd
say it's strongly suggested by Spade anyway that he doesn't
buy into Gutman's story at all. When Effie says, "The part
about the bird is thrilling." Spade counters, "Or
ridiculous," or words to that effect. People who kill each
other over buried treasure are not well, just like gamblers
who murder each other. It doesn't really matter if a jewel
encrusted statuette lies hidden in some Greek grotto. This is
a work of fiction that explores a certain type of mental
illness. It's very close to Charles Manson and his race war
as a motive for mass murder.
Patrick King
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