Comparing The Detective Perspective In Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon

The art of literature is held in the hands of authors, they hold the power to create a story and depict to their readers in any way they choose. Stories are like clay they can be made into a variety of objects, yet the way one chooses to shape the clay is the object someone perceives. The same can be told for the genre of mystery, authors often take on different perspectives that create unique ways of figuring out a mystery. In the novel, The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett writes from a detective’s perspective. This allows the reader to have knowledge of all the facts and read from an unbiased perspective. On the contrary in the novel, Defending Jacob, William Landay uses the perspective of a former lawyer whose son is indicted for murder.

Although both books handle complex mysteries the job of the narrator truly determines the way we think. The perspective from which a mystery is told can shape the way a reader perceives the story. The detective perspective in mysteries provides readers with a unique point of view. The story will present all the hard facts of a case, while detectives may have an intuition on who the criminal is, their method to solving a mystery is often unbiased. In the novel, The Maltese Falcon, the narrator, Sam Spade, was a private detective. Reading the story through his eyes allowed the reader to get all the facts of a case through, “plain speaking and clear understanding’”(Hammett 109). Spade did not display bias towards any particular character and ruled no one out as a suspect. This creates a credible source for the reader, which truly shapes the way one views a story. Often when reading mysteries readers hear stories from conflicting perspectives and often

Lawyers often shape a mystery that frames their prejudice opinion. This is evidently displayed in the novel, Defending Jacob, in which the story is told from a lawyer perspective. This Although this point of view is already biased the narrator, Andy, is also the father of the boy on trial. This causes the story to be told from the ultimate biased view. The information presented in the novel shapes the reader to be influenced into thinking a certain way. The readers are hidden from certain information and only learn the facts given by Andy. Throughout the novel Andy holds the belief that his son is “not going to kill anyone [and that] he didn't kill anyone”(Landay 375). Holding this belief causes Andy to have clouded judgement and stubborn faith in his son. As Jacob’s father, he cannot help but be on his son’s side. Placing him as the narrator creates an incredible source of information. The reader can never truly see both sides to the murder, rather the see reasons to why Jacob is innocent. Andy as a lawyer can understand the way the court case has to work, but the part of Andy “that was Jacob’s father felt cut, wounded. An emotion is a thought, yes, an idea, but it is also a sensation, and ache in your body. Desire, love, hate, fear, repulsion - [people] feel these things in [their] muscle and bones, not just in [their] mind”(Landay 212). This mystery is told by emotion