Violence In Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon

From prehistory to 21st century, violence and warfare permeate human existence. Tribes, cities, and nations have pitted their youth against one another in hopes improving their position. However, these Soldiers regularly fall short of maximizing their killing potential. In the book On Killing, Dave Grossman scrupulously examines war throughout recent history; specifically the human element in killing. His thorough assessment of the psychological factors associated with homicide is vitally important to individuals who wish to successfully lead their Soldiers during and after combat. Its ultimate value clearly visible in light of four major facets: the background of the writer, the general points of the book, analysis of essential concepts, and the insight provided.

Everyone has natural desires: for wealth, for love, for power, and for some, violence. To those that desire violence, it might be only a curiosity. But depending on how they choose to fulfill this curiosity, is what determines whether it can be harmful or helpful. While some satisfy their curiosities by watching horror films which provide images of violence, others are more extreme, and commit murders and other harsh crimes in order to do so. Stephen King says, “keep the gators the fed”, but what is the limit to this idea? Yes, it is important to keep control of our desires so that they do not over run us, but we should not fully succumb to them. Due to the human condition, emotion is the fuel to our engines, so it is crucial to watch how

If human beings are a part of nature, it can be assumed that they too have violent tendencies; in that respect, violence is a natural and innate response. Though we pride ourselves on being able to control these urges, they are always lurking somewhere beneath the surface of our most serene and civilized moments.

In the discussion portion of the article the authors discuss the lowered reaction to the violent images in the video following the 20 minutes of violent video game stimulation. They also discuss the fact that results were quite dramatic across the different individuals and attitudes toward violence. They also give insight into their results and the implication of the GAM concerning the prevalence of lowered arousal levels to violence acts following the violent stimuli via video games. Using the GAM they discuss implications such as people’s lowered likeliness to respond a victim in a violent situation if they are not in an aroused state in the midst of the violent act.

     One popular theory suggests that many murderers are the product of our violent society. Our culture tends to approve of violence and find it acceptable, even preferable, in many circumstances (Holmes and DeBurger 27): According to research done in 1970, one out of every four men and one out of every six women believed that it was appropriate for a husband to hit his wife under certain conditions (Holmes and DeBurger 33). This emphasis on violence is especially prevalent in television programs. Violence occurs in 80 percent of all prime-time shows, while cartoons,

Sissela Bok opens a controversial topic on violence as entertainment which explores the effect of the increasing of violence both in fiction and in real life. Not only do films, television shows, and video games evidence an escalating level of graphic violence, but daily news of war and other human brutality are as bad as well. As less time pass on doing physical activities and an increase in using electronic devices as increases, particularly by teens, there is growing concern about a possible link between violence viewing content and actual behavior. Bok draws a balanced image, naming some possible benefits from violence. One of the benefits could be the redirection of human physical and verbal aggression and the confrontation of fears in

Dashiell Hammett who worked for a detective agency, wrote the novel The Maltese Falcon in 1929. In this novel the protagonist is a fictional character that Hammett created and named Sam Spade. Sam is a private detective hired by another character in the novel named Brigid O' Shaughnessy. Being a detective comes with many job responsibilities and being a private detective becomes even more complicated. In Hammett's novel there are many conflicts throughout his writing. Most conflicts have to do with Spade in some form considering he is the detective and also the protagonist. Are the conflicts in the story relating to Spade within himself; man versus self, or caused by another character; man versus man?

Violence does not just come out in a person; it has always been there inside them, waiting to be awoken. Violent Act factors that are going to be discussed are upbringing/environment, gender, and media through the three essays titled “The Ghetto Made Me Do It”, “Gender, Class, and Terrorism”, and “Columbine: Whose Fault is It?” Being motivated by emotional factors, we spend plenty of time speaking about violence and its influence on our brain. A reaction of violence might be the effect. Thankfully for civilization, we've adapted through genetics, and experiences the ability leave violence as a last resort. Beyond simply learning how to temper emotional reaction, we have more options for dealing with conflict. Some explanations as to why people

A recent study by the American Psychological Association showed that there is a direct relationship between the amount of violent media parents present to their children and the amount of aggressive behavior they will display later. Another study by the Psychiatric Times stated that the amount of violence shown regularly has become dangerous and unrealistic. As a society, we have become obsessed and infatuated with violence. Whether it be in action movies, or in studies about how harmful it is, we can 't stop thinking about it. Destruction is one of the significant issues impacting us today. Ray Bradbury starts his dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, with the following quote, “It was a special pleasure to see things

to about how it was not real, as if I could not distinguish fiction from

Another example of humanity’s struggle with violence theme happened when Kino killed a man in self-defense. Kino was caring and friendly; he would never intently mean to harm or kill anyone unless someone was bringing harm to him and the things that he loved. One night a “dark one” on the path attacked Kino as he was walking toward his brush hut. The “dark one” wanted Kino’s pearl and would do anything to get it. In return, Kino also wanted the pearl and would protect it at all cost. The following quote demonstrated the violent actions that resulted due to this attack, “He heard the rush, got his knife out and lunged at one dark figure and felt his knife go home” (59). Kino’s violent actions towards the dark figure revealed the theme of violence. This dark figure, who attacked, Kino wanted his most valuable possession and Kino was not going to give his pearl up for any reason. Kino protected what was his, his pearl. Kino felt he attacked the “dark one” in self-defense, but the way the town’s people thought it was different. Violence, once

Violence is one of the most necessary elements to life. It can be as vital as water, and as regenerating as a long deserved sleep. It is the ultimate balance to the human life. Violence is possibly one of the most perverted and tainted virtues that exists today. Like all values, there is a time and place for them. The hardest part of any virtue is its proper administration.

Violence has a tendency to attract people's attentions and produce a strong emotional reaction (Getting par. 4).

The history of human nature has been bloody, painful, and even destructive. Nonetheless, before understanding their environments humans used to kill each other based on their own mindset on the ideal of violence, and what it actually meant. Pinker describes narratives of violent acts from the past, that today are foreign to us. He gives us a tour of the historical human violence and how the violence in human nature has changed throughout time. The main idea from Pinker’s book,“The Better Angels of Our Nature ', is “for all the dangers we face today, the dangers of yesterday were even worse.” He provides its readers with explicit violent stories beginning from 8000 BCE to now, and describes how violence has evolved from a blood lost to more of a peaceful existence.

In this era of internet connectivity, access to an array of violent media stimuli is readily available. Scientific exploration of the effects of such exposure on real world violent behaviour carries potential ramifications for the safety of global communities. Media violence is understood here as stimuli that includes depictions of violence or calls to violent action and includes image, video, television and gaming. Violent behavior is defined as behavior causing emotional or physical harm expressed verbally or physically. Whilst there remains no causal proof for the