Reading Notes W14: The Maltese Falcon Part A

• Spade is given a few one-thousand dollar bills
• This is cool because it shows the different bills that were used
• Cairo is upset for betraying Wilmer.
• Thursby was killed by Wilmer
• Spade told Brigid that he is turning her into the police for the murder

Topic Brainstorm

Topic 7: Choose a reading selection. Explore the relationship between elements of the selection.

I think this would be really interesting because I always love to see how different elements of a story connect and influence one another. In the past, I've had to read a lot of novels for different English classes and we would always look at this specific idea of how the relationship between different elements of the story. I hope to learn about how a specific setting or plot could really influence different characters in the way the develop.

Topic 1: Compare and contrast elements of two different texts.

This topic seems interesting because I think it would be a lot of fun to compare a couple texts' different plots. I think it would be neat to see their similarities and differences, and if they possibly line up or are completely different. In high school, I had AP English and we would do a lot of comparing and contrasting to a few different texts or excerpts. I really hope to learn how to distinguish the differences in a few different stories' plot without having to really dive deep into both of their plots, so I feel like this topic would really help with that.

Topic 4: Choose a reading selection. Then choose one of the following questions, and write an argument in response to it: 

• How does the work reflect the period in which it was written? 
• What does the work reveal about the cultural behavior contemporary to it? 
• How are class differences presented in the work? Are characters aware or unaware of the economic and social forces that affect their lives? 

I really like this topic because I could use my interest in history to be able to write a piece that could definitely explain how the reading is definitely perfect for it. Plus, if I were to pick this topic I think that the novel that I am reading would be a perfect match especially because of the dialogue used in it. I hope to find out how the novel would fit one of the questions above.
 

Week 13 Analysis: Close Reading of The Maltese Falcon

For this week I did a close reading from "The Maltese Falcon" and I chose a very interesting excerpt that'll really add to the imagery of the story.

"Spade's face became pale and hard. He spoke rapidly in a low furious voice: 'Think again and think fast. I told that punk of yours that you'd have to talk to me before you got through. I'll tell you now that you'll do your talking today or you are through. What are you wasting my time for? You and your lousy secret! Christ! I know exactly what the stuff is that they keep in the subtreasury vaults, but what good does that do me? I can get along without you. God damn you! Maybe you could have got along without me if you'd kept clear of me. You can't now. Not in San Francisco. You'll come in or you'll get out--and you'll do it today'" (Dashiell Hammett, "The Maltese Falcon", 110).

This passage is from the second third of the book and I think that it paints a pretty good picture of how the times were back in San Francisco in the mid-30s to late-40s. The one thing that really stands out in the novel is the use of dialogue to create imagery throughout the entire book. The excerpt that I picked has a decent amount of dialogue but there is a whole lot more that also creates a great picture. It's crazy because I believe that the novel really depends on the use of its dialogue to create a picture of what is really going on but the way that it is used makes it like you can't really imagine reading the book without that use of dialogue. The passage's use of dialogue allows us to visualize Spade being upset and having a sort of argument with the man and that couldn't have been accomplished without the dialogue.

Reading Notes W13: The Maltese Falcon Part B

• What I noticed is how this novel relies heavily on dialogue to create imagery.
• The different dialogue paints a picture on what it must have been like in those times.
• The dialogue even has the slang that they used back then too and has that old gangster mob kind of sound that you would imagine someone like al capone would have.
• currently Spade and Polhaus are talking about the death of Miles (Spade's partner) and come to realize that Thursby (The man Miles was following) was the one that shot him.

Reading Notes W13: The Maltese Falcon Part A

• "Spade's face became pale and hard. He spoke rapidly in a low furious voice: 'Think again and think fast. I told that punk of yours that you'd have to talk to me before you got through. I'll tell you now that you'll do your talking today or you are through. What are you wasting my time for? You and your lousy secret! Christ! I know exactly what the stuff is taht they keep in the subtreasury vaults, but what good does that do me? I can get along without you. God damn you! Maybe you could have got along without me if you'd kept clear of me. You can't now. Not in San Francisco. You'll come in or you'll get out--and you'll do it today'" (Dashiell Hammett, "The Maltese Falcon", 110).
• Shows passion for job.
• Does not like his time wasted.

Project 2 Revision

                “Our nation is built upon a history of immigration, dating back to our first pioneers, the Pilgrims. For more than three centuries, we have welcomed generations of immigrants to our melting pot of hyphenated America: British-Americans; Italian-Americans; Irish-Americans; Jewish-Americans; Mexican-Americans; Chinese-Americans; Indian-Americans” (Ami Bera). This shows the diversity that makes up Americans and the people wanted to seek better opportunities here. Throughout this paper I will talk about how this work reflects history’s social, political and economic context. When it comes to history there is nothing better than a primary source and the four different stories from the Chinese immigrants are the greatest examples of the hardships that they had to go through to experience a so-called better life in America during the Gold Rush.

            First up, the social aspect of history that these immigrants had to go through. They faced a ton of social hardships for how hard they worked. A lot of Chinese immigrants moved to the U.S. during the gold rush in hopes of becoming incredibly wealthy. However, they didn’t receive the warmest welcome, they faced racism, robberies and murders while trying to make a living mining. According to an article written by PBS a Yankee miner said, “Chinamen are getting to be altogether too plentiful in the country” (pbs.org). This shows that there were many negative thoughts about how the Americans welcomed the immigrants. Instead of greeting them with open arms, the Americans shunned them for being a different race and how they talked and certain mannerisms that they would consider weird but to the immigrants it was their culture. The same article states “In May 1852 the state imposed a Foreign Miners Tax, the second such tax on non-Americans in two years. This time, a levy of $3 per month was explicitly directed at the Chinese miners. And, as predicted, violence increased” it was also stated that “200 Chinese miners had been robbed and four murdered at Rich Gulch” (pbs.org). They went through all this struggle to come to America to become social pariahs. It’s crazy to see how they were specifically targeted because they were different than the others. Socially, these Immigrants were definitely not at the top of the food chain of society. It’s almost haunting to see how we could have treated these people so horribly. In our text book we see that four different immigrants decided to speak out on how they were living, and one in particular shows how he was treated horribly by his peers and, because of that, was given a terrible outlook on life. He stated “he holds the pipe as his family fortune goes down its hole. Look at him: Soon he will be six feet underground” (Anonymous Chinese Immigrants, 355). This man put his entire family fortune into pursuing the riches in the American land but quickly finds out that Americans are ruthless and will do anything to put someone down for a profit especially a recently emigrated minority.

            Next up is the political aspect. It’s funny, currently Americans have a problem with the Mexican immigrants that move to this country and most are being incredibly racist and targeting them politically to try and “preserve” American ideals. But, look about three centuries ago, and find that the same politics ruled, just targeting the Chinese-Americans as opposed to the Mexican-Americans nowadays. The pbs article stated that “the court extended California law that African Americans and Native Americans could not testify in court to include Chinese. The reversal made it impossible to prosecute violence against Chinese immigrants” (pbs.org). I find it crazy how that was able to be allowed to pass. It shows the political racism that the Americans had toward these immigrants. History has been littered with political racism in America and you would think that would have changed but, according to recent politics, that is not the case. They say history repeats itself and it couldn’t be any more true.

            Finally, the economic context. Within the four different poems written by the anonymous immigrants, the different economic status was different for each one. The fourth poem shows how they are trying to make a living and wishing others “may you claim a mine full of gold. May wealth soothe your soul. Hosts and guest, so gaily, raise the jade winecups” (Anonymous Chinese Immigrants, 355). This shows that they were actually doing well for themselves despite the challenges of immigration. They were drinking wine, which in most historical writings, highlighted wealth and importance. So, it seems like they were economically doing well. Even though it seems some did well, a lot didn’t as well. The pbs article states “Chinese men moved into other occupations, including the laundry business, domestic service and later railroad building” (pbs.org). This also shows that they were forced to leave the gold mining and pursue other jobs. But, because of their status as immigrants they were forced to do jobs that provided a service to the Americans. That is not fair at all to these immigrants because they worked hard to make a fortune but because they are not white Americans, they are forced to work for them not with them.

            Throughout this paper I showed how the four different stories from the Chinese immigrants are the best primary sources of what they had to go through as people who tried to seek a better life. I also talked about the history of racism and hardships that came with the immigration. I believe that the Gold Rush was not as great as it seems because it harmed many people of a different race but then again, that has been the theme throughout all of American history for all races.

Works Cited

“Chinese Immigrants and the Gold Rush.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-chinese-immigrants/.

Hicks, Jack, and James D. Houston. The Literature of California. University of California Press, 2000.

Week 12 Analysis: Literary Analysis of The Maltese Falcon

The novel "The Maltese Falcon" so far is a really fun read about a P.I. Currently, where I am in the story the plot hasn't really taken shape yet. But so far, Spade and his partner got job from a lady who is looking for her sister in San Francisco. His partner goes and tails the guy that the lady is going to meet up but around 3a.m. is found dead in an alley way. The plot is very interesting because it paints very vivid imagery of San Francisco in the early 40s to 50s. The theme of the story is not clearly present yet, I think farther in we should be able to see the theme a lot more clearly, but from what I could guess is that the theme would be mystery. I say mystery because his partner was just murdered and it seems like we need to piece together what happened to Archer because of the time gap between the murder of Archer and the suspect that they were tailing. The historical context of this story shows what it must have been like in the mid-1900s and be a P.I./Detective and to have to deal with a lack of technology to solve the murder of a dear friend. Overall, the book is very interesting so far and I am looking forward to reading the rest of it.

Reading Notes W12: The Maltese Falcon Part B

• It starts by introducing the main character and describing all his features and how they all seem to make a v
• Says he looks pleasantly like blond Satan
• the secretary introduces a client who is very pretty.
• use of alliteration to describe the sound of a type writer
• the client talks about her missing sister who apparently ran off to San Francisco with some guy
• she hasn't seen her sister but only the guy and is assuming the worst.
• they set up a stake out and the chapter ended.
• the next one started with a call to Spade where he acknowledged a death.
• they found the dead body of Spade's partner
•  

Project 2

                “Our nation is built upon a history of immigration, dating back to our first pioneers, the Pilgrims. For more than three centuries, we have welcomed generations of immigrants to our melting pot of hyphenated America: British-Americans; Italian-Americans; Irish-Americans; Jewish-Americans; Mexican-Americans; Chinese-Americans; Indian-Americans” (Ami Bera). This shows the diversity that makes up Americans and the people wanted to seek better opportunities here. Throughout this paper I will talk about how this work reflects history’s social, political and economic context. When it comes to history there is nothing better than a primary source and the four different stories from the Chinese immigrants are the greatest examples of the hardships that they had to go through to experience a so-called better life in America during the Gold Rush.

            First up, the social aspect of history that these immigrants had to go through. They faced a ton of social hardships for how hard they worked. A lot of Chinese immigrants moved to the U.S. during the gold rush in hopes of becoming incredibly wealthy. However, they didn’t receive the warmest welcome, they faced racism, robberies and murders while trying to make a living mining. According to an article written by PBS a Yankee miner said, “Chinamen are getting to be altogether too plentiful in the country” (pbs.org). This shows that there were many negative thoughts about how the Americans welcomed the immigrants. Instead of greeting them with open arms, the Americans shunned them for being a different race and how they talked and certain mannerisms that they would consider weird but to the immigrants it was their culture. The same article states “In May 1852 the state imposed a Foreign Miners Tax, the second such tax on non-Americans in two years. This time, a levy of $3 per month was explicitly directed at the Chinese miners. And, as predicted, violence increased” it was also stated that “200 Chinese miners had been robbed and four murdered at Rich Gulch” (pbs.org). They went through all this struggle to come to America to become social pariahs. It’s crazy to see how they were specifically targeted because they were different than the others. Socially, these Immigrants were definitely not at the top of the food chain of society. It’s almost haunting to see how we could have treated these people so horribly. In our text book we see that four different immigrants decided to speak out on how they were living, and one in particular shows how he was treated horribly by his peers and, because of that, was given a terrible outlook on life. He stated “he holds the pipe as his family fortune goes down its hole. Look at him: Soon he will be six feet underground” (Anonymous Chinese Immigrants, 355). This man put his entire family fortune into pursuing the riches in the American land but quickly finds out that Americans are ruthless and will do anything to put someone down for a profit especially a recently emigrated minority.

            Next up is the political aspect. It’s funny, currently Americans have a problem with the Mexican immigrants that move to this country and most are being incredibly racist and targeting them politically to try and “preserve” American ideals. But, look about three centuries ago, and find that the same politics ruled, just targeting the Chinese-Americans as opposed to the Mexican-Americans nowadays. The pbs article stated that “the court extended California law that African Americans and Native Americans could not testify in court to include Chinese. The reversal made it impossible to prosecute violence against Chinese immigrants” (pbs.org). I find it crazy how that was able to be allowed to pass. It shows the political racism that the Americans had toward these immigrants. History has been littered with political racism in America and you would think that would have changed but, according to recent politics, that is not the case. They say history repeats itself and it couldn’t be any more true.

            Finally, the economic context. Within the four different poems written by the anonymous immigrants, the different economic status was different for each one. The fourth poem shows how they are trying to make a living and wishing others “may you claim a mine full of gold. May wealth soothe your soul. Hosts and guest, so gaily, raise the jade winecups” (Anonymous Chinese Immigrants, 355). This shows that they were actually doing well for themselves despite the challenges of immigration. They were drinking wine, which in most historical writings, highlighted wealth and importance. So, it seems like they were economically doing well. Even though it seems some did well, a lot didn’t as well. The pbs article states “Chinese men moved into other occupations, including the laundry business, domestic service and later railroad building” (pbs.org). This also shows that they were forced to leave the gold mining and pursue other jobs. But, because of their status as immigrants they were forced to do jobs that provided a service to the Americans. That is not fair at all to these immigrants because they worked hard to make a fortune but because they are not white Americans, they are forced to work for them not with them.

            Throughout this paper I showed how the four different stories from the Chinese immigrants are the best primary sources of what they had to go through as people who tried to seek a better life. I also talked about the history of racism and hardships that came with the immigration. I believe that the Gold Rush was not as great as it seems because it harmed many people of a different race but then again, that has been the theme throughout all of American history for all races.

Works Cited

“Chinese Immigrants and the Gold Rush.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-chinese-immigrants/.

Hicks, Jack, and James D. Houston. The Literature of California. University of California Press, 2000.

Week 11 Analysis: Close reading of Bulosan

For this week I did a close reading of the story from Bulosan's "America is in the Heart" chapter 16.

"I began to be afraid, riding alone in the freight train. I wanted suddenly to go back to Stockton and look for a job in the tomato fields, but the train was already traveling fast. I was in flight again, away from an unknown terror that seemed to follow me everywhere" (Carlo Bulosan, "America is in the Heart", 604).

This was the first little snippet from the first paragraph in the story, but this little opening was so powerful it already captivated me as a reader. He is talking about how he is traveling on a train to a completely different area, what makes this different is the fact that he is in the back freight cars not on a commercial train. There are a couple themes that come to mind when I read this little bit. The first one is freedom, while the second is fear. I say freedom because it symbolizes that he doesn't have to stay in one place he can be free and on the road living by his own rules. The second theme I noticed was fear, being free is great and all but being in sketchy areas riding on a freight train alone all present one major feeling fear. He even said how he wished he stayed in Stockton to work the fields because he was afraid of the journey that he was on. He wanted the security of a job and things he knew but because he took that leap of faith he started to feel fearful about what lies ahead. Overall, I thought it was a very interesting story and would definitely recommend the read.

Reading Notes W11: Bulosan Part B

• It starts off with a trip from what seems like Stockton to like So-Cal.
• The author saw hoboes drinking beer.
• He walked towards a Mexican restaurant.
• He tried to jump in the boxcars but the detectives chased him.
• It seems like the person was living on the road jumping from boxcar to boxcar living free.

Reading Notes W11: Henderson Part A

• starts off with the start of the day.
• talks about tobacco and coffee.
• Its interesting because that's when the public used a lot more tobacco.
• Talks about the traffic and busy life of living in a city.
• goes farther than Berkeley, it includes SF and LA.
• witnessing the rise of rush hour traffic.