How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Life could be ended be ended for him at random by a falling beam: he would change his life at random by simply going away […] He wasn't sorry for what he had done. It seemed reasonable enough to him. I don't think he even knew he had settled back naturally into the same groove he had jumped out of it Tacoma. But that's the part of it I always liked. He adjusted himself to beams falling, and then no more of them fell, and he adjusted to them not falling. (7.15)
The part about the Flitcraft parable that appeals most to Spade is the idea that the dream Flitcraft is chasing is also the life he once led. Why does Flitcraft go back to his former lifestyle? Why does this resonate so strongly with Spade?
Quote #5
"I know what I'm talking about. I've been through it all before and expect to go through it again. At one time or another I've had to tell everybody from the Supreme Court down to go to hell, and I've got away with it. I got away with it because I never let myself forget that a day of reckoning was coming. I never forget that when the day of reckoning comes I want to be all set to march into headquarters pushing a victim in front of me, saying: 'Here, you chumps, is your criminal!' As long as I can do that I can put my thumb to my nose and wriggle my fingers at all the law in the book." (18.33)
Spade tries to get away with a lot of things throughout the novel. Sometimes he's lucky, sometimes he's able to control situations so that they fall to his advantage. But he's also aware that at some point, his "day of reckoning" will come when he'll no longer be able to fool fate. It is inevitable that he'll eventually have to face the consequences of his actions.