How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
The boy spoke two words, the first a short guttural verb, the second "you."
"People lose teeth talking like that." Spade's voice was still amiable though his face had become wooden. "If you want to hang around you'll be polite."
The boy repeated his two words. (10.45)
The constant battle to assert one's masculinity in the novel continues when Spade is confronted by the thuggish Wilmer. Even though it is hinted that Wilmer is Cairo's gay lover, he doesn't have the effeminate frailty that characterizes Cairo. Wilmer is as hard as nails, aggressively violent, and trigger-happy. Spade is generally able to get the better of Wilmer, but Wilmer is always trying to prove his masculinity.
Quote #8
"Ain't you ever going to grow up?" he [Tom] grumbled. "What've you got to beef about? He [Dundy] didn't hurt you. You came out on top. What's the sense of making a grudge out of it? You're just making a lot of grief for yourself."
Spade placed his knife and fork carefully together on his plate […]. His smile was faint and devoid of warmth. "With every bull in town working overtime trying to pile up grief for me a little more won't hurt. (15.8)
Even though Spade is still angry at Dundy for bullying him, he has to agree with Tom that it's not worth holding a grudge if it means leading to more grief. Spade has already had to swallow so much nonsense that he doesn't mind a little more, but we're starting to wonder whether Spade is taking on more than he can handle.
Quote #9
"You'd think you wasn't a dick yourself the way you bellyache over things. I supposed you don't never pull the same stuff on anybody that we pulled on you?" (15.28)
Tom is trying (rather unsuccessfully) to apologize to Spade for having to question him about Archer's death. But at the same time, Tom appeals to Spade's awareness that this kind of thing happens all the time, and that both Tom and Dundy were only doing their jobs in grilling Spade (he was after all a perfectly reasonable suspect for the killings). The fact that Spade is out of favor with the police emphasizes the tension that exists between the various male characters in the novel as they fight to keep the upper hand over each other.