The Maltese Falcon and its Significance in American Film The world that emerged at the end of World War I was utterly different from what had existed before. An entire generation of young men had been killed in battle and millions were wounded or maimed for life. Entire empires had been removed from the map and new nations were struggling to survive. Europe was no longer the dominant region of the world, for both Britain …showed first 75 words of 1286 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1286 total…generation lost between fighting and hope. Perhaps this is the reason for the last line of the story, after Spade has found the bird, one last jab at the futility of dreams. Polhaus “It’s heavy, what is it?” Throughout the search for the bird, we ho! ld it valuable above all else, even life, but then, we find out it’s lead, worthless. Spade “The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**