We have a book divided into chapters.
Samuel Spade's jaw was long and bony, his chin a jutting v under the more flexible v of his mouth.
Starts with the name of a character in the first two words. Moves on to description, starting with the jaw and moving up.
His nostrils curved back to make another smaller v.
Still moving up. This is apparently in third person omniscent POV -- no idea who the viewpoint character is here. Not at all pleasant looking, as described.
His yellow-grey eyes were horizontal.
Certainly an unusual eye color. Aren't most eyes horizontal, or at least horizontally placed? We continue to pan up.
The v motif was picked up again by thickish brows rising outward from twin creases above a hooked nose, and his pale brown hair grew down -- from high flat temples -- in a point on his forehead.
The longest and most complex sentence in the paragraph. Upward tilted eyebrows and a widow's peak. A satanic appearance.
He looked rather pleasantly like a blond satan.
Which is now made explicit by the author. "Satan" is the last word in the paragraph, a position of power. Satan, traditionally, isn't just the Tempter. He's also the Accuser. End of first paragraph.
He said to Effie Perine: "Yes, sweetheart?"
The complete second paragraph. Introduces a second character, through some dialog. We're in media res, as Spade is responding to something that happened before the start of the first paragraph. Of the two words of dialog, one is sexually charged. We're now in tight third-person limited. POV character is Spade.
She was a lanky sunburned girl whose tan dress of thin woollen stuff clung to her with an effect of dampness.
"Sunburned" is what we now call "suntanned." Spade's POV. He notices how her dress clings.
Her eyes were brown and playful in a shiny boyish face.
The second mention of eyes -- perhaps we have a theme going. A bit of characterization, and again the sexualized description.
She finished shutting the door behind her, leaned against it, and said: "There's a girl wants to see you. Her name's Wonderly."
Dialog. We're told the action that had been in progress just before the story started. Perine had begun shutting the door. Perine's words are slangy, ungrammatical. That's characterization. Third character introduced. End of third paragraph.
"A customer?"
Dialog. Explains the relationship between Spade and Perine: They're in business together in some way. End of fourth paragraph.
"I guess so. You'll want to see her anyway: she's a knockout."
Perine speaking. More sexualized language, revealing and reinforcing Spade's interests: He has an eye for the ladies. End of fifth paragraph.
"Shoo her in, darling," said Spade. "Shoo her in."
Sexualized language in this dialog. Lack of respect for the customer. The entire sixth paragraph is one line, nine words. Two sentences. Emphasis on the "s" sound.
Effie Perine opened the door again, following it back into the outer office, standing with a hand on the knob while saying: "Will you come in, Miss Wonderly?"
The seventh paragraph is a single sentence; action and dialog. The third character is mentioned again, still unseen. "Following," "standing" and "saying" are rather flat and uninteresting words -- the interest is on Miss Wonderly, not on Effie Perine. Still in Spade's POV.
A voice said, "Thank you," so softly that only the purest articulation made the words intelligible, and a young woman came through the doorway.
We hear the voice before we see the person. Characterization -- soft voice, pure articulation.
She advanced slowly with tentative steps, looking at Spade with cobalt-blue eyes that were both shy and probing.
Both tentative and slow. The eye theme. Both shy and probing. End of eighth paragraph.
She was tall and pliantly slender, without angularity anywhere.
Sexualized language in this description. We're looking through Spade's eyes.
Her body was erect and high-breasted, her legs long, her hands and feet narrow.
More sexualized language.
She wore two shades of blue that had been selected because of her eyes.
An assumption on the POV character's part. Characterization. "Eyes" in the position of power.
The hair curling from under her blue hat was darkly red, her full lips more brightly red.
"Full lips" are more secondary sexual characteristics.
White teeth glistened in the crescent her timid smile made.
Teeth, and implied lips. "Timid" charaterization. End of ninth paragraph.
Spade rose bowing and indicating with a thick-fingered hand the oaken armchair beside his desk.
Thick fingered, in strong contrast to Wonderly's hands. He's being obsequious, rising and bowing, contrasting with his earlier "shoo her in," (not "show her in"). His actions don't suit his thoughts.
He was quite six feet tall.
A big man.
The steep rounded slope of his shoulders made his body seem almost conical -- no broader than it was thick -- and kept his freshly pressed grey coat from fitting very well.
That's an unusual description. He's deformed. A hunchback? This fits with the satanic description in paragraph one. Omniscent POV, or perhaps Wonderly's POV. End of tenth paragraph.
Miss Wonderly murmurred, "Thank you," softly as before and sat down on the edge of the chair's wooden seat.
Another single-sentence paragraph, and back to Spade's POV. Seating opn the edge of the chair shows tension. End of eleventh paragraph.
Spade sank into his swivel-chair, made a quarter-turn to face her, smiled politely.
Lowering himself, and twisting himself. Heavy on the "s" sounds.
He smiled without separating his lips.
A false smile?
All the v's in his face grew longer.
Reminder of his satanic appearance. Three sentences. That's the twelfth paragraph.
The tappity-tap-tap and the thin bell and muffled whir of Effie Perine's typewriting came through the closed door.
Perine isn't listening at the door. This is a business environment.
Somewhere in a neighboring office a power-driven machine vibrated dully.
Emphasizing the silence in the inner office. Spade is aware of distant sounds because there are no close ones.
On Spade's desk a limp cigarette smouldered in a brass tray filled with the remains of limp cigarettes.
Time passing. "Limp" is an interesting word -- repeated twice. Smouldering is fire, and sexual, imagery.
Ragged grey flakes of cigarette-ash dotted the yellow top of the desk and the green blotter and the papers that were there.
Much color. Ash is when fire burns out. Office environment.
A buff-curtained window, eight or ten inches open, let in from the court a current of air faintly scented with ammonia.
The viewpoint character doesn't much care how far the window is open. Complex syntax to put the word "ammonia" in the position of power. That's the smell of urine -- not a very good neighborhood. Also, fire and ash and stink, reinforces the satanic imagery.
The ashes on the desk twitched and crawled in the current.
Like living things. Burned out, but still living. Uneasy motion. The motion of the ash emphasizes that the two people aren't moving. Various senses -- sight, sound, and smell -- are used in this paragraph. End of thirteenth paragraph.
Miss Wonderly watched the grey flakes twitch and crawl.
Emphasizing the twitchiness. Spade, the viewpoint, is watching Wonderly.
Her eyes were uneasy.
Spade's conclusions. Eyes again. Eyes are very important, it seems. The windows to the soul. Spade is a private eye.
She sat on the very edge of the chair.
Second mention. Unease and tension.
Her feet were flat on the floor, as if she were about to rise.
Description. Coiled-spring tension.
Her hands in dark gloves clasped a flat dark handbag on her lap.
"Dark" rather than a color. Grasping is a motionless motion; it reinforces the tension imagery. A collection of short, choppy sentences. Restless, like twitching cigarette ash. End of the fourteenth paragraph.
Turn the page? Yes/no.
