A Gathering of Old Men Justice and Judgment Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

"What day is gone, Gi-bear?" Fix asked him. "The day when family responsibility is put aside for a football game? Is that the day you speak of, Gi-bear?"

            "I'm not speaking of responsibility, Papa," Gil said. "I'm speaking of the day of the vigilante. I'm speaking of Luke Will's idea of justice."

            "So I'm a vigilante now, huh, Gi-bear?" Fix asked him.

            "That's what Luke Will wants us to do," Gil said. "He and his gang still think the world needs them. The world has changed, Papa. Luke Will and his gang are a dying breed. They need a cause like this to pump blood back into their dying bodies." (12.140-3)

Yes, Fix—you are a vigilante. And here's where Gil just lays it all out, even if he doesn't directly say that to his dad.

Quote #8

"You must care something for the place, the people who live there?"

"They live pretty well," Jack said. "They don't pay rent or anything."

"And what"s happening here now, that doesn't matter?"

"I don't see anything happening."

The fellow just looked at Jack. He couldn't believe Jack. But he didn't know Jack, either.

"In the end, it's people like us, you and I, who pay for this."

"Sure," Jack said. "But I've been paying my share seventy years already. How long have you been paying yours?"

"The debt is never finished as long as we stand for this," the teacher said. (13.119-126)

Is justice a kind of paying off of a debt? What "debt" do characters like Major Jack and the Professor need to pay? Are there characters who might "owe" more than others?