How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #7
"If we could make 'em dig a hole, it'd be as good as anything else. If we can just get 'em all pushing on something, or lifting something, or all walking in one direction—doesn't matter a hell of a lot. They'll start fighting each other if we don't move 'em. They'll begin to get mean, pretty soon." (137)
After the emotional high of marching to the train depot to greet the scabs and experiencing Joy's murder that morning, the workers have hit a low patch. Mac wants to have them do some sort of team-building exercise to keep them motivated(!), but nothing immediately presents itself. Mac wants to teach Jim that mobs are notoriously fickle things, and that convincing the workers that they are a community of support for each other will not be an easy thing.
Quote #8
"We got to stick," Jim cried. "We simply got to stick. If we lose this, we're sunk; and not only us, either. Every other working stiff in the country gets a little of it." (175)
Jim has been moving through the camp, trying to get a sense of how the men feel about the strike and the leadership. He sits down with one group of men and quickly finds a stranger who has been planted in the camp by the Growers to sow discord among the men. Jim's pretty riled up about this and shares with him the major lesson he's learned from Mac: the workers have to come together to work for their own best interests. Jim also adds his own, personal twist to the narrative—it's not just about them. They're all part of a much larger whole that will rise or fall depending on their actions.
Quote #9
"They're mad. Jesus, how a mad crowd can fill the air with madness. You don't understand it, Doc. My old man used to fight alone. When he got licked, he was licked. I remember how lonely it was. But I'm not lonely anymore, and I can't be licked, because I'm more than myself." (199-200)
Jim muses on the nature of mob psychology with Doc Burton. Doc wants to learn more about "group-man" by observing the strikers, and he has some interesting theories that are at odds with what Jim and Mac believe about labor communities. But Jim has some very personal reasons for loving the volatile crowd: they are his safety net, his support. Jim feels very strongly that his individual life has very little value, but as part of a larger movement working to create change, his effort and suffering mean something.