How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #4
"Well, what time have the others got? Women work all day, men work all day; and the owner charges three cents extra for a can of beans because the men are too damn tired to go into town for groceries." (56)
Jim tries to rile up old Dan to see if he can be counted on in the event of a strike. He's all Party rhetoric, and yet his speech touches on a sore spot for Dan: the workers are at the mercy of the company for everything. They have to rely on the exploitative process in the orchard, including purchasing food at exorbitant prices from the company store because they are too tired at the end of the day or don't have time to prepare their own food. In addition to the pay cuts, the workers often find themselves in debt to the store, drawing against their meager wages just to feed themselves—so they can work more in the morning. All for nothing.
Quote #5
"Don't be a fool, London. You know as well as I do what the vagrancy laws are. You know vagrancy's anything the judge doesn't want you to do. And if you don't know it, the judge here's named Hunter." (102)
The "super" in the orchard wants to play hard with London and Mac from the get-go, and he's not ashamed to reveal the level of corruption at play in Torgas Valley. The owner of one of the three biggest orchards in the area also happens to be the judge (or at least, it's one of his kin). In essence, the Growers' Association members set the laws, control the police, the wages, the food and the roads in the town. As Mac later says, these guys are pretty "organized." The "super" seems to have no problem with this, which shows the magnitude of the problem the workers face in this area.
Quote #6
"My senses aren't above reproach, but they're all I have. I want to see the whole picture—as nearly as I can. I don't want to put on the blinders of 'good' and 'bad,' and limit my vision. If I used the term 'good' on a thing I'd lose my license to inspect it, because there might be bad in it." (113)
Although Mac and Jim don't really appreciate Doc's approach to things, he's the one character in the book who comes closest to true impartiality. Here, he explains why he's there among the strikers every time the Party calls on him, even though he's not a member of the Party. The only thing he hopes to get out of the whole thing is an understanding of it, which is why he doesn't want to take sides. Doc knows that partisan politics clouds a person's vision, and he's just not into it. He refrains from judging as much as possible so that he can keep an open mind. However, we learn that for Doc, sitting on the fence just makes you more visible to the hostile forces on both sides.