How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #4
"Jesus, man! The troops win, all right! But every time a guardsman jabs a fruit tramp with a bayonet a thousand men all over the country come on our side. Christ Almighty! If we can only get the troops called out." (26-27)
We're a little worried about Mac just here, when he's actively hoping that some of the workers will get killed or face violent skirmishes with well-armed National Guardsmen. If it seems perverse to you, you're not wrong. Mac and Jim set their sights on a larger ideal and will use any profitable means to achieve it. We don't really see this way of thinking challenged until Doc Burton comes on the scene and tells Mac that violence can only beget violence—but it doesn't make a dent in Mac's single-minded brain.
Quote #5
"We've got to use whatever material comes to us. That was a lucky break. We simply had to take it. 'Course it was nice to help the girl, but hell, even if it killed her—we got to use anything." (48)
Mac calls his intervention in the birth of Lisa's baby "material" that they can use to further the cause. It's not important to him whether the child (or the mother) suffers harm. In this moment, it's clear that people—not just language or goods—are the real commodity in the battle to come.
Quote #6
Mac said, "Well, it's happened. I kind of expected it. It doesn't take much when the guys feel this way. They'll grab on anything. The old buzzard was worth something after all."
"Worth something?" Jim asked.
"Sure. He tipped the thing off. We can use him now." (79)
Mac speaks here of old Dan's accident and his resulting broken hip. While we don't expect Mac to cry salt tears over the injuries of a stranger, it's stunning how quickly his mind finds a silver lining to a personal tragedy-in-progress (it's pretty clear that Dan won't make it). But it's even more than that: Mac is actually happy that Dan has been mortally wounded, because he needed something to motivate the men in the camp. His eagerness for the success of the cause has erased some essential bits of Mac's humanity.