How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #4
"I been thinkin'," he said. "Ever since they beat me up I been thinkin'. I can't get those guys outa my head—my little wagon all burned up, an' them jumpin' on me with their feet; and two cops down on the corner watchin', and not doin' a thing! I can't get that outa my head." (155)
Al mentions an important consequence of violence: rebellion. While the Growers hope to beat the strikers and their sympathizers into submission—and it often works—the opposite effect happens pretty often. As Mac later says, the worse the institutionalized violence, the higher the volume of applications for the Party. People don't like to suffer physical violence, but they'll certainly face it if it means freedom from the promise of continued oppression.
Quote #5
"Guy after guy gets knocked into our side by a cop's night stick. Every time they maul hell out of a bunch of men, we get a flock of applications. Why, there's a Red Squad cop in Los Angeles that sends us more members than a dozen of our organizers. An' the damn fools haven't got the sense enough to realize it." (156)
Mac reinforces the lesson learned by Al's response to the attack on himself and his lunch wagon: you can't really beat everyone into submission. While inflicting physical damage works pretty well as an intimidation tactic on some, it riles up the rest. Mac relies on people like Joy and Jim—those willing to sacrifice everything in the face of their own suffering—to stick it to the man.
Quote #6
"Don't worry about it, Mac. Sometimes, when a guy gets miserable enough, he'll fight all the harder. That's the way it was with me, Mac, when my mother was dying, and she wouldn't even speak to me. I just got so miserable I'd've taken any chance. Don't you worry about it." (162)
Mac grows dispirited about the strike because the men seem low. Jim speaks from experience: sometimes misery makes you more determined. Part of that determination comes from the feeling that you have nothing to lose. Part of it comes from the hope that personal suffering will translate into lasting change, something that will affect more than just one person.