How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #7
"[...] in my little experience the end is never very different in its nature from the means. Damn it, Jim, you can only build a violent thing with violence." (198-199)
We so love that Doc Burton seems to be the forerunner of Bones in the original Star Trek series ("Damn it, Jim..."). Doc's philosophy on mob behavior differs a whole lot from Mac and Jim's. While the two comrades see violence as a necessary vehicle to achieve their goals, Doc Burton senses that it is a vicious cycle—you can only reap what you sow. Doc seems to advocate for something closer to passive resistance to effect change, something that Thoreau discusses in his famous essay "Civil Disobedience." But the boys aren't biting: they think that a mob needs blood for inspiration, and the public needs it to wake them from their ignorance.
Quote #8
"I want a billboard," said Mac, "Not a corpse. All right, kid. I guess you're for it." The boy tried to retreat. He bent down, trying to cower. Mac took him firmly by the shoulder. His right fist worked in quick, short hammer blows, one after another. The nose cracked flat, the other eye closed, and the dark bruises formed on the cheeks. The boy jerked about wildly to escape the short, precise strokes. Suddenly, the torture stopped." (213)
Mac and Jim have noooo problem using measured violence to benefit the cause. As Mac says, they have to use whatever materials come their way. In this case, a high-school-aged boy with a rifle comes their way, hoping to shoot some fear into the strikers. Mac wants to use the boy as an advertisement back in town so that other whippersnappers don't get it into their heads to use the camp for target practice. In the end, violence against this young boy takes the life out of Mac, but Jim is always there to justify any action that will profit their struggle. At this point, Mac and Jim have sort of traded places.
Quote #9
Women swam through the crowd and looked woodenly at the hanging head. A heavy, sobbing gasp went up from the mob. The eyes flared. All the shoulders were dropped, and the arms bowed dangerously. London still stood panting, but his face was perplexed. He looked down at his fist, at the split and bleeding knuckles. (247)
Not a page before this, Mac tells Jim that the dispirited men really need to see blood to rile them back up so they can fight for themselves. The opportunity arises when Burke, one of the strike leaders, appears and wrongly accuses London of accepting bribes from the Growers. London doesn't take the accusation sitting down, and he manages to break Burke's jaw in full view of the men and women in the camp. Horror at such internal violence quickly gives way to full frenzy, which London (with some help from Jim) is able to transform into something really valuable (if not bloody) for the workers.