How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Hope that girl gets lost." He studied the hills, but could see no one, not even a glint. "Then I'll have to find her and lead her by the hand." Smugly he turned his face to the sky and swung his gleaming pole into the stifling air. (2.296)
At least this time, M.C. isn't hoping to "scare" or attack her. He just wants to "lead her by the hand"—be her knight in shining armor and all that.
Quote #8
M.C. raised his hands in front of his chin and held them about a foot apart with palms facing each other. He knew his daddy would want to play the game, although they hadn't played it in many months. Years ago it had been the hardest kind of game for M.C. to take. Jones had tried to slap M.C.'s face hard, as he would attempt to do now. Only then M.C. never had been fast enough to chop his father's hands away. He always ended up crying.
M.C.: "Stop it. Stop it, Daddy."
His daddy: "Going to make you so tough, anyone try to worry you will break his bones." (2.61-63)
So we know where M.C gets his machismo from. What's hard to take is how M.C. grows up thinking that to be manly means to be able to win at his father's "game." Although… does Jones have a point? Is he just teaching M.C. what to expect as a man?
Quote #9
Jones was a powerfully built man. He wasn't tall, but he had a broad chest and lean but wide, muscular shoulders. He was narrow through the hips just as M.C. was, and his legs were long with muscles grown lengthwise. His toes were splayed with the bridge flattened wide, as were M.C.'s, the way a swimmer's feet will look. Jones was a swimmer. But somehow, his fine, physical equipment had never quite come together. As a man, he wasn't as good a swimmer as M.C. was right now. (3.116)
Sounds like someone's a little competitive with his daddy. So, if we are to read this right, Jones is definitely a powerful man, but he's not nearly as manly as M.C. is—at least, not when it comes to swimming. M.C. is basically like a 2.0 version of Jones. At least, that's what M.C. seems to think. But then again, maybe this is one way for M.C. to feel better about himself, especially right after his father has pinned him to the ground.