How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
M.C. always felt bigger and strong around Ben, like he wasn't just anybody passing by. He was M.C. and he made a show of examining the vine he would use, which hung down the side of the tree trunk. (1.64)
Hmm… so is this why M.C. is really friends with Ben? Because Ben makes him feel "bigger and strong," a.k.a. more masculine? More… M.C.?
Quote #2
M.C. liked Ben and felt sorry for his being small and alone when he didn't want to be either. He admired Ben because Ben was a witchy. And he knew that Ben thought a lot of him, since he was like no other boy and would play with Ben. Tall and powerful, M.C. didn't mind being by himself, could do anything well. (1.65)
So being alone is easy for M.C. because he's also "tall and powerful," but "being small" like Ben makes being "alone" not okay? What kind of relationship is M.C. getting at between aloneness and physical strength? Why would being taller and powerful make it easier to be "alone"?
Quote #3
M.C. grinned again. Mary Willis was as strong as a horse. He knew because, thinking she had no strength, he had caught her once on the path. Coming up noiselessly behind her the way he knew how to stalk, he had grabbed her arms and tried to pin them. He had whispered that he thought she was just so nice.
"M.C., you let me go!"
He had tried to steal a kiss right from her cheek. Leaning around her pretty hair, he'd almost made it. Mary Willis broke his grasp and hit him with her fist. (1.153-155)
If this memory M.C. recalls seems a little like an almost-rape scene, then you're probably on the right track. We'll just point out that, aside from the definite wrongness of M.C.'s actions, M.C.'s acting like a guy who only knows how to relate to girls through force. He sees himself as physically powerful; that's what he prides himself on. So no wonder he finds so much pleasure in exerting that power on someone who's supposed to be weaker than he is—a girl.