How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
The kid was in the street, throwing rocks at a kitten on the opposite fence. (7)
Let us reiterate: Johnny is throwing rocks at a kitten, not a cat. How did Sam and Bill just ignore this little display of true character?
Quote #2
"He's all right now," says Bill, rolling up his trousers and examining some bruises on his shins. "We're playing Indian. We're making Buffalo Bill's show look like magic-lantern views of Palestine in the town hail. I'm Old Hank, the Trapper, Red Chief's captive, and I'm to be scalped at daybreak. By Geronimo! That kid can kick hard." (14)
Johnny has already roughed up Bill in the short time it takes Sam to return the rented kidnapping vehicle. "That kid can kick hard."
Quote #3
Red Chief was sitting on Bill's chest, with one hand twined in Bill's hair. In the other he had the sharp jackknife we used for slicing bacon, and he was industriously and realistically trying to take Bill's scalp, according to the sentence that had been pronounced upon him the evening before. (25)
Basic rough housing aside, things might be going south when the kid gets access to the knife. Sam and Bill should promptly hide the sharp objects now that they know that little Johnny has a thought to use them.
Quote #4
You was to be burned at sunrise, and you was afraid he'd do it. And he would, too, if he could find a match. (26)
Bill points out to Sam that the kid has made good on his threats and we get to watch the steady decline of the kidnappers authority. Bill is clearly shaken up—and so is Sam, even if he pretends to be oblivious to what he just witnessed.
Quote #5
When I got to the cave I found Bill backed up against the side of it, breathing hard, and the boy threatening to smash him with a rock half as big as a coconut. (32)
Have you noticed that Johnny has inflicted all the violence in this story? What could have made him so crazy?
Quote #6
"He put a red-hot boiled potato down my back," explained Bill, "and then mashed it with his foot; and I boxed his ears. Have you got a gun about you, Sam?" (33)
Being unable to deliver upon a threat always demonstrates a loss of power. Even if Sam had a gun, do you think Bill would shoot Jonny?
Quote #7
I dodged, and heard a heavy thud and a kind of a sigh from Bill, like a horse gives out when you take his saddle off. A rock the size of an egg had caught Bill just behind his left ear. He loosened himself all over and fell in the fire across the frying pan of hot water for washing the dishes. I dragged him out and poured cold water on his head for half an hour. (39)
Poor Bill really does get the brunt of Johnny's abuse. Sam always just manages to avoid getting seriously hurt. These two are definitely in over their heads.
Quote #8
"Sam," says Bill, "I suppose you'll think I'm a renegade, but I couldn't help it. I'm a grown person with masculine habits of self-defense, but there is a time when all systems of egotism fail. The boy is gone. I sent him home. All is off. There was martyrs in old times," goes on Bill, "that suffered death rather than give up the particular graft they enjoyed. None of 'em ever was subjugated to such supernatural tortures as I have been. I tried to be faithful to our plan, but there came a limit." (74)
Bill finally has had enough. He is struggling to begin to explain what he has endured in Sam's absence yet again, but it's the use of the phrase "supernatural tortures" that really gets a giggle, because up to this point, yes the kid is a terror, but is he inflicting "supernatural tortures"? Hyperbole is always good for a laugh.
Quote #9
I takes him by the neck of his clothes and drags him down the mountain. On the way he kicks my legs black and blue from the knees down; and I've got to have two or three bites on my thumb and hand cauterized. (76)
This is the one reference to Bill even making the attempt to stand up for himself. We get to giggle with Sam because we know that Bill has not succeeded at anything for his trouble—Johnny is still there, continuing his epic reign of terror.
Quote #10
When the kid found out we were going to leave him at home he started up a howl like a calliope and fastened himself as tight as a leech to Bill's leg. His father peeled him away gradually, like a mustard plaster. (92)
Johnny's final act of defiance is not violent by any means, but it is certainly a temper tantrum. Johnny never realizes that his kidnapping was anything more than a little bit of fun away from home.