Music criticism and analysis by Thumper

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If you a man, you gotta protect yaself

“If you a man, you gotta protect yaself. If you can’t, you either pay someone else to or you ain’t gonna be protected,” he said. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong wit’ payin’ for protection.”

Adam sat up. “I asked if guys did it willingly. If somebody’s making you pay protection money, that’s not willing,” he said.
Buck shrugged. “If you a man, you gotta protect yaself. If you can’t, you either pay someone else to or you ain’t gonna be protected,” he said. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong wit’ payin’ for protection.”

From Buck the Ex-Con

What happened to the days when college boys lifted weights?

It looked like a Nickelodeon show had exploded, with perky young bodies and skinny arms everywhere, haircuts more complex than any man had a right to.

This college party had been a bunch of skinny bozos, he thought. It looked like a Nickelodeon show had exploded, with perky young bodies and skinny arms everywhere, haircuts more complex than any man had a right to. College boys, Avery thought, were pansies these days. What happened to the days when college boys lifted weights and grew their hair long? That was nice.

From Dubcon Alphas

I ain’t bullyin’ no one. You a grown man. Kinda.

You spend all day telling them how to spend their life just so you can go home to what I’m guessing is a sad little apartment all by yourself, microwave a sad little TV dinner, lift your little weights like a fucking convict. Hey, how much furniture do you have that isn’t a bench press?

Thickman growled, making that mustache shake. “I ain’t bullyin’ no one. You a grown man. Kinda.” He throatily chuckled.
“Okay, well, I’ve had enough of that. I am a man, you piece of shit. At least I’m man enough to pursue my own life instead of domineering some fucking college boys. You spend all day telling them how to spend their life just so you can go home to what I’m guessing is a sad little apartment all by yourself, microwave a sad little TV dinner, lift your little weights like a fucking convict. Hey, how much furniture do you have that isn’t a bench press?”

From The Basketball Coach

A man’s gotta have composure

Vietnam was like a stencil in his mind, inscribing itself upon a’ry sensation that sat still long ’nuff.

The jailhouse seemed solitatious and dark, cavernous in its stillness, the air moist and dense. T’was silent, yet Buck heard the jungle crickets and screeching nightbirds of Vietnam. He knewed them sounds wasn’t real, but he ain’t pluss ’bout it. Buck got composure, that was why. A man’s gotta have composure. Anytime the world quieted, his mind ran o’er with memories, rearing they head whenever nothing real could muscle ’em out. Vietnam was like a stencil in his mind, inscribing itself upon a’ry sensation that sat still long ’nuff.

From Buck the Conservative

Alyssa made him feel like he had a life ahead of him.

Back then, before all that went down, he was convinced Alyssa was who he should have been with all along.

Alyssa Grant. She was Wayne’s long-time mistress when he was married to Melinda. When it all blew up, Alyssa dumped him and Melinda divorced him.
Back then, before all that went down, he was convinced Alyssa was who he should have been with all along — figuratively, as Alyssa would have been fourteen when he married Melinda — Alyssa was twentyish when he met her — he loved Alyssa more than anything. It was how he felt with Melinda those first couple years, before marriage and dulldom and the girls came along. Alyssa made him feel like he had a life ahead of him.

From Wayne the Ex-Cop

He kept one hand covering his crotch

The gym bros were a bunch of macho chads with chins and shoulders and big swinging penises that flopped between their legs like sausages too thick for their casings. His just sort of poked out like an escaping worm. He felt shriveled.

He took off his clothes and went into the shower. He kept one hand covering his crotch. He did not like being naked among the muscle-bound jocks and hairy men who lifted weights here. They made him self-conscious. The worst part was that they didn’t pay him any mind. They didn’t bully him or laugh at his small penis or skinny body or tell him he was using the weight-lifting machines incorrectly (which he had worried about until watching all the official training videos on YouTube for the model numbers of the machines in this gym). That was why he worked out in the early morning. There were usually women at the gym this early but not many men.
The gym bros were a bunch of macho chads with chins and shoulders and big swinging penises that flopped between their legs like sausages too thick for their casings. His just sort of poked out like an escaping worm. He felt shriveled.
From The Factory Foreman

Craving sin was just as much a sin as committing it

He’d be able to afford a proper wedding and a home on a farm, and he could build a life with her, a godly life.

Craving sin was just as much a sin as committing it. Sin occurs in the heart first. It then infects the real world. So a Godly man must stop it before it can leave his heart.
Besides, he had a woman whose love was real. Her name was Daisy Mae Lovejoy, and her daddy owned a apple orchard next to the Turnip farm. It was his love for her that led Jeb to take this job in Remote, Alaska.
It paid well, and he’d have enough when he returned home to propose to Daisy Mae. He’d be able to afford a proper wedding and a home on a farm, and he could build a life with her, a godly life.
From Jeb the Farmboy

Rocky could turn the wives out on their backs

A man who couldn’t pay his debt ain’t enough of a man to defend his wife either.
Rocky wasn’t like that. He was no rapist.

And Mister Gregarian done made it clear that Rocky could turn the wives out on their backs, legs spread for whoever could pay the debt. That was a consequence of deadbeatery. A man who couldn’t pay his debt ain’t enough of a man to defend his wife either.
Rocky wasn’t like that. He was no rapist. If a woman had gotta sell her cherry pie, he wouldn’t stand in her way, but he wouldn’t make her do it. He done explained that to Signor Caraldo, and he explained it today yet again to Signor DeSantos.

From Rocky the Ex-Con

On the downlow

Raython’s father had a lot of similar rules, different things that made someone a real man or not.

When he touched Desmond’s back, he was reminded he was with a man and was struck with anxiety. Raython’s father used to say it was alright for a man to be “on the downlow” so long as he was always on top. But Raython’s father had a lot of similar rules, different things that made someone a real man or not. Raython was intensely worried he would violate one accidentally.

From Desmond at College