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Spunk Banks
The protagonist of the story, Joe Kanty is nervous, awkward and physically inferior to Spunk Banks, his rival. Joe is publically shamed and humiliated when a group of village folk witness Spunk arm in arm with Lena Kanty, Joe’s wife. The men in the general store, who admire and revere Spunk, continually accuse Joe of weakness. His masculinity is called into question because of his inability to both control his wife and to challenge Spunk. Angered and spurred on by the men’s taunting, Joe follows Spunk and Lena into the woods, armed with nothing but a razor, despite knowing that Spunk carries a gun with him. The altercation that follows leads to Joe’s murder, leaving Spunk free to marry Lena (although Spunk is arrested for the murder, the trial is short, and he is quickly set free). However, the night that Spunk and Lena move in together, Spunk encounters a mysterious bobcat prowling around his property and howling at the top of its lungs, which Spunk believes is the reincarnated spirit of Joe. It remains ambiguous whether the bobcat is actually Joe or just a superstitious figment of Spunk’s imagination. Likewise, when Spunk falls on a saw at the sawmill, he claims with dying breath that it was Joe who pushed him to his death. Once again, it’s unclear if this is actually true, but it seems that Joe’s masculinity is finally redeemed through Spunk’s downfall. Walter Thomas’s posthumous endorsement of Joe says as much, asserting that “Joe wuz a braver man than Spunk” the whole time. After all, Joe was genuinely terrified of Spunk and toted a lousy weapon, and yet he still mustered the courage to stick up to Spunk and fight.
Joe Kanty Quotes in Spunk
The Spunk quotes below are all either spoken by Joe Kanty or refer to Joe Kanty. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Spunk
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A round-shouldered figure in overalls much too large, came nervously in the door and the talking ceased. The men looked at each other and winked.
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“’Tain’t cause Joe’s timid at all […] If Joe was a passel of wile cats Spunk would tackle the job just the same.”
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“Call her and see if she'll come. A woman knows her boss an' she answers when he calls.”
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He could work again, ride the dangerous log-carriage that fed the singing, snarling, biting, circle-saw.
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“…a big black bob-cat, black all over, you hear me, black, walked round and round that house and howled like forty, an' when Spunk got his gun […] he says it stood right still an' looked him in the eye, […] He says it was Joe done sneaked back from Hell!”
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“Humph!” sniffed Walter, “he oughter be nervous after what he done. Ah reckon Joe come back to dare him to marry Lena, or to come out an' fight […] Joe wuz a braver man than Spunk.”
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“The fust thing he said wuz, ‘He pushed me, 'Lige—the dirty hound pushed me in the back!”—He was spittin' blood at ev'ry breath.”
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Joe Kanty Quotes in Spunk
The Spunk quotes below are all either spoken by Joe Kanty or refer to Joe Kanty. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Spunk
Quotes
A round-shouldered figure in overalls much too large, came nervously in the door and the talking ceased. The men looked at each other and winked.
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“’Tain’t cause Joe’s timid at all […] If Joe was a passel of wile cats Spunk would tackle the job just the same.”
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“Call her and see if she'll come. A woman knows her boss an' she answers when he calls.”
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He could work again, ride the dangerous log-carriage that fed the singing, snarling, biting, circle-saw.
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“…a big black bob-cat, black all over, you hear me, black, walked round and round that house and howled like forty, an' when Spunk got his gun […] he says it stood right still an' looked him in the eye, […] He says it was Joe done sneaked back from Hell!”
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“Humph!” sniffed Walter, “he oughter be nervous after what he done. Ah reckon Joe come back to dare him to marry Lena, or to come out an' fight […] Joe wuz a braver man than Spunk.”
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“The fust thing he said wuz, ‘He pushed me, 'Lige—the dirty hound pushed me in the back!”—He was spittin' blood at ev'ry breath.”
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