Well, WAS He A Barn Burner????
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LadyN1 — 12 years ago(March 16, 2014 08:32 PM)
He wasn't his father was but because he carried the same surname of Quick people assumed he was the same. Clara even asks him why he didn't change it and he said he wouldn't cause barn burner or not it was still HIS dad's name.
Also if you look at his behaviour when he gets accused of being a barn burner he looks weary- someone who's tired/annoyed. That's not the reaction you'd expect of someone who's basically being accused of being an arsonist. The guy has had that stigma against him for his whole life since his dad died when he was a kid and he's got tired of it.
That's why he keeps drifting, he keeps looking for a new start somewhere to mark something more of himself either that or they run him out of town at the start. That's also why he got so mad at Clara when she called him that in the store. He thought she was different-especially since the implication he gives to Will is that he's had more than his share of women and not too unwilling ones so maybe sort of loose/free women.
Here's this girl who wants the same things the other girls he's had wants but isn't giving into him and Quick being Quick isn't a guy who backs down easily, the more he gets to know her the more he sees through her as well as being obviously physically and sexually attracted to her. Then she turns around and basically acts like everyone else he's met- judging him. So he's more mad at that and himself. The tone he takes with her becomes very sarcastic, it's the same speech he's given to everyone else. It's the same tone he takes with her at the picnic thing when he says "maybe you'll be safe from me." She starts lapsing back into judging him and he doesn't want that. He wants her to want him for him not the reputation.
beauty
freedom
love
truth -
poetcomic1 — 12 years ago(March 16, 2014 09:25 PM)
If poor little Ben Quick has an 'unfair reputation', he sure does not hesitate to use his reputation to maximum advantage with Varner! It would certainly be hard to maintain such a reputation without burning some barns! Shrewd Will varner says "flame follows that man around like a dog!" Coincidence? And in the opening he has a feud with the fellow whose barn burned.
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lmh-10 — 11 years ago(April 28, 2014 12:12 PM)
"flame follows that man around like a dog!"
I imagine once you acquire (inherit) a reputation as a barn burner every time a barn burns you get run out of town, guilty or not. So flame follows you around but it is flame doing the pushing.
So my take is that Ben Quick isn't a bar burner but a hard life had made him ready to use anything that came along, including his reputation. -
unapologetic_mocker — 11 years ago(January 02, 2015 09:41 PM)
"flame follows that man around like a dog!"
I imagine once you acquire (inherit) a reputation as a barn burner every time a barn burns you get run out of town, guilty or not. So flame follows you around but it is flame doing the pushing.
bylmh-10 Mon Apr 28 2014 12:12:44
Well said. I think it's a safe bet that there were others who took his presence as an opportunity to settle scores.