Of course, anyone watching Jaws will recognize that author Peter Benchley fashioned the captain after Captain Ahab from Herman Melville's Moby Dick. But, I think he also must have read one of my favorite books, The Sea Wolf, by Jack London.
One of the many memorable scenes in the movie is when Captain Quint challenges the manhood of the Richard Dreyfus character, Matt Hooper. He grabs Hooper's hands and says, "You've got city hands Mr. Hooper...been counting money all your life."
In The Sea Wolf, the captain is Wolf Larsen. After rescuing the narrator, Humphrey Van Weyden, from the sea after he fell overboard from another ship, Larsen effectively kidnaps him and puts him to work on the seal hunting schooner, "The Ghost." Compared to Larsen, Quint is Miss Pattycake. Larsen is a cruel, ruthless tyrant. Humphrey (the captain calls him "Hump" for short)is a man who has been living on an inheritance and is also a writer. Not exactly a man's man. [Note: If you remember, Hooper's family is wealthy. When Martin asks, "Are you rich?" Hooper replies, "Yeah."] In this passage, we see where Benchley may have borrowed the "city hands" scene from Jack London.
"[Larsen] Who earned it [your income]? Eh? I thought so. Your father. You stand on dead men's legs. You've never had any of your own. You couldn't walk alone between two sunrises and hustle the meat for your belly for three meals. Let me see your hand."So, what do you think?
His tremendous, dormant strength must have stirred, swiftly and accurately, or I must have slept a moment, for before I knew it he had stepped two paces forward, gripped my right hand in his, and held it up for inspection. I tried to withdraw it, but his fingers tightened, without visible effort, till I thought mine would be crushed....
Wolf Larsen dropped my hand with a flirt of disdain. "Dead men's hands have kept it soft. Good for little else than dishwashing and scullion work."
Have a great Memorial Day weekend!
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