Step by step, heart to heart, left right left We all fall down like toy soldiers Bit by bit, torn apart, we never win But the battle wages on for toy soldiers —— Eminem “Like Toy Soldiers”
闲暇的时候Wallace喜欢和Poot坐在一起嚼麦乐鸡,Wallace认为发明了麦乐鸡的黑人肯定会狠赚一笔,Dee听到以后大发了一通议论( It ain't about right, it's about money. You think Ronald McDonald gonna go down that basement...and say, Mr. Nugget, you the bomb. We selling chicken faster than you can tear the bone out. So, I'm gonna write my clowny-ass name on this fat-ass check for you. The nigger who invented them things, still working in the basement for regular wage, thinking of some shit to make the fries taste better. Believe.)。Wallace的世界观第一次受到冲击,开始明白小卒子只有给他人做嫁衣裳的命运。
Wallace也经常和Bodie一起用象棋棋盘下跳棋,Dee看到之后,兴致勃勃地用阐述帮派结构的方式讲解棋子,教两个男孩下国际象棋:帮派头子Avon是王(Dee:This is the kingpin. And he the man. You get the other dude's king, you got the game. But he's trying to get your king too, so you gotta protect it. Now the king, he moves one space...any direction he damn choose, 'cause he's the king. Like this, all right? But he ain't got no hustle.but the rest of these motherfuckers on the team. they got his back. And they run so deep, he really ain't gotta do shit. Bodie:Like your uncle. Dee:Yeah, like my uncle.),二号头目Stringer是后(Dee:You see this? This is the queen. She's smart and she's fierce. She moves any way she wants, as far as she wants. And she is the go-get-shit-done piece. Wallace:Remind me of Stringer.),战车是藏毒地点(Dee:And this, over here, is the castle. It's like the stash. It moves like this. And like this. Wallace:Dog, stash don't move, man. Dee:Come on, think. How many times we move the stash house this week? And every time we move the stash...we got to move a little muscle with it to protect it.),而他们这些小喽罗就是随时要冲锋陷阵的小卒子,like the soldiers(Bodie:All right. What about them little bald-headed bitches right there? Dee:These right here. These are the pawns. They're like the soldiers. They move like this, one space forward only, except when they fight. Then it's like...or like this. And they like the front lines. They be out in the field.)。Wallace想知道如何才能当上王,Dee语重心长地说,游戏规则并非如此,the king stays the king,小卒子大多是被杀死,只落得早早出局的份。像是谶语一般,Dee的这番讲解,也透露了几个人的最终命运。
Hip-hop里经常出现“soldier”一词,帮派里这个词汇更被广泛使用。Avon称Dee的儿子为“my little soldier”,Stringer给Bodie布置任务前激励其为“soldier”,Dee在讲解象棋时也说小卒子就相当于soldier。在任何一种社会环境、任何一种组织系统下,soldier都是时刻冲锋陷阵最快被牺牲掉的那一批人。
帮派里的每一个人也在不停地说game,一切都是“part of the game”。Bodie和Poot密谋之时也说“We either step up or we step the fuck off. That's the game.That's the fucking game”。