Like Toy Soldiers

Adelbert 2022-07-25 19:23:09

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"



Wallace is a sixteen year old A black boy, his father died young and his mother was drunk. Helpless, he wandered in the bungalows of the slums in the West Side of Baltimore since childhood. In order to make ends meet, Wallace joins the Avon drug gang to run errands with his friends Bodie and Poot, who are similar in age. In the bungalow area, Wallace is responsible for collecting money. After the money is received, Poot disperses the drugs to the addicts. Bodie also conducts environmental monitoring to prevent police inspections or other gang provocations. In this slum area where black people gather and drug-ridden, once the police show up, countless children on the lookout yell "5-0" as a reminder. Influence).

The nephew of the gang leader Avon, Dee, was sent to the bungalow to supervise the business. On the first day he took office, he found out that Wallace had received counterfeit money. Wallace's peaceful life began to waver.

In his spare time, Wallace likes to sit with Poot and chew the chicken McNuggets. Wallace believes that the black man who invented the chicken McNuggets will definitely make a fortune. After Dee heard it, he made a big comment (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's worldview was shocked for the first time, and he began to understand that the little pawn had only the fate of making clothes for others.

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.), and these young men are 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 wanted to know how to become the king. Dee said earnestly that the rules of the game are not like this. Like a prophecy, Dee's explanation also revealed the final fate of several people. 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.), and they are little pawns who are ready to charge at any time, 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 wanted to know how to become the king. Dee said earnestly that the rules of the game are not like this. Like a prophecy, Dee's explanation also revealed the final fate of several people. 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.), and they are little pawns who are ready to charge at any time, 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 wanted to know how to become the king. Dee said earnestly that the rules of the game are not like this. Like a prophecy, Dee's explanation also revealed the final fate of several people. 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 wanted to know how to become the king. Dee said earnestly that the rules of the game are not like this. Like a prophecy, Dee's explanation also revealed the final fate of several people. 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 wanted to know how to become the king. Dee said earnestly that the rules of the game are not like this. Like a prophecy, Dee's explanation also revealed the final fate of several people.

The drug storage site in the bungalow area was ransacked by the thief Omar and his subordinate Brandon. The gang leaders were furious and offered rewards. Wallace accidentally discovered Brandon's whereabouts and immediately notified it and received a reward of 500 yuan, which indirectly led to Brandon's tragic death. Before his death, Brandon was tortured, beaten, burnt, and gouged, and his body was thrown out of the bungalow at will, as an example. Wallace was greatly stimulated when he saw this miserable situation.

Wallace, who was deeply condemned by his conscience, looked in a trance every day. To escape the pain, he simply hid at home to fall asleep or took drugs. Under mental pressure, Wallace decided to quit the gang and went back to school. The cold-faced Dee generously agreed and asked the other boys to stop harassing Wallace. The police who had been investigating the Avon gang found Wallace. After some torture, Wallace, who was extremely guilty, agreed to be a police witness and was arranged to take shelter in the countryside to wait for court.

The bored Wallace quickly got tired of living in the country, and could only relieve his homesickness by making long-distance calls to Poot every day. After a while, Wallace returned to Baltimore, returned to the gang, and returned to the familiar environment he was born here and could not get rid of. After Stringer heard Wallace's return, he called Bodie to the front.

In the bungalow, in front of the 2PAC poster (this arrangement is quite original), Bodie shot Wallace with two shots and Poot shot. Before he died, Wallace begged desperately, unwilling to believe that the brotherly nigger would kill him. This is the cruelest death I have ever seen.

The word "soldier" often appears in Hip-hop, and this word is more widely used in gangs. Avon called Dee's son "my little soldier." Stringer encouraged Bodie to be a "soldier" before assigning tasks to Bodie. When Dee explained chess, he also said that a little pawn is equivalent to a soldier. In any kind of social environment and any kind of organizational system, the soldier is the group of people who are the fastest to be sacrificed at all times.

Everyone in the gang also kept talking about game, everything is "part of the game". When Bodie and Poot conspired, they also said "We either step up or we step the fuck off. That's the game. That's the fucking game".

So in this damn game, fall one after another insignificant toy soldier like Wallace.

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Extended Reading

The Wire quotes

  • Det. William Moreland: Boy, them Greeks and those twisted-ass names.

    Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Man, lay off the Greeks. They invented civilization.

    Det. William Moreland: Yeah? Ass-fucking, too.

  • Brother Mouzone: I see you favor a .45.

    Omar: At night I do. And I keeps one in the chamber in case you ponderin'.