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Chris came from a bad family, all right, and everybody thought he would turn out bad . . . including Chris.
Chris’s reputation colors the way everyone in Castle Rock treats him. Because the men in his family are drunkards and abusers, no one makes an effort to encourage Chris toward a different path. As Gordie here observes, Chris also believes himself to be doomed. When Chris later tells the story of Miss Simons stealing the milk money, instead of being angry about the incident, he approaches it resignedly, as if he agrees that he was not worth Miss Simons putting in the effort to exonerate him. Chris’s trajectory over the story involves him learning to fight for himself.
He was the only guy in our gang who would never take a drink, even to show he had, you know, big balls.
Chris takes pains to position himself as the opposite of his father. Even though masculine posturing, including sneaking alcohol, is a social rite of passage in Castle Rock, Chris has boundaries around his participation. He won’t drink because his family becomes violent when they drink, and he doesn’t want to be like them. Chris’s refusal demonstrates a strength of character and maturity that Gordie’s other friends lack.
Everyone jawed at him about it: his parents, who thought he was putting on airs, his friends, most of whom dismissed him as a pussy, the guidance counsellor, who didn’t believe he could do the work, and most of all the teachers, who didn’t approve of this duck-tailed, leather-jacketed, engineer-booted apparition who had materialized without warning in their classrooms.
After the incident with Ray Brower’s body, Chris refuses to accept everyone else’s expectations and takes advanced classes. Chris here resists pressure on all sides to become the juvenile delinquent people believe he should be. Gordie’s loyalty has demonstrated to Chris that he is not alone and someone believes in his strength. This show of support helps him find the courage to resist the opinion of Castle Rock and defy his fate.
