It was shortly there
after when one of Marcellus’ gangsters called him in a panic because the
gangster in their car shot a man and had no means of cleaning it up. Being
relaxed and cool Marcellus responds to the call sending one of his best men to
take care of the problem. The way Marcellus reacts to the situation also helps
to calm the nerves of Jules, the gangster. It seems his leadership springs from
his confidence, like Debra Tannin describes in the articles “You Just Don’t
Understand.” Her research proves that poor questions, comments, or commands are
not as likely to be executed as well as those that are firm and confident.
Through his power Marcellus is able to gain followers that are loyal and true,
weather be the fact that they also are scared. It seems almost ironic the way
the main gangsters act throughout this movie. Vincent and Joules are the two
main gangsters and they both possess split personalities. Even in the crime
world, there seems to be a change of command; the gangsters are under the
kingpin. Jules and Vincent do the dirty work that is passed down to them by
Marcellus. One would be surprised in the way these two men react to truly
difficult problems. It was Vincent who almost had a heart attack on the night he
took Mia out on the town, as orders from the boss. She overdosed on heroin and
came near death. Panicked, he rushed her to Chiastic, the drug dealer's, house
in order to give her an adrenaline shot straight to her heart.
That was not the
time only that Vincent and Jules had to call on the help of Marcellus. It was a
mistake when Vincent shot a kid that was taken hostage. For fear of their safety
and discovery the two men had to call on the assistance of Marcellus, who in his
typical manner got on top of it and took care of the problem. I believe that
Deborah Tannen’s description of men fits the role that these men play. It seems
that these men act truly as Marcellus puppets. Everything they do he is in
control of and runs. When the men venture off the course they fall in a state of
insecure ness and have to fall back on the knowledge and help of their boss.
This also reflects the studies Deborah has organized on how when certain people
lose control in a situation they seem also to lose their self-confidence and
must rely on the help of another. The way Joules and Vincent must rely on
Marcellus in order to perform his orders the way instructed. In another light,
there is Mia. However minor her role is, it is still interesting. This
attractive lady possesses some mystery, and is very hard to figure out. Only the
audience realizes her true side of being a drug user. When Vincent takes Mia out
on The date as mentioned earlier, he seems to carry that nervousness typical of
someone on their first date with a member from the opposite sex. Therefore, Mia
controls the night. She chooses where and what they eat, and what they talked
about.
