There is a scene in A Christmas Story, where, after Ralphie’s father receives the leg lamp as a promotional prize for completing a newspaper crossword puzzle, he begins describing it as a “major award” to people asking about it.
“You won it?” asks his neighbor, Swede, who starts drawing a crowd across the street to stare at the glowing leg in the Parkers’ window.
“I have mind power, Swede,” he says, swelling with pride, pounding his chest, feeling for a second like he is not beaten down by the world or his circumstances. “Mind power.”
