Little Larry

In all our discussions about the role of men in The Big Lebowski, I don't think we ever really focused on Little Larry. What is Larry's purpose in the film? We discussed in class that every man in the film seems to represent a particular decade of our immediate past: Walter is the 70s, Lenny the 50s, Brent the 80s, and the Dude is the 60s in the 90s. But what decade does Little Larry represent? Perhaps, Larry represents the future decades to come, much the same way I think the Stranger, with his cowboy boots and all, is a symbol for the Past, before there was a place called Los Angeles in the Wild West.

Taking this further, some may venture to say that Larry represents an up-and-coming generation, who is blamed for the mistakes of older generations. This idea is reinforced by the scene where Walter and the Dude go to Larry's house to question him about the money. Walter yells and screams at Little Larry, demanding the money back which he assumes is in Larry's possession (based on one piece of circumstantial evidence). However, Larry just sits quietly in his place, even when Walter threatens him with "This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass, Larry". Walter would rather assign blame to a likely innocent boy, than be a man and accept responsibility for his own actions and faults.