 He claims that van Weyden has never "stood on his own legs", meaning he has never had to work and always relied on his inheritance from his father to survive.Throughout the book, Larsen compliments van Weyden on his growth, eventually telling him he is proud of him, and calling him a real man, able to stand on his own legs rather than a "dead man's (his father's)" legs.Van Weyden has an ideology that is in sharp contrast to Larsen's.