Characters
Randy lay there like a slug...it was his only defense.
— Ralphie ‧ A Christmas Story
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
The speaker describes Randy going limp and lying there like a slug, and presents that stillness as the only protection available. The humour lies in treating passive, boneless collapse as a strategy, half mocking and half sympathetic toward someone with no better means of resisting.
Context reviewed