Breakfast of Champions
The first chapter of Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut introduces two male characters: Kilgore Trout, who is a lonesome science-fiction writer, and Dwayne Hoover, a wealthy automobile dealer. Kilgore Trout believes that he is invisible, and nobody pays attention to him or reads his books.
Dwayne Hoover is lonesome too, despite his wealth; he regularly takes bad chemicals, which gradually makes him mad. After Dwayne reads Kilgore’s book, he gets bad ideas in addition to bad chemicals and ends up in a lunatic asylum.
Kilgore Trout becomes a well-known writer who believes that people’s thoughts and ideas can contribute to their well-being or diseases, regarding of what those thoughts and ideas are. The first chapter also provides the narrator’s thoughts on particular historical aspects, such as the discovery of the American continent, slavery, and Communism.
The excerpt tells about several historical aspects, which is why several sentences help to understand the US history and the kind of book that you are reading. Firstly, the narrator talks about the anthem, the flag, and the motto of America. I like that the author describes everything with humor; he says that the anthem was “pure balderdash”, the motto was “in a language nobody spoke anymore”, and concluded with the words that the country probably tried to tell its citizens that “in nonsense is strength” (Vonnegut 8-10).
Then, the narrator tells about the discovery of the continent, racial differences, and slavery: “When slavery was introduced onto the continent, the slaves were black. Color was everything” (Vonnegut 11).
However, the most important sentences in the first chapter are those that introduce the concept of Communism, America’s attitude to it, and the distribution of wealth in the world: “Dwayne Hoover’s and Kilgore Trout’s country, where there was still plenty of everything, was opposed to Communism” (Vonnegut 13). It shows that there were a lot of wealthy people in the US, whom Dwayne Hoover probably represents.
I think that the excerpt refers to the period after the end of World War II. I assume that since the narrator describes how many countries in the world were poor while there were “still plenty of everything” in America (Vonnegut 13). After the war was over, the US had nearly the half of the world’s wealth.
Admittedly, not everyone in the country was enjoying that wealth, which is why the author tells about people who were “fabulously well-to-do” and those who did not have “doodley-squat” (Vonnegut 13). Additionally, the author also states that the majority of countries were not only poor but also Communists, which is also true of the postwar period.
The Bonfire of the Vanities
The beginning of the first chapter of Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of Vanities starts with the description of Sherman McCoy’s luxurious apartment. Although many people are envious of it, Sherman, who is a wealthy bond trader, wants only one thing – to get out for at least thirty minutes. That is why he takes his dog and goes for a walk to be able to call his mistress, Maria.
Sherman McCoy has a six-year-old daughter Campbell and a wife Judy, whom he almost despises since she is already forty. Besides, she wants to become a decorator, and Sherman does not like how she has arranged their house. During the walk, McCoy makes a phone call but thinking about his mistress he accidentally calls home, does not recognize his wife’s voice and asks for Maria. When Judy recognizes him, and he understands the mistake he has made, he hangs up.
Finally, Sherman calls Maria and visits her in her sublet apartment, which she hides from his husband. Maria tries to convince Sherman not to lie to his wife about the phone call and admit that he has a friend named Maria.
The description of McCoy’s apartment, his thoughts expressed on the first pages of the chapter, and the kind of people who live in the same house (Browning, whom Sherman meets in the elevator, and the doorman) help to understand the historical period the author tells about best of all.
From my point of view, the most important sentences in terms of understanding history are the following: “On Wall Street he and a few others – how many? – three hundred, four hundred, five hundred? – had become precisely that… Masters of the Universe. There was… no limit whatsoever!” (Wolfe 11). With their help, readers find out about the situation on Wall Street and the kind of people who work there.
The excerpt refers to the 1980s. Wall Street was finally revived after many decades unfavorable for stocks. People who worked there and lived in such places as Park Avenue were extremely wealthy, arrogant and indeed felt like “Masters of the Universe” (Wolfe 11). However, outside of Wall Street and the world of stocks, New York City was not so successful, and the life was different: the number of homeless significantly increased, racial tension was vastly spreading, and crime in the city was growing.
Works Cited
Vonnegut, Kurt. Breakfast Of Champions, London, England: Vintage, 2010. Print.
Wolfe, Tom. The Bonfire of the Vanities, New York, New York: Picador, 2002. Print.