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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 9 page research paper/essay that discusses how the city of New York, the setting for Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities, provides a thorough examination of the sociological, political and economics aspects of life in New York City in the 1980s. The city itself plays such an integral part in this narrative that it is practically character in and of itself. The novel concerns the downfall of Wall Street mover-and-shaker Sherman McCoy, however, his story plays out against a realistic and cynical assessment of the New York culture in the 1980s, a decade noted for its self-centered greed and avarice. The writer discusses this aspect of the novel and compares it to a non-fictional source for accuracy. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
9 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khwolbon.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
the 1980s. The city itself plays such an integral part in this narrative that it is practically character in and of itself. The novel concerns the downfall of Wall Street
mover-and-shaker Sherman McCoy, however, his story plays out against a realistic and cynical assessment of the New York culture in the 1980s, a decade noted for its self-centered greed and
avarice. While Wolfe addresses virtually the entirety of New York at some point in this voluminous book, he concentrates on three area of the city, portraying the social strata of
each in considerable detail. These areas are Park Avenue, the Bronx and Harlem. The following examination of Bonfire focuses on what Wolfe has to say about this mammoth city and
its problems in the 1980s: its different social classes; its racial composition; and how much of an individuals life is contingent on their location in labyrinth that is New
York. Park Avenue Sherman McCoy is a resident of Park Avenue, a prestigious bond trader with the firm of Pierce & Pierce. The residents of Park Avenue have every conceivable
advantage--the finest in education, the finest homes that the city has to offer, tremendous income. Yet, despite their tremendous advantages and wealth, Wolfe pictures the residents of Park Avenue as
incredibly shallow, supercilious and caught within such a fierce atmosphere of competitiveness that they use the millions at the disposal primarily to impress each other. From the beginning of the
novel, Wolfe hints that at the core of Sherman McCoys being there is still some decency, as the author pictures him as feeling terribly conflicted over the lies he tells
his wife concerning his mistress. However, Wolfe also makes it clear that McCoy has managed to suppress this decency and behaves in accordance with the values of Park Avenue.
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