The Bonfire of the Vanities (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Tom Wolfe
- First Published: 1987
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: 1980’s
- Setting: New York City
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Journalism or journalists, Class conflict, New York City, 1980’s, Poverty or poor people, Greed, Corruption, Newspapers, Wealth, Reporting or reporters, Wall Street
- Locales: New York, NY
Characters Discussed
Sherman McCoy, a thirty-eight-year-old Wall Street investment banker who earns a million dollars a year trading in bonds. At the peak of his career, he considers himself a “Master of the Universe.” Sherman, for all his faults, is one of the entrepreneurs who bring billions of dollars into New York City to feed, clothe, and house its inhabitants. He is married and has a young daughter but maintains an adulterous relationship with a sexy Southern belle. Their affair leads to disaster when they are attacked by two teenage African Americans after they make...
[The entire page is 1149 words long]
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