Plot Summary
The structure of The Big Money is not divided into traditional numbered or thematically named chapters. In the table of contents, each chapter in the novel is identified by the character whose point of view directs the chapter and comprises a "Newsreel," a "The Camera Eye," and/or a narrative section. The newsreel and camera eye sections emphasize the novel 's most important thematic ideas.
Chapter 1: Charley Anderson
Lieutenant Charley Anderson, war ace, returns to America on a ship from France. He looks forward to being home.
In "Newsreel XLIV," the repetition of the lyric "Yankee doodle" juxtaposed against capitalized headlines such as "DEADLOCK UNBROKEN AS FIGHT SPREADS" as well as against a journalistic piece about "democratic rights" being trampled shows the crumbling of America from within.
Chapter 2: Charley Anderson
Charley finds a room at a hotel, then gets a drink with his friend Ollie Taylor. At a dinner party, Charley enjoys the company of pretty young Doris Humphries.
In "Newsreel XLV," lyrics also illustrate the power women have over men as a "St. Louis woman wid her diamon ' rings / Pulls dat man aroun ' by her apron strings." This section reveals how women influence men 's buying behaviors in their pursuit of "social prestige." With this commentary, headlines reveal violence: a "DAYLIGHT HOLDUP," a "MAN SLAIN," a "DESPERATE REVOLVER BATTLE."
The "American Plan" begins with the image of Frederick Winslow Taylor, a pioneering efficiency expert. While attending Harvard, "he broke down from overwork [so] the doctor suggested manual labor." Taylor became a machinist and gradually worked his way through the ranks to become chief engineer of Pennsylvania 's Midvale Iron Works Plant. Obsessed with production, he developed the "Taylor System of Scientific Management," and although he "increased efficiency" for Bethlehem Steel, he was fired. Eventually, Taylor had a breakdown and died of pneumonia "with a watch in his
Links: trilogy, made up of The 42nd Parallel (1930), Nineteen Nineteen (1932), and The Big Money (1936), blends four distinct types of narration into a unique vehicle for expression and cultural commentary.