Class, Power, and Money Theme Analysis

As a young man who spent his youth in a very small town and then went straight to the Army, Billy embarks on the Victory Tour with little firsthand knowledge of how class and money function within the United States, let alone on a global scale. As such, the relationship between class, money, and power fascinates him, and he spends much of the novel trying to figure out how they interact and where he fits into that complex relationship. The novel ultimately suggests that the system is closed to individuals like Billy who began life without access to money and power, and there's very little he can do—no matter how hard he tries—to gain access to the privilege and power that come with wealth.

Though Billy admits that he's been fascinated with the American airports and shopping malls since his return to the States, what strikes him most as he moves around the Texas Stadium with Norm Oglesby (the owner of the Cowboys) and Albert is the relationship between money and power. In particular, Billy's fascination with these massive structures stems from a burning curiosity about how money works on the large scale required to finance things like the highways, airports, stadiums, and malls. His curiosity also extends beyond the built environment as he begins to questions how wars and Hollywood blockbusters are financed. The novel suggests that decisions made by the wealthy power brokers of the upper class shape every aspect of the world Billy lives in. This is most often alluded to in asides when rich game attendees mention their friendships with President Bush or Vice President Cheney—both of whom represented America as a nation from 2001-2009. This makes it exceptionally clear to Billy that money doesn't just buy wars and stadiums; it can also buy influence and political power. This is something that's truly shocking for Billy to see firsthand, as prior to the Victory Tour, Billy had never witnessed such conspicuous wealth and rampant consumerism before. This abundance is entirely foreign to him, and it occupies much of his time in the novel as he tries to piece together where he fits into the system.

As Billy attempts to make sense of the vast and often-invisible structures of class, wealth, and power, he makes several comments that indicate his belief that he will never be able to fully understand the system. He knows that going to college is the primary way to learn more about business, power structures, and class, but he is firm in his desire to never return to school. Therefore, he is also convinced that he will forever be unable to gain power for himself within the system, given his lower-class roots. Billy remarks that as a soldier, he makes a meager $14,8000 per year—an income that puts higher education and economic prosperity well out of reach. Both Billy and Mango express despair at what they believe their future lives have to offer: Mango believes that after the army, he has nothing better than a job at Burger King to look forward to, while Mr. Whaley, an oilman in Stovall, promises Billy a labor-intensive, minimum-wage job in the oil fields upon his return. This culminates in Billy's realization that he's nothing more than a "protozoan" in the ocean of unknown depths that is the world of money. Nonetheless, this fatalistic belief leads Billy to an eventual understanding of what he is capable of doing.

Billy ultimately ends up refusing to play into or reinforce the system wherein money equals power. He gives away his souvenir football signed by Cowboys players (an item that other Bravos believe could be worth $1,000 if sold). At the end of the novel, he also refuses to accept Norm Ogleby's offer to compensate each Bravo $5,500 for the film rights to their story. In doing these things, Billy sends a message to those in power that he won't allow them to use their wealth and influence to control his life. Although Billy does this in an effort to demonstrate that the power afforded by wealth is not total, he still remains as dependent on money as anyone, just as he remains at the mercy of the most powerful people in the country—namely, the president and other political figures who influence the course of the war. In this way, the novel suggests that there are limited steps a person can take to claim a sense of agency and resist those who are wealthy and powerful. The novel ultimately shows that in America, a terrible hegemony of wealth reigns supreme, keeping those without money essentially powerless to change the world in which they live.