Previous
Book 1, Part 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Trust, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
U.S. Foundational Myths
Gender and Subjugation
Wealth
Power and Morality
Self-Interest vs. the Common Good
Summary
Analysis
In July of 1938, Andrew Bevel decides to write about his life. His life has often overlapped with history, and he wants to address some of the rumors that have been circulating about him, especially since his wife, Mildred, passed away. Recently, Andrew has also noticed a decline in both business and the spirit of the people of the U.S., and self-reliance has been replaced by apathy and despair. Andrew’s ancestors have all been financiers in a New York City that has changed over the generations. The importance of financiers in New York has been one of the sole constants in an ever-changing city. In his autobiography, Andrew plans to tell the story of two particular people involved in the world of finance.
This section takes place in July of 1938, meaning that it’s the tail-end of the Great Depression, which comes to a close in 1939. Notably, while the Great Depression is a global phenomenon that impacts countless people, Andrew blames the systemic problems people are facing on individual willpower. In other words, according to Andrew, the issue is not the system, or even the Great Depression itself. Instead, the issue is that people are lazy. Andrew also argues that financiers are the most important figures in New York City. That argument serves to aggrandize Andrew, considering that he and his ancestors are all financiers. It also suggests that Andrew, like Benjamin, may be driven primarily by his ego.
Themes
Andrew’s great-grandfather William Trevor Bevel is from Virginia. William’s father grows a modest amount of tobacco, and William sees business potential not just to export tobacco but to import European goods for wealthy landowners. Thomas Jefferson brings that plan to a halt with an embargo on European trade in 1807, which badly damages the U.S. economy. During the embargo, William goes into debt to buy nonperishable goods like cotton and sugar from states farther south. Because of the embargo, farmers are desperate to sell their goods and greatly reduce their prices. William is greeted as a savior. When the embargo ends, William sells his stockpile. He makes a significant profit and becomes a financial authority overnight. From those beginnings, he learns that self-interest can go hand-in-hand with the common good.
When Andrew discusses his grandfather’s plan to buy nonperishable goods during Jefferson’s 1807 embargo, he explicitly states that he bought those goods from states south of Virginia but never mentions slavery. Andrew likewise doesn’t mention slavery when discussing William’s father, who grew tobacco in Virginia. With that in mind, Andrew’s autobiography omits the fact that his family repeatedly profited from the immoral and racist exploitation of enslaved Black people. Considering that fact, it’s clear that Andrew’s assertion that his ancestors always prioritized both self-interest and the common good is false.
Themes
William marries a woman from Philadelphia named Louisa Foster. They lose their first two children when those children are only months old. Their third child is named Clarence. Clarence has a gift for mathematics. In the Panic of 1837, William goes through great effort to protect his legacy so that Clarence can inherit it all. That effort takes a toll, though, and William dies a year later. Clarence takes over the business but lacks his father’s social tact. He marries Thomasina Holbrook, who loves him precisely for the things that make him different.
In this section, Andrew reinforces ideas that he will come back to over and over again in his biography, namely how, in his family, struggle begets triumph. In that formulation, each of Andrew’s ancestors becomes heroic in one way or another as they overcome obstacles—whether it’s difficulty forming a family or periods of economic difficulty—often through a combination of intelligence and grit.
Themes
After the Civil War, the family business faces its most “challenging time in history.” Clarence divests from cotton, tobacco, and sugar because, following William’s teachings, it’s the “right thing to do.” Clarence’s son, Edward—Andrew’s father—then takes over the family business. Edward is Clarence’s opposite. While Clarence is reserved and withdrawn, Edward is boisterous and rebellious. Edward stops going to Yale after his sophomore year under the agreement that he’ll go with Clarence to the office every day. Edward is reluctant at first, but he soon finds that the business appeals to his competitive nature.
Andrew frames the ending of the Civil War as a difficult time for the family’s business, again omitting any mention of slavery or the abolition of slavery. Similarly, Andrew writes that Clarence divests from cotton, tobacco, and sugar because it’s the “right thing to do” but doesn’t address how the family earned a fortune through those goods when slavery was still legal in the U.S. Each omission is another sign that Andrew is trying to rewrite history to paint his family in the most flattering light.
Themes
Get the entire Trust LitChart as a printable PDF.
Edward marries Grace Cox. The couple becomes the center of New York society, and people build houses near theirs on the Hudson just to be close to them. Grace is universally admired, and people turn to her as a beacon of hope in difficult moments. That’s what happens during the bank run of 1873, when Grace begins to steer several charitable organizations. Edward, luckily, escapes the worst of the crisis. Edward then has cash on hand when cash is scarce, and he helps rebuild the economy in the wake of the crisis, proving again that self-interest can go hand-in-hand with the common good. Andrew is born in 1876, and Edward dies when Andrew is four years old. Like Clarence, Andrew is gifted in mathematics, and Grace sends him to boarding school in New Hampshire. Grace dies while he is away at school.
Andrew continues to portray his ancestors in the most flattering way possible. According to Andrew, people love Edward and Grace so much that they build nearby houses near them because they want so badly to be close to them, and, after the bank run of 1873, Edward helps rebuild the U.S. economy. That latter description points to the recurring motif of the Bevel family profiting from economic collapses. Notably, Andrew never seems to fully explain exactly how his ancestors, time and time again, escape and profit from the economic disasters that harm so many others.
Themes
In college, Andrew becomes a combination of Clarence and Edward. He’s not as outgoing as Edward, but he still has an active social life. And he’s not as reclusive as Clarence, but he still does well academically. A financier needs to be a Renaissance man because business runs through all facets of life, Andrew believes. He also thinks that to make a successful investment, one must become a specialist, sometimes with little time to do so.
Andrew describes himself as a perfect blend between his father and grandfather before trumpeting business as something that binds life together and calling himself a Renaissance man. All of that serves as further evidence that part of the point of Andrew’s autobiography seems to be self-aggrandizement.
Themes
Andrew makes notes for several incomplete sections of his autobiography about what he plans to write. For his early years, he plans to describe early memories of his father, Edward, and to write about math and to detail his “precocious talent.” Andrew notes that in a section about college, he plans to tell of his coming of age and to write about his friends, his interest in art, Professor Keene, and a riding accident. He leaves a section about an apprenticeship entirely blank. In a section on business, Andrew plans to write about the financial breakthrough he has during the Panic of 1907. He also plans to write about adapting mathematical models he derived while studying with Professor Keene, as well as the rise of government regulation of the financial industry.
Again, Andrew describes his “precocious talent,” another example of his tendency to portray himself in a perhaps overly positive way. Similarly, he seems to gloss over any potential difficulties or complications when discussing his coming of age. Notably, the one section that Andrew leaves entirely blank is the section that would have detailed what he learned from someone else, pointing again to Andrew’s lack of humility. Like his ancestors, Andrew also seems to have gained his footing in business during a crisis. That points to an interesting trend in the family business—earning a profit from financial collapses—which the novel will expand upon later.
Themes
Andrew considers Mildred his muse. After he meets her, which happened over two decades ago, his career becomes even more successful, and he makes even more money. He feels utterly changed by her presence and can’t imagine life without her. She possesses the unique ability to cut through complications to find the truth of the matter at hand. She saves Andrew with her “humanity and warmth” along with her love and kindness. And she saves him by making a home for him.
This passage presents maybe the first glimpse of deeply felt emotion from Andrew, as he seems genuinely moved when he recalls how his late wife, Mildred, impacted him. Andrew’s descriptions implicitly suggest that something may have been missing from his life before he met Mildred and after she died, though Andrew does not expand on what that may have been.
Themes
In the fall of 1919, Mrs. Adelaide Howland and her daughter, Mildred, return from Europe. Mr. Howland had died of a lung condition while in Europe. They are originally from Albany, and the wife of one of Andrew’s colleagues throws a party for them to help reintroduce them to New York society. Andrew is overwhelmed by Mildred’s beauty when he first meets her. The two become close quickly. Mildred is drawn to art and literature but perhaps loves music the most. Her warmth and generosity impact everyone she meets.
After writing with genuine emotion about Mildred in the previous section, in this section, Andrew seems to treat her in a way that’s similar to how he treats all of the other figures in his autobiography. Namely, he seems to smooth out any of Mildred’s rough edges and gloss over any complications that may have occurred in their relationship.
Themes
Andrew bought a string of properties on East 87th Street years before he and Mildred marry. After they marry, Andrew demolishes the properties to build a large house, which takes two years to complete. Mildred becomes ill shortly after they move into their new home. She is always fatigued and is unable to keep up with social engagements. Since she can’t go to concerts, they begin to have private recitals in the house. As her health worsens, she starts reading mystery novels. Some of Andrew’s best memories are listening to her recount the plots of those books over dinner.
When discussing “home,” Andrew first thinks of business dealings and the string of properties he bought on East 87th Street that he would turn into a home. That points to the way that Andrew understands the world through business. More specifically, it shows how he filters his emotions through financial transactions to the point where he seems to focus on business while potentially losing touch with his emotions.
Themes
Mildred becomes interested in philanthropy just when her health begins to decline. She financially supports the opera, the symphony, and public libraries. In 1926, Andrew creates the Mildred Bevel Charitable Fund. Mildred’s illness is maybe the greatest challenge of Andrew’s life. He arranges for the best doctors in the country to see her. Her condition is advanced, and when Andrew tells her the prognosis, Mildred is filled with dread. He finds a sanatorium in Switzerland where patients with apparently incurable diseases miraculously recover. At the sanatorium, doctors and nurses are enamored with Mildred, and though she seems to be recovering, the director confirms that her disease is incurable. Still, the sanatorium is the best place for her to live out the rest of her days. One day, Andrew takes a day trip to Zürich for business. When he returns, he is told that Mildred has died.
Similar to how Andrew called the end of the Civil War the most difficult time in the history of his family’s business, he calls Mildred’s illness the greatest challenge in his life. That shows that he tends to take events that impact others—whether it’s intimate situations like a loved one’s illness or historical events—and make them about him. Andrew also frames himself as a hero in his telling of Mildred’s illness, as he does everything in his power to ensure that she has the best treatment. In Andrew’s telling, Mildred’s death seems like it is similar to the struggles that his ancestors faced, each of which paved the way for further triumphs.
Themes
Andrew believes that each person must fashion their life from the “shapeless block of the future.” Through each crisis, Andrew and his ancestors have come out stronger and have always kept the country’s interests at heart. That’s why Andrew is furious about the baseless rumors about his business practices. Success should be all the evidence necessary to prove that he and his family have always done right by the country. His actions undeniably contributed to the thriving U.S. economy of the 1920s, and there’s no evidence that a crash was inevitable in 1929.
Andrew again underlines the idea that, in his family, struggle begets triumph. The title of this particular section—“Prosperity and Its Enemies”—seems to insinuate that, from Andrew’s perspective, prosperity is one of the highest values and anything that diminishes prosperity (or, more pointedly, his prosperity) is an “enemy” and needs to be treated as such.
Themes
After World War I leaves Europe in ruins, it becomes clear that the future is in America. There’s incredible technological advancement in a relatively short period of time, but the true American industry is finance. Andrew helps usher in the “era of abundance” and restores confidence in the market after the recession of 1921 by buying sizeable amounts of shares in motor, railroad, and steel stocks. That is evidence of robustness, not, as some would later say, the beginning of a “bubble” that would burst with the crash of 1929. In 1922, Andrew also forms a friendly relationship with President Harding and helps him implement his campaign promise of “America First.” Tax cuts ensure that money won’t support politicians but will instead go back into business. Andrew is happy to have been able to lead America down the right path.
Andrew again describes himself in heroic terms, as he conceives of his exorbitant wealth as a “destiny fulfilled.” Andrew also describes a world in which one’s power is determined by the amount of money one has. In Andrew’s telling, those with other forms of power, including politicians like President Harding, are more or less puppets of the ultra-rich, as they enact policies shaped by the wealthy. “America First” is a slogan that has been used throughout U.S. history by various political parties and groups, particularly those associated with white supremacy. With that in mind, Diaz includes the phrase here to point again to the ways that Andrew has benefited from white supremacy and to tie Andrew’s life to contemporary U.S. politics.
Themes
Plenty of fiction has been written about Andrew’s role in the market, so he thinks it’s time to set the record straight. Andrew’s method for success relies on copious research and analysis as well as the expertise of statisticians and mathematicians. He then uses a system he began to work on with Professor Keene while at Yale, which he has gradually tweaked to reveal new algorithms throughout the years. Those algorithms are adaptable to a wide variety of business ventures.
Andrew presents his investment strategies as mathematically derived and seems to consider them a kind of science. Notably, when Andrew does that, he references the idea that rumors about him are “fiction.” Going forward, the novel will continue to examine the difference between truth and fiction and how each impacts the other.
Themes
Andrew writes that the market is never wrong, and it’s impossible to control it. “Greedy amateurs” and “bungling bureaucrats” are responsible for the crash of 1929. People take out loans left and right and gamble on the market with that money. Andrew is especially perturbed that women become heavily involved in investing in the market. To him, nothing more clearly leads to the crash than the influx of money from those naïve groups of investors who don’t know what they’re doing. But the Federal Reserve is also to blame. The signs of an impending recession are there for everyone to see. But only Andrew does something about it.
Andrew sets up a distinction between himself and those who are less wealthy than him, which amounts to a distinction between himself and the majority of Americans. In Andrew’s mind, his money is proof of his financial expertise, and that wealth and expertise justify his position at the top of a socioeconomic hierarchy. Andrew’s comments also make his sexism and misogyny clear, which raises the question of how Andrew’s misogyny might have impacted his marriage with Mildred.
Themes
Andrew always acts for the good of the country, even when it might seem like he’s doing the opposite. He takes short positions (essentially betting that stocks will decrease in value) because it’s the wise thing to do from a business perspective, but also to try and help correct the market. An article the next day in The New York Times seems to correctly place blame for the failing market on an overzealous public, but then it obliquely references Andrew’s actions and casts blame on him as well, which Andrew views as unjust. Instead, his actions safeguarded the U.S. economy and shielded it from the “dictatorial” federal government. The Dow hits a low of 41 on July 8, 1932. According to Andrew, the Banking Acts of 1933-1935 only serve to disturb the financial industry and are a gross overstep of power.
Andrew blames the 1929 crash on the general public and the federal government. He portrays himself not just as heroic but perhaps as one of the only enlightened people in a world of people less intelligent than him. He even calls the federal government “dictatorial,” which again makes Andrew seem like a righteous renegade fighting against tyranny and oppression. That depiction of Andrew as a renegade fighting for liberty, though, is hard to square with Andrew’s actual position as an exorbitantly wealthy businessman who seems to have no qualms with his and his family’s history of exploiting others to get what he wants.
Themes
According to Andrew, our lives revolve around profit. Each decision is a kind of transaction or negotiation. For example, each night we trade hours when we could make a profit for rest, which will renew strength. It is natural that one always wants greater wealth; like animals, we either “strive or fade.” It’s our survival instinct that drives us.
Again, Andrew sees the entire world through the lens of business. According to him, business is an outgrowth of Darwinian ideas of survival and, by extension, natural selection. With that in mind, Andrew again propounds a worldview in which he, by virtue of his wealth, is superior to everyone else. That worldview seems to be close to “social Darwinism,” a pseudoscientific idea embraced by the Nazis, among others, to justify racism and eugenics.
Themes
