The Bonfire of the Vanities Lesson Plan

What is the significance of the Prologue in relation to our themes of race and privilege, and how does it contrast with Sherman McCoy's world?

The Prologue serves as an introduction to both the minor character, the Mayor, and the significant one, Reverend Bacon, while also setting the stage for the novel's backdrop of heightened racial tensions. This environment stands in stark contrast to Sherman McCoy's insulated, high-status world. In McCoy's world, concerns about race hardly register, as he becomes consumed by his fixations on wealth, sex, and social standing. The domestic turmoil he faces seems completely removed from the simmering discontent in Harlem, with only...