Leverage is having something that another person wants. Often times it is money. Throughout the book Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, by Ben Fountain, the main protagonist struggles with leverage, partially because he usually does not have it. Billy Lynn is a soldier in the army. He and his Bravo squad are being paraded around the country before they have to go back to war. Fiona Allon takes uses those ideas in her essay Everyday Leverage, or Leveraging the Everyday and connects them to finances and other parts of life. She comes to the conclusion that leverage is not just a part of life, but it is everything in life. I agree with Allon that leverage is a key part of daily interactions and through Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk this can clearly
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One example of this is when Billy is explaining his father’s extramarital affairs and he says “Extramarital sex wasn 't the terrible family secret, neither the screwing around nor the evidence thereof, the surfacing after his stroke of the alleged teenage daughter and the lawsuit facing after for acknowledgement of paternity and child support” (pg. 77). This quote represents leverage in several ways. It is assumed that these things came out after the stroke. The women who had an affair with Ray (Billy’s father) used the situation Ray was in to leverage against them and start a lawsuit. She took the knowledge that Ray had a stroke to sue and win money. Another example of leverage being used against the Lynn family is when Denis (One of his sisters) is talking with Billy about medical bills and says “Mom wants to take a loan out on the house. She says there’s a hundred, hundred ten equity into it and she’s like, no way, you can file for bankruptcy and wipe out most of the medical bills, plus you get to keep the house. But if she does the equity loan and then can 't make the payments, she and dad lose the house. And even with the money from the equity loan, They’re still gonna owe a ton of medical bills” (Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, pg. 85). This shows the leverage that the bank has over the Lynn family, especially the mother. Now the mother does technically have options, but the …show more content…
Often times Billy Lynn is being used as leverage for some purpose, but other times leveraged is being used against him. One example of this is the Dallas group that would protect Billy if we wanted to leave the army. His sister, Kathryn, wants him to leave and she calls him to talk about leaving. Billy does not want to talk about it and she says, ““Just listen, please, Billy, just listen for a minute. I talked to them twice, they’re good people, they know what they’re doing. They’ve got lawyers, resources, they aren’t a bunch of flakes. And they really want to help you. They’ve been hoping somebody like you would reach out.” “Somebody like me.” “A war hero. Somebody the movement could really rally behind.”” (Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, pg. 253). Billy Lynn does not like being used, and the Dallas group is a group that wants to use Billy as leverage in a fight against the wars that are taking place. Billy does not want to become a symbol. Another example of leverage being used against Billy is when he attacked his Kathryn 's ex fiance 's car. When he goes to court he says, “The DA agreed to drop the felony charge down to criminal mischief if Billy joined the Army, which seemed as good a place as any to be sloughed off, better than jail and being raped every night by guys with names like Preacher and Hawg” (Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, pg.19). Even though this was Billy’s choice to join the army this was the DA
One example of this is when Billy is explaining his father’s extramarital affairs and he says “Extramarital sex wasn 't the terrible family secret, neither the screwing around nor the evidence thereof, the surfacing after his stroke of the alleged teenage daughter and the lawsuit facing after for acknowledgement of paternity and child support” (pg. 77). This quote represents leverage in several ways. It is assumed that these things came out after the stroke. The women who had an affair with Ray (Billy’s father) used the situation Ray was in to leverage against them and start a lawsuit. She took the knowledge that Ray had a stroke to sue and win money. Another example of leverage being used against the Lynn family is when Denis (One of his sisters) is talking with Billy about medical bills and says “Mom wants to take a loan out on the house. She says there’s a hundred, hundred ten equity into it and she’s like, no way, you can file for bankruptcy and wipe out most of the medical bills, plus you get to keep the house. But if she does the equity loan and then can 't make the payments, she and dad lose the house. And even with the money from the equity loan, They’re still gonna owe a ton of medical bills” (Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, pg. 85). This shows the leverage that the bank has over the Lynn family, especially the mother. Now the mother does technically have options, but the …show more content…
Often times Billy Lynn is being used as leverage for some purpose, but other times leveraged is being used against him. One example of this is the Dallas group that would protect Billy if we wanted to leave the army. His sister, Kathryn, wants him to leave and she calls him to talk about leaving. Billy does not want to talk about it and she says, ““Just listen, please, Billy, just listen for a minute. I talked to them twice, they’re good people, they know what they’re doing. They’ve got lawyers, resources, they aren’t a bunch of flakes. And they really want to help you. They’ve been hoping somebody like you would reach out.” “Somebody like me.” “A war hero. Somebody the movement could really rally behind.”” (Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, pg. 253). Billy Lynn does not like being used, and the Dallas group is a group that wants to use Billy as leverage in a fight against the wars that are taking place. Billy does not want to become a symbol. Another example of leverage being used against Billy is when he attacked his Kathryn 's ex fiance 's car. When he goes to court he says, “The DA agreed to drop the felony charge down to criminal mischief if Billy joined the Army, which seemed as good a place as any to be sloughed off, better than jail and being raped every night by guys with names like Preacher and Hawg” (Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, pg.19). Even though this was Billy’s choice to join the army this was the DA