A Man In Full

Croker Concourse is a 40-story tall skyscraper built by Charlie in Cherokee County, Atlanta. A vanity project for Charlie, the building symbolizes his hubris or exaggerated pride. While Charlie has gone to morally questionable lengths to acquire the land for the building, the fact that the building is hemorrhaging money shows that Charlie’s hubris is set for a fall. The tower of his vanity is meant to topple. To establish the extent of Charlie’s hubris, Croker Concourse itself is built as a hyperbole. Charlie notes that the building comprises a tower, a mall, and a domed ceiling containing a sprawling dining club and a planetarium. Stunning as the building is, Charlie cannot bear to look at the “dead elephant” (332).

Like Croker Concourse, Turpmtine is a symbol of Charlie’s excess and his hankering for a bygone era. Turpmtine, a corruption of the word “turpentine,” is so named because of its pine forests; turpentine is a resin derived from pine trees. Unlike Croker Concourse, which Charlie has come to dislike, Turpmtine still dominates his heart. That is because more than hubris, Turpmtine also symbolizes an old kind of masculinity for Charlie. Turpmtine is where Charlie can be himself: lord of the manor, benevolent employer, hunter, farmer, and tycoon.