The Mosquito Coast

Fat Boy, for Charlie in particular, represents his father’s mind. It represents what Allie can achieve because of the unique nature of his intelligence. However, the inner, mechanical workings of Fat Boy, labyrinthine as they are, remind Charlie of his father’s brain because they are tangled and convoluted. Charlie once believed that his father’s thought processes were so superior to his own that he couldn’t possibly comprehend his genius, but he comes to see his father as flawed and, like Fat Boy, unpredictable and combustible.

Allie uses the term “scavengers” in a consistently disparaging way throughout the novel, and his inability to recognize his personification of the actions and behaviors defined by the term are evidence of his egotism and disconnect from reality. From the beginning of the novel, the Foxes are scavengers, picking garbage from the landfill, sourcing discarded materials from the remnants of Weerwilly’s Jeronimo, and relying upon objects washed up by the tides in the lagoon. Allie is incapable of recognizing when he exhibits the same traits he claims to despise in others. Allie’s dislike of the vultures, which features more heavily in the latter sections of the novel, is in part due to their scavenging approach to feeding.