American Heros in Tom Wolfes The Right Stuff Essay examples -- Righ

American Heros in Tom Wolfes The Right Stuff Tom Wolfes The Right Stuff depicts the lives of some of Americas hottest pilots and its commencement exercise astronauts. These men include Pete Conrad, Chuck Yeager, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Shirra, Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper, Scott Carpenter and Deke Sleyton. whatsoever of these men were hotshot test pilots at Edwards Air Force Base, and some flew cargo planes. Some had impeccable service records, while others hadnt flown in a real dog fight for even a second. Despite these differences in backgrounds and credentials, Tom Wolfe turns individually of these golf club men into a separate and individualized hero. Chuck Yeager and John Glenn are probably the most memorable of the nine pilots in The Right Stuff. Chuck Yeager was a hillbilly from West Virginia, who by the age of 22 had 13 1/2 kills in World War II. Yeager made a name for himself by being the first man to reach Mach 1, the speed of sound. John Glenn was an all-America n Marine pilot. Glenn was a religious family man who was ready to do anything he could for his country. He became the circuit board boy for Americas Mercury Project. Yeager and Glenn are two fine examples of American heroes of the 1950s and 1960s. In The Right Stuff, Wolfe presents these men in such a way that the excitement they started is rekindled. Wolfe uses many another(prenominal) tools in his recreation of these real-life heroes, including entertaining anecdotes, the characters own words and thoughts, and the opinions of others. In several instances, Wolfe uses anecdotes to reveal parts of a characters personality or to show his influence upon others. adept example of this occurs when Wolfe mentions that the voices of airline pilots are modeled after the voice of Chuck Yeager. Wo... ...nks to himself, What the hell was he talking about. I dont think any of us could genuinely go on with something like this...What possible difference could a wifes attitude make about the o pportunity for a giant step up the expectant ziggurat (95). This thought again shows the other six astronauts perception of Glenn as an outsider. He didnt follow the rules of those who had the right stuff he was stealing the show and say the attention away from them. Tom Wolfe is a master of recreating the people and events of the Mercury Project. In The Right Stuff he brings out all the excitement that each astronaut produced during the era. He uses anecdotes, the characterss own words, and the opinions of others to separate the characters and present each as an individual hero. Works CitedWolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff. New York Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1979.