Thank You for Smoking

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1994

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 9

Chapters 10-19

Chapter 20-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Background

Political Context: Washington’s Halls of Power

The Mod Squad’s members are headquartered in Washington, DC: the seat of United States federal government and the setting where they engage with elected officials in congressional offices, in subcommittee hearing rooms, and on shared stages at public meetings and media events. As lobbyists, their role is persuading legislators to vote for or develop legislation that favors the industries they represent—even when research, much of it funded by federal agencies, points to the detrimental effects of their products. While the specific organizations the Mod Squad members work for are fictitious, they parallel and satirize real-world organizations, such as the National Rifle Association, which lobbies on behalf of the gun industry.

As detailed in the novel, lobbying is a lucrative field, and there are significant financial incentives for industries to manipulate—or “spin”—research that casts them in a negative light. Buckley highlights the wealth behind the lobbying industry when he describes Nick’s workplace on Avenue K, in the heart of Washington’s legislative activity, as having

a ten-story atrium with balconies dripping with ivy. The overall effect was that of an inside-out corporate Hanging Gardens of Babylon. A huge neo-deco-classical fountain on the ground floor provided a continuous and soothing flow of splashing white noise (7).

The Academy occupies the top three floors of the building, a testimony to its eminence and the amount of money certain industries are willing to invest in persuading lawmakers.

The three Mod Squad members are accustomed to appearing within the walls of Congress to represent the viewpoints of their industries. Though Nick is the chief spokesperson for his industry, anti-smoking legislators do not like to allow him to testify because he is so good at manipulating the truth. Buckley’s description captures the aura of importance and power the setting conveys:

It made you feel that for a brief, shining moment, you’ve taken part in the great serial drama of American history. The bright TV lights, the pitcher and glass of water, the green felt tabletop, the hum and thrum of the spectators, the senators trying to look like Roman busts, the crab-scuttling of their aides as they pretended to avoid the TV cameras (208).

The author is no stranger to the politics and power he explores and satirizes. Christopher Buckley is the son of William F. Buckley Jr., a well-known conservative political commentator. The elder Buckley was known for his wit and insight into the minds of his opponents, which he often displayed in verbal sparring matches on television and in panel discussions. Buckley reflects his father’s legacy through the character of the Captain, who commands a similar level of respect and has immense influence as a mentor to Nick.

Cultural Context: Hollywood’s Royalty

Los Angeles is another important setting in the novel that, like Washington, DC, represents power and influence—but cultural influence, rather than political. While lobbyists like Nick typically engage with legislators, his plan to increase tobacco placement in film requires him to persuade a different type of powerful figure: Jeff Megall, a Hollywood agent/producer whom Buckley frames as quasi-royalty. Moguls like Megall not only have the power to summon A-list actors, decide on directors, and change the scripts of movies even as they enter production, but they also have the power to negotiate the placement of products in film and on television—such as actors smoking cigarettes. Product placement has financial benefits for all involved: the actors, who can command a fee for agreeing; the industry, which enjoys increased exposure for their product; and the moguls who make it all happen and often negotiate product tie-ins, such as Megall’s suggestion to launch a line of cigarettes based on the film they appear in.

Nick’s experiences in Los Angeles also contrast with his experiences in Washington, DC, and highlight the opulence and wealth of Hollywood’s decision makers: Buckley describes white limousines, elegant hotel rooms, private elevators, and elaborate décor. Through this imagery and focus on obvious displays of wealth and status, the author intends to convey that moguls like Jeff are of regal importance.

While “Hollywood” and “celebrity” go hand-in-hand, Buckley’s narrative emphasizes that elite figures in fact have more power than the celebrities they represent. At one point, Jeff’s assistant rushes Nick past Sean Connery—an A-list actor best known for playing the first James Bond—who, despite his status, must wait on Jeff to finish his phone conversation with the richest man in the world, a sultan known for crimes against humanity.

If Nick is to achieve his goal to increase smoking on film, moguls with influence—and malleable ethics—like Jeff are exactly whom he must persuade.

Historical Context: North Carolina’s Tobacco Heritage

Equal in opulence to Jeff’s world, though more traditional and steeped in Southern culture, is the Tobacco Club in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where Nick meets the Captain. Constructed in the Greek Revival style, Buckley writes, it had been “built by the tobacco barons in the 1890s so that they would have a place to get away from their wives” (54). When the Captain arrives, servants fret over him in a manner reminiscent of antebellum plantation owners. Indeed, while he is in the Tobacco Club, the Captain makes numerous references to the Old South, the Civil War, and even Appomattox.

The club itself is a relic of the past glories of tobacco, decorated with original art depicting the transition of tobacco use over the decades. Buckley intends to compare the decline of tobacco’s influence to the decline of the South, ending in its ultimate defeat during the Civil War. The author represents the Captain as the last bastion, clinging to the glory of the bright leaf. Tobacco, through the efforts of Nick, is fighting its last, losing battle.

Ironically, one of the largest employers in Durham, North Carolina, is Duke University Medical Center, a position previously held by Duke Tobacco. The same is true in Winston-Salem, with Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital—the hospital underwritten by tobacco baron R. J. Reynolds and mentioned in the novel as the final treatment facility of the Captain. The hospital supplanted Reynolds Tobacco as the city’s largest employer when most cigarette production moved out of the United States. These two tobacco-founded, exponentially growing hospitals treat the clients of their community’s previous tobacco employers.