nevertheless since Mailer had already spent their advance. Since the book is highly metaphorical, Mailer suggested to Minton that he include a statement that explained as much in a press release: "Norman Mailer is saying, 'This perhaps is what we Americans are like, and this may be one of the reasons we're engaged in such a war.' " Characters Randy D.J. Jethroe—The narrator and protagonist of the novel, he recalls the trip to Alaska while at a dinner for him in Dallas, Texas, the night before he is shipped off to Vietnam. Tex Hyde—D.J.'s best friend, who represents the conservative Texan. He and D.J. are hyper-masculine, crude and unrefined together, but the story shows the depths of their friendship. Rusty Jethroe—Rusty's father and an executive of a cigarette filter company. He organizes the hunting trip in order to ensure his dominance among other men. He is "the cream of corporation corporateness" and the embodiment of all that has led America into the Vietnam War. M.A. Pete and M.A. Bill—"Medium Assholes", or yes-men, as opposed to Rusty who is a "High-Grade Asshole". Rusty brings them along to help with the hunt and as witnesses to his masculine power. Big Luke Fellinka—The hunting expedition's guide, he has a lot of knowledge of Alaska's Brooks Range and dictates when and what they hunt. He is also a conformist and capitalist conservative. Summary Why Are We in Vietnam? is set on the evening before its protagonist and narrator D.J. leaves for the war in Vietnam. The bulk of the narrative follows Ranald "D.J." Jethroe, his friend Tex Hyde, and his father Rusty on a hunting trip in Alaska that had happened two years previously. The book begins by introducing the families of D.J. and Tex before the hunt. Both families have deep Texas bloodlines and both characters possess gritty and dogged appearances and mannerisms. Soon they reach the Brooks Mountain Range, where they will hunt for several days, hoping to bag a prize grizzly bear. Using a massive assortment of guns, they bring down Dall rams, wolves, and caribou. They finally shoot a pair of bears, but the following day Rusty convinces his son, D.J., to go hunting on their own to ensure a higher chance of killing a bear. Filled with terror they follow a grizzly track and have intimate father-son conversations when suddenly a bear comes out of nowhere and nearly kills