Stone Cold Fox

The novel, though involving many wealthy characters and following Bea’s obsession with accumulating wealth, balances the benefits of wealth and social status against more concrete attributes, such as learnable skills, broad socialization, and raw intelligence. Wealth provides many benefits for the characters in the novel, but it also comes with significant flaws that complicate the lives of the individuals in the narrative.

Early in the novel, the issue of wealth and social status is presented as an impediment to Bea’s entry into the Case family, with Collin telling her, “Look, dating outside of our circle is always scandalous with families like ours, but that’s so old-fashioned” (97). The taboo against dating outside of “old money” families is both a protection and a detriment, as characters like Gale and Haven can see how people outside their circle might infiltrate it for money alone, while those like Collin crave broader socialization. The antiquated nature of the “old money” families is implicitly hierarchical, much like royal families or aristocracy, in which its members lack social skills outside the etiquette of their own sphere. This paradigm is epitomized in characters like Calliope and Dave, who deviate significantly from the norm, but they do so by remaining childlike and impetuous.