Mr. Whaley Character Analysis in Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

The boss of Denise, Billy's mother. Mr. Whaley offers Billy a minimum wage job and to throw him a parade, but has offers no other response when Kathryn points out that Billy is going to be forced to redeploy and might die. Billy, meanwhile, realizes that he is just a peon to the rich Mr. Whaley, but that Mr. Whaley is just a peon to the truly rich people that Billy met during the Victory Tour.

Mr. Whaley Quotes in Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

The Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Whaley or refer to Mr. Whaley. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Fantasy vs. Reality in the Media Theme Icon

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Ecco edition of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk published in 2012.

Billy rattled off the cities. Washington, Richmond, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Columbus, Denver, Kansas City, Raleigh-Durham, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Miami, and practically every one, as Sergeant Dime pointed out, happened to lie in an electoral swing state.

Related Characters: (speaker), , , ,

Page Number and Citation: 88

Explanation and Analysis:

The Mr. Whaleys of the world are peons to them, just as Billy is a peon in the world of Mr. Whaley, which in the grand scheme of things means that he, Billy, is somewhere on the level of a one-celled protozoan in a vast river flowing into the untold depths of the sea.

Related Characters: , ,

Page Number and Citation: 91

Explanation and Analysis:

Mr. Whaley Character Timeline in Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

The timeline below shows where the character Mr. Whaley appears in Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...fits of laughter. Kathryn refuses to take them off and is still wearing them when Mr. Whaley , Denise's boss, arrives. Mr. Whaley is very obviously astounded at Kathryn's leggy, tanned body... (full context)

Denise and Mr. Whaley join the Lynn children outside, and Mr. Whaley asks Billy about the war and his... (full context)

Mr. Whaley offers Billy a job in the oil fields upon his return, and Billy feels as... (full context)

...sending Billy to Iraq in the first place. Kathryn points out the dark absurdity that Mr. Whaley wants to throw a parade when Billy might die, and Billy considers the changes that... (full context)