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Ida’s Father
Harold Vanner is the author of the novel-within-the-novel Bonds. Andrew describes Harold as an acquaintance of Mildred, but Ida finds Harold’s name multiple times in Mildred’s calendar. Harold’s initials also appear in Mildred’s diary as someone who maintains an active correspondence with her, suggesting that he and Mildred were closer than Andrew knew or let on. Andrew initially decides to write an autobiography because he wants to counter Harold’s portrayal of Mildred and Andrew’s role in the crash of 1929. To try and punish Harold for what he wrote in Bonds, Andrew buys the company that publishes the novel to ensure no one will be able to read it and buries Harold in lawsuits. Andrew tries to wipe Harold and Bonds out of the public record and history, showing how Andrew uses his financial resources to distort and change reality to suit his own purposes.
Harold Vanner Quotes in Trust
The Trust quotes below are all either spoken by Harold Vanner or refer to Harold Vanner. 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:
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Book 1, Part 1 Quotes
Because he had enjoyed almost every advantage since birth, one of the few privileges denied to Benjamin Rask was that of a heroic rise: his was not a story of resilience and perseverance or the tale of an unbreakable will forging a golden destiny for itself out of little more than dross. According to the back of the Rask family Bible, in 1662 his father’s ancestors had migrated from Copenhagen to Glasgow, where they started trading in tobacco from the Colonies.
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This description comes from the opening lines of Harold Vanner’s novel-within-the-novel, Bonds. In this quote, Harold utilizes subtle irony to ridicule Benjamin’s worldview. In particular, the quote frames Benjamin’s wealth as if it’s a detriment to Benjamin because it deprives him of a “heroic rise” instead of focusing on the obvious privileges that that wealth gives him. Harold describes Benjamin’s wealth in that way to satirize the tendency of Benjamin, and other wealthy people, to look for any opportunity to characterize themselves as underdogs when they are anything but. In this case, Harold suggests that Benjamin laughably considers himself underprivileged Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ip
Those who accused him of being excessively frugal failed to understand that, in truth, he had no appetites to repress.
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After Benjamin graduates from college and becomes more involved in the family business, he isn’t sure what to do with his vast wealth. This stage of Benjamin’s life represents his coming of age, and Harold portrays his life as empty and devoid of passion. In that telling, Benjamin has no visible outer life because he has no inner life. That portrayal contradicts popular conceptions of charismatic, passionate “Great Men.” It’s also at odds with the image that Andrew paints of himself in his autobiography, in which he says he’s the perfect combination of being socially adept and academically gifted. Because Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molest
He became fascinated by the contortions of money—how it could be made to bend back upon itself to be force-fed its own body. The isolated, self-sufficient nature of speculation spoke to his character and was a source of wonder and an end in itself, regardless of what his earnings represented or afforded him.
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As Benjamin continues to work at the family business, he becomes more and more interested in the company’s finances and investments. Harold describes money as a living thing and investing as an almost grotesque kind of ouroboros (the image of a snake eating its own tail). The idea that money is an end in itself counters the general conception of money as a means to an end, or something that one tries to accrue to get the things (goods or services) one actually wants. The wonder that Benjamin feels with regard to money makes money seem almost divine or godlike. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusan
Book 1, Part 3 Quotes
As the city sank into the depression that followed the crash, Helen found it harder to leave the house. She knew that looking away from the destitute families, the breadlines, the shuttered stores, and the despair in every thinning face was a gross form of self-indulgence, but she also understood that the anguish she felt when confronted by this bleak reality was yet another of her luxuries. Helen had to acknowledge this paradox each time she went for a walk—until what would become her last excursion south of the park. She experienced something different that afternoon. It started with a concave oppression in her chest. A disturbance in the air. She was unable to understand what brought about that dread until she realized she felt watched. Stares. Scowls. Whispers. Everywhere. Smirks. Slurs. Hisses. Everywhere. It was plausible, even expected, that some people would recognize and despise her. But everyone?
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After Benjamin becomes embroiled in scandal due to his role in the crash of 1929, Helen begins to think that people are judging her wherever she goes. The quote describes the concrete impacts of the 1929 crash and the ensuing Great Depression, including breadlines and faces thinned by poverty and starvation. Those concrete descriptions are contrasted with Andrew’s fascination with the abstractions of money and investing to show that Andrew’s actions have real, tangible consequences, whether he grapples with those consequences or not. The quote also depicts Helen as morally sensitive while Andrew seems to have no sense of right Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque erro
Book 3, Part 1 Quotes
After reading [Bonds], I felt prepared for my first interview with Andrew Bevel. Even more: although it was a work of fiction, the book had convinced me that I was in possession of some essential truth about his life. I was still unable to see just what this truth might be, but this did not prevent me from believing I had, somehow, the upper hand.
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Ida reflects on reading Harold Vanner’s novel Bonds before her first meeting with Andrew for her job as the ghostwriter of his autobiography. Ida’s observation that Bonds gives her some essential truth about Andrew’s life, even though it’s a work of fiction, points to the novel’s ideas about the power of fiction. Namely, the novel argues that fiction can contain truths that provide insight into the inner workings of real life, often in ways that ostensibly nonfiction works cannot. That idea underlines the metatextual nature of the novel. A metatextual novel is, roughly stated, a novel in which the book Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Si
Book 3, Part 3 Quotes
It seems that more than vindicating Mildred [Andrew] wanted to turn her into a completely unremarkable, safe character—just like the wives in the autobiographies of the Great Men I read during that time to come up with Bevel’s voice. Put her in her place.
Perhaps this is what Harold Vanner tried to do in his way as well. Why present that broken image of Mildred in his novel? This is a question I have asked myself again and again since first reading Bonds. Why make her mad when she was obviously so lucid? […] He broke her mind and her body simply because it made for a better story (a story he could not resist telling, even if it debased her and, in the end, destroyed him). He forced her into the stereotype of fated heroines throughout history, made to offer the spectacle of their own ruin. Put her in her place.
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In the mid-1980s, Ida reflects on the ways that both Andrew and Harold subjugated Mildred to suit their aims. According to Ida, Andrew did that in his autobiography because he didn’t want Mildred’s legacy to challenge his status as a “Great American Man.” To achieve that, he erased Mildred’s remarkable characteristics and turned her into a forgettable person who existed solely to serve him. Later, readers learn that Mildred was more intellectually capable than Andrew and was the mastermind behind Andrew’s most significant transactions. By putting Mildred “in her place” in his autobiography, Andrew misogynistically punished her in an attempt Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a des
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Harold Vanner Character Timeline in Trust
The timeline below shows where the character Harold Vanner appears in Trust. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 3, Part 1
...from his drawer and shows it to Ida. It’s a novel called Bonds by Harold Vanner. He says it was published last year ago and that Vanner was an acquaintance of...
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...thinks that she and Helen have strikingly similar life stories. But she doesn’t understand why Vanner chose to submit Helen to such a gruesome fate at the end of the book....
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Book 3, Part 2
...into circulation, so no one will have access to it. He has also sued Harold Vanner several times over. He doesn’t expect to win the lawsuits, but at least they will...
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Book 3, Part 3
...gives her a different image of Mildred from the one that either Andrew or Harold Vanner depicted. She begins to suspect that the true Mildred might be in those differences. After...
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...notebooks, Ida finds pages torn out and formulas she can’t read. She also sees Harold Vanner’s name on the guestlists for three distinct small dinner parties.
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...scene. At the library, she looks for Bonds but doesn’t find any work by Harold Vanner. She thinks that Andrew, one of the library’s largest donors, must have bent reality to...
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...forcefully as those in Bonds. He says of course not; he wanted to confront Harold Vanner because of the scope of Bonds and the particular lies in that book. He also...
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Book 4
...would be, and she’s happy for once that a secret of hers got out. Harold Vanner writes with gossip from New York. And another person writes asking for business advice. Mildred...
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