American Heroes in Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff depicts the lives of some of America's most famous pilots and its first astronauts. These men include Pete Conrad, Chuck Yeager, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Shirra, Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper, Scott Carpenter, and Deke Sleyton. Some of these men were successful test pilots at Edwards Air Force Base, and some flew cargo planes. Some had impeccable service records, while others had never been in a real dog fight for even a second. Despite these differences in backgrounds and credentials, Tom Wolfe turns each of these nine men into a separate, individualized hero. Chuck Yeager and John Glenn are probably the most memorable of The Right Stuff's nine pilots. Chuck Yeager was a hillbilly from West Virginia, who at age 22 had 13 1/2 "kills" during World War II. Yeager made a name for himself by being the first man to reach Mach 1, the speed of sound. John Glenn was an All-American Navy pilot. Glenn was a religious family man ready to do everything he could for his country. It became the symbol of the American Mercury Project. Yeager and Glenn are two great examples of American heroes of the 1950s and 1960s. In The Right Stuff, Wolfe presents these men in such a way as to reignite the enthusiasm they sparked. Wolfe uses many tools in his recreation of these real-life heroes, including funny anecdotes, the words and thoughts of the characters, and the opinions of others. In many cases, Wolfe uses anecdotes to reveal parts of a character's personality or to show their personality. influence on others. An example of this occurs when Wolfe states that the airline pilots' voices are modeled after Chuck Yeager's voice. Wo... halfway through the paper... ...he wonders, "What the hell was he talking about? I don't think any of us could really go through with something like that... What's possible?" a wife's attitude could make a difference in whether one takes a giant step toward the great ziggurat" (95). This thought once again shows the other six astronauts' perception of Glenn as an outsider. he followed the rules of those who had the right stuff; stealing the show and drawing attention away from them Tom Wolfe is a master at recreating the people and events of Project Mercury brings out all the excitement that every astronaut produced during the era. Uses anecdotes, the words of the characters and the opinions of others to separate the characters and present them as an individual hero. Works cited: Wolfe, Tom, 1979.