Bagombo Snuff Box Short Story Guide

In “Bagombo Snuff Box”, the reader is introduced to Eddie Laird, a World War Two Veteran who’s back in town after thirty years away. Laird visits his ex-wife, Amy, who’s now married to Harry, a “credit manager for a department store”.

Laird impresses Amy and her husband with his tales of life abroad, particularly with his accounts of his time in Bagombo, where had had “twenty-six rooms and twelve servants”. However, when Laird gives Amy a snuff box allegedly from Bagombo, his story begins to unravel. Amy’s son, Stevie, takes a look at the snuff box and begins questioning Laird’s knowledge of Bagombo, after admitting that Stevie is supposedly right about the real location of the place, Laird leaves his ex-wife’s home in shame. At the end of the story, Laird phones his wife in Levittown, Long Island, New York. Through the course of the phone call it’s revealed that Laird, instead of being a globe trotting adventurer, is involved in selling potato chips and has three children.

Bagombo

Laird impresses Amy and Harry with his tales of the high life in Bagombo. In particular, Harry begins to envy Laird’s living quarters in the place, with Laird admitting that twelve servants and over twenty rooms just couldn’t make him happy. The snuff box which Laird gives to Amy, and is allegedly from Bagombo, causes the family to doubt Laird’s story, after Steve spots the words “Made in Japan” on the bottom of the box. It seems that there’s no such place as Bagombo.

The Cruise of the Jolly Roger

First published in a local West Barnstaple magazine, Vonnegut's The Cruise of the Jolly Roger has been described by Jerome Klinkowitz as an "innocuous little story". In today's blog post, you'll find a summary of the short story, as well as information on the settings discussed.

The Cruise of the Jolly Roger Summary

Major Nathan Durant has returned to the United States, after being injured by an enemy projectile while fighting in Korea. Along and feeling without purpose in the army hospital, Durant borrows the dream of a fellow patient and decides to travel to Cape Cod in a cabin cruiser christened “The Jolly Roger”. Durant meets with artists in Chatham, Cape Cod, but is ready to return to the hospital after he finds himself unable to articulate his experiences of war. After realising that an old army buddy, who died during World War Two, lived in a nearby village, Durant decides to stick around and make a few enquiries about his friend, George Pefko. After being informed that Pefko has a small plot of land named after him, known as the George Pefko Memorial Square, Durant watches the village’s parade with Annie, a local girl from a nearby law office. Tom, a boy who’s part of the parade, lays down flowers on Pefko’s square, and when asked by Annie why he’s doing so, he replies:

“He died fighting so we could be safe and free. And we’re thanking him with flowers, because it was a nice thing to do.”

After seeing the “beauty and importance of a village at peace”, Durant gets back his “old spark”, which he believed had left him after leaving the army, and invites Annie to lunch.