Chapter 1 Summary

Mosquito Coast recounts the adventures of Allie Fox, a brilliant, talkative, irascible, manic inventor. Fox is a mass of contradictions, disdaining religion and American pop culture but refusing to buy foreign products. When Fox is unappreciated at work, he impulsively decides to move the family to the tropics. In Honduras, Fox purchases Jeronimo, a remote settlement where he creates a comfortable village. However, Fox becomes deceptive and delusional, and he ultimately destroys all he's built. As Fox leads his family into the jungle, he becomes more mentally unbalanced, ultimately causing his own destruction.

In the beginning of the chapter, Charlie Fox's father, Allie Fox, drives past the mansion of Allie's employer, Tiny Polski, and into the tiny Massachusetts town of Northampton. The entire time, Charlie's father talks about the savages and how awful America is. When they pass the migrant workers who harvest...