Drive and Ambition

Table for Two is deeply interested in the reasons behind individual actions, particularly as they relate to a desire to get ahead in the world. Throughout the collection, Towles takes a skeptical view of ambition and avarice, pointing out that they often rob people of the very pleasures which they seek to earn. However, his criticism of the individuals who perform these actions is tempered by his situating of them in the broader constellations of American capitalism and the grip it has on the collective psyche.

Several of the stories, as well as the novella "Eve in Hollywood," are dedicated to observations on success and the ultimately closed paths that ambition leads to when it becomes ruthless. In each of "The Ballad of Timothy Touchett," "The Bootlegger," and "The DiDomenico Fragment," the ambitions of a given character (Timothy, Tommy, and Percy, respectively) cause them...