Bringing Down the House Text Analysis

In the book, Bringing Down the House, the author expresses the central idea: greed can lead to consequences and risks. One of the major ways he conveys the central idea is through his use of the literary element, tone.

The main character, Kevin Lewis, is an MIT student who is also a genius. He is chosen to join a private group of MIT students who go to casinos and play blackjack and win mass amounts of money. Kevin is made aware of all the ways and secrets this team of students use to win. The problem, though, is that he is card-counting which can get him into a lot of trouble. His nonchalant personality shows how unaware of the risks and consequences he is. At first, Kevin manages to win thousands of dollars and is living a lavish lifestyle. Once he gets into Vegas, Kevin begins to get kicked out of the casinos because they are becoming aware of his card-counting. Luckily, he is able to leave the premises of these casinos without getting into any legal trouble. Foolishly, he takes the risks and gets caught once again and is then threatened to never come back. In the book he is always going back into the casinos despite what he is told. Eventually, he gets caught and is put into a situation that was difficult to get out of. His tone, helps the reader understand his level of greed and how he is putting his life into extreme danger.

The author mentions during the book that Kevin and his teammates were threatened to be killed if they stepped foot in the casinos again. In Vegas at one of the casinos, none of the teammates wanted to go back inside to exchange the chips for money. Since nobody wanted to go back in, Kevin was asked to go. He was once again in a very risky situation although his greed outweighed the consequences so he decided to go. His tone is very cool making him seem calm and collect. He gets the job done but is caught and is yelled at. He ends up getting away, but as a result of making the decision to go back, all the casinos in vegas