Cultural Divisions

Throughout A Fistful of Fig Newtons, characters are divided into groups and separated out from others by these cultural groups. Umbaugh represents a clan of literary intelligentsia, while Big Al represents a clan of sportsmen. At the summer camp, the first-year campers are separated out as Chipmunks, while the older boys are Beavers. Inevitably, these groups come into conflict. Chipmunks are reviled by Beavers because the Chipmunks are different. They are "others" that the Beavers can intimidate and harass. Similarly, Umbaugh and Big Al have mutual distain for each other.

In the army, the soldiers in different occupations feel a sense of superiority in their own group. The radar company that the narrator belongs to is derided by an engineer that the narrator talks to while on KP duty. The narrator wishes that he could let Zynzmeister go to town on the engineer, verbally destroying the engineering...