What Does the Title Mean?

The meaning behind the title A Man in Full may be confusing to some viewers. The Netflix limited series stars Jeff Daniels as the real-estate billionaire Charlie Croker whose empire begins to crumble. For six episodes, we see everything that he has worked for dissolve under the weight of massive debt. So for all intents and purposes, it would have made sense for the show to be called “A Man in Freefall,” but the name of the series seems to imply the opposite. Here’s an explanation of what A Man in Full means in context.

What is the meaning of A Man in Full?

The general meaning of A Man in Full is a man in his prime who is larger than life, but it’s more than that. It comes from a turn of phrase by author Tom Wolfe, who wrote the book of the same name that the series is based on.

The phrase “a man in full” is referenced in the prologue of the novel and reveals that the name Charlie Croker derives from the lyrics of a fictional folk song about a local legend. A passage states that Charlie Croker was a “Pecos Bill figure with curly blond hair who, according to local legend, had accomplished daring feats of strength.” Pecos Bill, similar to Paul Bunyan and John Henry, is a fictional cowboy and American folk hero who appears in works published in the late 1910s.

As described by the book, a song about Charlie Croker is known by older folks and goes as follows: “Charlie Croker was a man in full. He had a back like a Jersey bull. Didn’t like okra, didn’t like pears. He liked a gal that had no hairs. Charlie Croker! Charlie Croker! Charlie Croker!”

In this way, Wolfe describes the protagonist as viewing himself as a beacon of masculinity in a classical sense. According to the song, the folk hero is supposed to have a powerful back, which Croker is extremely proud of as he was a football star from his days in George Tech. A Jersey bull, by the way, is informally known to be aggressive and dangerous. Unfortunately, his self-image as a brawny legend feeds into his narcissistic personality. While this is likely a trait that helped him build his empire, it also prevents him from sensibly dealing with its pending bankruptcy and dissolution.