The Final Insult presents a tragicomic portrait of urban life and the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots. At the interface of this modern social and economic divide, Burnett situates his allegorical protagonist "Box Brown," an affable African-American bank clerk named after a slave who gained his freedom by having himself shipped in a box from the South to the North. The situation is reversed for the contemporary Box Brown, who loses his economic freedom while, ironically, working as an auditor for Bank of America. The final insult comes after he envisions a revolutionary movement of "People Power" while trying to survive among the homeless.