Product Description

"The Octopus" describes the raising of wheat in California, and conflict between the wheat growers and a railway company. Norris was inspired by role of the Southern Pacific Railroad in events surrounding the Mussel Slough Tragedy. It depicts the tension between the corrupt railroad and the ranchers and the ranchers' League.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1226772 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-22
• Binding: Paperback
• 328 pages

Amazon.com Review
This is a turn-of-the-century epic of California wheat farmers struggling against the rapacity of the Pacific and Southwestern Railroad, which will stop at nothing to extend its domination. The company controls the local paper, the land, the legislature and, when the farmers organize to protect themselves, even manages to control their representative on the state rate-fixing commission. An unremitting tale of greed and betrayal, originally intended as one-third of Norris' never-completed "Epic of the Wheat" trilogy.

Customer Reviews

Wheat barons vs. railroad barons
Based on an actual incident, "The Octopus" is set in the San Joaquin Valley of central California towards the end of the 19th century -- not long before it was written. It concerns a dispute between the Pacific & Southwestern Railroad (in historical reality, the Southern Pacific) which owns the land it runs through and the tenant wheat ranchers who farm it. For one thing, the ranchers would like to own the land by buying it off the railroad, but the railroad raises the price per acre to exorbitant levels in violation of a previous contract; also, the ranchers are protesting the railroad's monopolistic policy of charging high freight rates for shipping wheat, which cuts into their profits.

The characterization of the novel is rather straightforward. The "heroes" are the ranchers, which include "Governor" Magnus Derrick, an ostensibly upstanding politician; Broderson, an ineffectual old man; Osterman, a loudmouthed joker; Annixter, an irascible and obstinate misogynist; and an engineer named Dyke who starts his own hops business after being laid off by the railroad. The author himself is presumably represented by a third-party observer named Presley, a poet who lives on the Derrick ranch and is using the scenery and the conflict as inspiration. The "villain" is, of course, the railroad, which is personified by a porcine banker named S. Behrman who acts as the railroad's agent and mouthpiece and whose frequent insensitivity and cruelty reduces him to a simplistic caricature.

The ranchers decide that the best way to keep the railroad's freight rates under control is to elect their own officials to the state Railroad Commission, which would entail bribery; after all, the railroad practically owns the Commission as it is. Despite their getting the Governor's son, Lyman Derrick, to represent them on the Commission, the ranchers' scheme proves ineffective. The railroad ultimately offers the wheat land for sale at the raised prices and sends "dummy" buyers out to dispossess the ranchers, who arm themselves to defend their homes. The result is a shockingly violent confrontation that shakes Presley's sentiments to the core.

"The Octopus" has some elements that I found distracting, puzzling, or faulty. First, there is not just one but *two* romantic subplots: Annixter's difficult courtship with a girl whose family works on his ranch (but at least we see how his marriage transforms his character positively and plausibly); and the shepherd/spiritualist Vanamee's incomprehensible nightly summonings of the ghost of his long-lost love Angele. Some of the dialogue is rendered flaccid by the use of euphemisms -- it's unbelievable that Annixter would refrain from calling Behrman anything worse than a "pip." The unctuous tone it applies to its oppressed-worker-vs.-corporate-monster theme is similar to the approach Steinbeck would use almost forty years later in "The Grapes of Wrath."

Despite its obvious flaws, however, "The Octopus" manages to be an exemplary work of American literature. The subject matter is unique and necessary for its time, and the commercial and legal aspects of the conflict are treated with maturity and confidence. It uses the perpetual production of wheat as a metaphor for the continuous cycle of the good of the earth prevailing over the evil of men. But most importantly, it achieves the highest purpose of a novel about business: It examines the integrity and resolve of men faced with financial ruin.

An epic saga about the turn-of-the-century Railroad trusts.
Definitely not for all tastes, but a strong work, with well-drawn characters and some very beautiful (albeit long) prose passages. Norris has a habit of driving his point into the ground (a section near the end of the novel, which juxtaposes a mother and child starving to death on the street with a wealthy, upperclass, elitist meal comes to mind), but over all a profound and powerful work. Originally intended as the first part of a proposed "Trilogy of Wheat," Norris died near the publication of the second book (see "The Pit.") Definitely recommended for those who enjoy great American literature.

Makes me want to learn more about "Old" California
Today when we think of California we think of what else but Los Angeles and San Francisco. Many people forget that California has a rich history based in agriculure and mining. The Octopus tells a story about California's past and the epic struggle between the Wheat farmers and the all powerful railroads. The characters are dynamic and Norris has written the story so brilliantly that you actually feel for the characters. If you read this book you also must read "The Pit" also by Norris which tells the tale of the Chicago Commodities market and one mans overpowering desire to "corner" the wheat market.