The Octopus A story of California edition by Frank Norris Reference eBooks
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The Octopus A story of California edition by Frank Norris Reference eBooks
I read this book as a junior in high school and kept that paper back for nearly 55 years because I enjoyed it so much. I decided at 71 to read it again but when I went to read it the book actually fell apart in my hands. So, I ordered a new one. All these years later I was as mesmerized by this story as I was when I was 16. It's very long and detailed but you can see every scene clearly in your mind and you feel like you know the characters personally. But, the history of the railroad and the ranchers is so enlightening and can be related to so much in our world today.I may even read it again someday....if I live long enough!
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The Octopus A story of California edition by Frank Norris Reference eBooks Reviews
My edition is 656 pages and is unabridged (Penguin Books, 1987, 1994 reprint). When I read an earlier edition in the 1980 or perhaps in late 1970s, I could not put it down. I got so involved with the characters and so outraged with the railroad's soulless behavior that I steamed and yelled and stomped. The book is passionate and enthralling, though a very long book. Well worth reading again and again. The Wheat is symbolic of the common man against Big Business (the railroad). Specifically it deals with what is called the Mussel Slough Tragedy of 1880, how the railroad swindled and stole land from farmers. It is a naturalistic and didactic novel on wheat farmers, farm life, and farmers in the San Joaquin Valley in late 19th century America. But it is also a railroad story, though it mostly focuses on the plight of the farmers, there are scenes showing the railroaders point of view as well. It is an epic sweep of life in California back then. A classic tome of American fiction. The edition I have has a note on the text says it is based on the second printing of the first American edition of April 1901 and is complete. Includes a 24 page introduction by the historian Kevin Starr, who puts it all in context. The novel deals with a denunciation of wickedness and an assertion that Truth will prevail, so it can be seen as a persuasive advocation for social justice in the manner of Emile Zola and other realist writers. The novel isn't meant as entertainment, but as a tool to force change on an unjust situation, so much of the prose was designed to get the reader mad and involved to create a force for justice. In this respect it is considered to be anti-business and is no doubt frowned on by the ultra rich who believe that they should be praised for being successful. I suspect the book has been banned by some organizations for being anti-capitalist, un-American, etc., for the same reason The Grapes of Wrath had been banned for criticizing the growers and corporate agricultural businesses in California.
The Railroad was given every other section of land to start railroad towns and and connect people by rail. The greed of the railroad industry is the octopus. This book is fiction but depicts life as it really was. How the railroad effected California is history both good and bad. A copy is in the Railroad museum in old town Sacramento where I worked as a Railroad Equipment Maintenance volunteer. This book is at the top of my suggested reading for insight into the One World government. The Feds already are out of touch with the rights of the individual so much that politicians attack the Constitution rather than defend it, so if the Feds can't follow their rules imagine when the UN attempts a global takeover. I suggest you read this book as soon as possible.
Fascinating, memorable story of California in the time of the railroad barons. This exciting and informative novel focuses on the ranchers who were bilked of the land they bought from the second tier of railroading men who controlled the rails that connected the east to the west (the big guys like Leland Stanford are not mentioned explicitly, but they are lurking). Frank Norris was a fine journalistic observer and a skillful novelist. This is a great read about American and western history in the 19th century, small town and big-league political chicanery, and a picture of domestic lives in the period, from a closer, more on the spot, point of view than later novelists like Steinbeck.
This was schrewdly written to please a certain segment of the reading public, and it was crazy successful in its day. Remember that, and you'll understand better what you are reading. Most readers in Norris' day lived east of St. Louis, and of those most were New Yorkers. In those days New Yorkers did not think highly of Californians, and it pleased them to read about Californians who lacked sophistication and a moral compass. Also the Victorian Novel was a major form of entertainment , was passed from hand to hand and enjoyed by everyone with enough education to read and a bit of time on their hands (the entire middle class, basically). By today's standards it is a bit of a potboiler, too long, full of mean-spirited racial and gender stereotypes that will insult everyone from Indians to Hispanics to women. It is surprising to learn that San Francisco was rumored to have gay leanings even in the 1890's (surprising to me anyway). It was avant-guard stuff, and there was no denying the coming threat of economic ascendance by the West with its mineral wealth, its international port and its modern approach to agriculture that skipped the family-farm stage almost altogether. Though New Yorkers hated many of these goings-on they couldn't ignore them. This book was a real blockbuster in the days before film and TV, was read by men and women in equal numbers, and teenagers would sneak it out of their parents' rooms to impress their friends and be properly shocked and horrified.
I read this book as a junior in high school and kept that paper back for nearly 55 years because I enjoyed it so much. I decided at 71 to read it again but when I went to read it the book actually fell apart in my hands. So, I ordered a new one. All these years later I was as mesmerized by this story as I was when I was 16. It's very long and detailed but you can see every scene clearly in your mind and you feel like you know the characters personally. But, the history of the railroad and the ranchers is so enlightening and can be related to so much in our world today.
I may even read it again someday....if I live long enough!
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