Frank Norris's The Octopus

In today’s world and past, there have been natural and artificial forces that have been intertwined in an epic of harrowing proportions, clashing under the backdrop of the law of supply and demand. There are those that are bent on progressive ideologies and reshaping the world in their own view, such as the railroad oligarchy in Frank Norris’s, The Octopus. Shelgrim is misled in believing he has no control over the expansion of the railroad that is outstretching and engulfing the land of the people, all under the guise that it is an inevitable outcome of “progress”. Due to insistence on finding new avenues for growth, anything for the dollar, the railroad is willing to upturn the lives of the ranchers. “Men have only little to do in the whole
The railroad is described in its gruesome entirety, “…the leviathan, with tentacles of steel clutching into the soil, the soulless Force, the iron-hearted Power, the monster, the Colossus, the Octopus” (Norris 51). This description further cements the brute like nature of this almost Frankenstein like creation of humans. It tears into the landscape and destroys any remnants of peace and tranquility that exist. This description of the railroad also reflects to an extent the indifferent and heartless nature of its human counterparts, such as S. Behrman and Shelgrim. Both of these men while different in demeanor possess the same inherent qualities that allowed for the behemoth of the railroad to come into existence. They treat the railroad solely as a “business proposition” which removes any ounce of humanity from such a service, as they only care for profits. The railroad is not a natural force and is an artificial man-made creation that attempts to exert itself on the natural, which is the wheat and the land. In attempting to do so it leaves a trail of carnage and sows the seeds of discontent in the hearts of those it affects leading to greater conflict. A prime example being when Presley observes the sheep getting killed, “It was a slaughter, a massacre of innocents. The iron monster had charged full into the midst, merciless, inexorable” (Norris 50). This further
This artificial force that drives the economy and the world in The Octopus, is responsible for the formation of the railroad. This force is the root cause of the corruption of the farmers and the railroad and created the breeding ground for the bloody feud that ensued. Furthermore, Magnus adopts the ideology of Shelgrim, where the ends justify the means, sharing this view when he is contemplating bribing officials into the committee to gain a foothold against the railroad, “Now, at last, there seemed to be a change. Long continued oppression, petty tyranny, injustice and extortion had driven him to exasperation…Time was when Magnus would have forbidden his son to so much as recognize a dishonorable man” (Norris 178-179). The morality of the ranchers comes into question and they must either stay true to themselves or fight the railroad by their own tactics. Throughout this entire ordeal, Annie Derrick serves as the beacon of hope and truth that is crushed repeatedly and Magnus’s choice to use bribery as an avenue to keep his ranch and wealth ends up being his downfall. The artificial force of capitalism engulfs the ranchers and corrupts their minds, while the natural force of the land is forgotten. It fosters a materialistic outlook to life in the ranchers and equates them in greed