46. Oil by Upton Sinclair

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Background

Oil! by Upton Sinclair was first published in 1926 and 27.

Genre: It is a political and social satire, as are several of his other novels.

Setting: Oil! is loosely based on the life of Edward L. Doheny and the company he founded Pan American Petroleum & Transport Company, and the character Eli Watkins, who is an evangelist, is loosely based on the famous evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. The scandal in the book is based on the Teapot Dome scandal, which we talk more about in the show. The book is set during the Warren Harding administration during which oil leases were given to private companies on Navy land without competitive bids.

Additional Notes: There is a movie adaptation starring Daniel Day-Lewis, and it's called There Will Be Blood, but it is only based on the first 150 pages or so of the novel and departs quite clearly from the story that's in the book.

Theme: This book explores economic and social issues (such as capitalism versus socialism vs. communism) and injustice through the eyes of an initially naive character who comes of age as he’s exposed to new ideas and experiences.

Things we thought Sinclair did well as a writer :

• Effective First pages

• • Connects us to the child’s point of view really well, showing things a child would really do, see, and say.

  • It shows us that the son, Bunny, is a “mini-me” who copies his Dad, who is aptly portrayed as following rules, order, and the standards he lives by.

  • Gives a good idea of the Californian setting, shows the main two characters who have a lot of conflict, and driving, ahead of them.

• Good choice of a naive character who doesn’t have assumptions, pays great attention to all the things happening, to all the different viewpoints to figure their ideas out alongside the reader. This is a case in point of using Story to explore social issues and give social commentary well, so as not to sound preachy or message heavy.

• This book is really good at showing how character choices shape the plot and also their arc, especially with Bunny’s, Dad’s, and Paul’s arcs.

• This book is good example of a third person omniscient narrator who kind of flies around and gets in everybody's head, but also has his own voice and way of presenting the story.