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Upton Sinclair's Novel Oil And Term Paper

In Sinclair's novel, the whole vision is altered because it focuses mainly on Bunny's perception of his father and of the broader social concerns of the day. Here the father is less of an individual and more of a representative of the emergent and destructive force of the cruel capitalism. It is not the beastly, inhuman character of a man that is brought into focus, but the inhuman force of capitalism. Even from the first pages, everything is rendered through the yet unripe but keen eyes of the son: "Sometimes you liked to put your hand up, and feel the cold impact; sometimes you would peer around the side of the shield, and let the torrent hit your forehead, and toss your hair about. But for the most part you sat about and dignified because that was Dad's way and Dad's way constituted the ethics of motoring."(Sinclair, 5) the wider focus of the novel is thus the realistic aspect. The book focuses on labor exploitation and on the related socialist concerns:."..If men can find some way to chain the black and cruel demon...an evil Power which roams the earth, crippling the bodies of men and women, and luring the nations to destruction by visions of unearned wealth, and the opportunity to enslave and exploit labor."(Sinclair, 502) the new economy, capitalism is here the monstrous head which devours the masses of people, obligated to be its slaves. Joe Ross, who is the slave of movie is paralleled here by the relationship between Bunny and Paul, the socialist who is Eli's brother. The novel is therefore much more concerned with the social realistic aspects rather than with the naturalistic depiction of the characters.
Both Sinclair's novel and Anderson's movie are very good artistic achievements, impressive through their force of description and portrayal.

Works Cited

Campbell, John. http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/realism.htm

http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/natural.htm

Sinclair, Upton. Oil! New York: Penguin, 2007.

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Campbell, John. http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/realism.htm

http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/natural.htm

Sinclair, Upton. Oil! New York: Penguin, 2007.
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