The Literature Network - COMMENTARY: Text v. Tinseltown: 'Oil!' and 'There Will Be Blood'

COMMENTARY: Text v. Tinseltown: 'Oil!' and 'There Will Be Blood'

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From: University Wire
Date: 20080320
Author:Ben Burr

Ben Burr
University Wire
03-20-2008
(Northern Star) (UWIRE) DEKALB, Ill. -- The Book: "Oil!" Written by Upton Sinclair (1927)

Sinclair's novel views early 20th-century capitalism pitted against the budding socialist and communist movements -- all through the naive eyes of Bunny Ross, son of prosperous oil magnate J. Arnold Ross.

Bunny worships the ground his father walks on, but when the oil field laborers he has befriended become oppressed by the soulless industry, he experiences a conflict between his morality and his loyalty to his father.

The novel is a fairly straightforward commentary on ...

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