Oil! facts for kids
First edition
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| Author | Upton Sinclair |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Political |
| Publisher | Albert & Charles Boni |
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Publication date
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1926–27 |
| Media type | Hardback (print) |
| Pages | 528 |
| OCLC | 463840244 |
Oil! is a famous novel written by Upton Sinclair. It was first published in 1926–27. The story is told from a third-person point of view, like a narrator watching the events unfold.
The book was written during a time when a big government scandal, called the Teapot Dome Scandal, was happening. This scandal involved oil lands. The story takes place in sunny Southern California. It's a type of story called a satire, which means it uses humor to point out the silly or unfair things people do.
The main character is a young man named James Arnold Ross Jr., but everyone calls him Bunny. He is the son of a very rich oil businessman. Bunny feels sympathy for the oilfield workers and people who believe in socialist ideas. These feelings often lead to arguments with his father throughout the book.
The novel also loosely inspired the 2007 movie There Will Be Blood.
Contents
Meet the Characters in Oil!
- James Arnold Ross (also known as Dad): He is a very rich oil millionaire who built his wealth himself.
- James Arnold "Bunny" Ross Jr.: He is the main character of the story. Bunny is the only son of the self-made oil millionaire.
- Paul Watkins: He is the son of a farmer. Paul runs away from home and learns from a free thinker. He becomes a strong supporter of workers' rights. After spending time in Siberia during World War I, he starts to believe in Bolshevism and becomes a Communist.
- Vernon Roscoe: He is Dad's business partner and acts as the main opponent in the story. Vernon is a very greedy businessman. He helps bribe government officials to get land for drilling oil, like in the Teapot Dome scandal. He also tries to stop worker unions by bribing authorities to put union members in jail.
- Alberta "Bertie" Ross: She is Bunny's older sister. Bertie wants to be a well-known person in high society.
- Aunt Emma: She is Bunny's aunt and lives with the family. She is the widow of J. Arnold Ross's brother.
- Ruth Watkins: She is Paul's younger sister and is the same age as Bunny.
- Eli Watkins: He is Paul's brother. Eli grows up to become a preacher who travels and gives religious speeches.
The Story of Oil!
The story begins with James Arnold "Dad" Ross and his son, Bunny, driving through southern California. They are going to meet the Watkins family, who own land with oil. They discover that the Watkins family can't agree on how to share the land and the money from the oil.
While Dad and Bunny are hunting on the Watkins' ranch, they discover oil! Bunny asks his dad to stop the elder Mr. Watkins from hitting his daughter, Ruth. Dad tries to convince them that he had a special message saying parents should not hit their children. But the plan goes wrong when Eli, Ruth's brother, says that he received the message instead.
As oil drilling starts at the Watkins ranch, Bunny begins to see that his father's business ways are not always fair. After a worker dies in an accident and an oil well explodes, Dad's workers go on strike. Bunny feels pulled between being loyal to his dad and being friends with Ruth and her rebellious brother Paul, who support the workers.
Paul is sent to fight in World War I. After the war, he stays in Siberia to fight against the rising Bolsheviks. Back home, Bunny goes to college. He gets more involved with socialism through a classmate named Rachel Menzies. Paul returns home and shares his adventures, explaining that he has become a communist.
Bunny goes with Dad to the fancy house of Dad's business partner, Vernon Roscoe. Dad and Roscoe then leave the country to avoid being called to speak by Congress about the Teapot Dome scandal. Before Dad leaves, Bunny tells him he wants to live his own life and earn his own money. Dad is confused and a bit sad, but he supports Bunny.
While overseas, Dad meets and marries Mrs. Olivier, a widow who believes in talking to spirits. But soon after, Dad dies from pneumonia. Bunny decides to use his life and his inheritance to help achieve social justice, which means making society fairer for everyone. Meanwhile, Roscoe tries to take control of most of Dad's money. Bunny and his sister Bertie lose most of their inheritance because Roscoe and Mrs. Olivier trick them.
Bunny marries Rachel, and they decide to create a school based on socialist ideas. Eli, who is now a successful preacher, falsely claims that Paul changed his mind and became a Christian just before he died.
Real-Life Connections of Oil!
The book is partly based on the real life of Edward L. Doheny. He was an oil businessman, and his company was called Pan American Petroleum & Transport Company. The story also connects to a group of oil companies that worked together to bring oil from Kern County to the Pacific Coast.
Many parts of the novel's setting, called Beach City, are similar to the real city of Huntington Beach, California. Huntington Beach was once called "Pacific City," which is similar to "Beach City." The book mentions street names like "Telegraph" and "Beach City Blvd," which match real roads in the area. The novel describes Beach City as having beet and cabbage fields, just like Huntington Beach historically had beet and celery fields. The first oil wells in Huntington Beach were on bluffs, similar to "Prospect Hill" in the book.
The character of Eli Watkins is loosely based on a famous preacher named Aimee Semple McPherson.
The "Fig-Leaf Edition"
The novel Oil! was actually banned in Boston for a while. Upton Sinclair's publisher printed 150 special copies called a "fig-leaf edition". In these copies, nine pages that were considered offensive were blacked out. Sinclair protested the ban and hoped to take the case to court. He didn't, but the controversy helped make the book a bestseller!
Movie Inspiration
The 2007 movie There Will Be Blood, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, was inspired by Oil!. However, the movie's story is quite different from the book, so it's not a direct adaptation. The movie mainly focuses on the father character, while his son is a supporting character. Paul Thomas Anderson said he only used the first 150 pages of the book for his film. This means the rest of the movie and the novel are almost completely different.
Anderson created his main character, Daniel Plainview, by combining traits from Edward L. Doheny and other real men. He found inspiration in oil museums in Kern County, California and libraries and museums near Silver City, New Mexico. Old photographs from that time also greatly influenced his screenplay and the film.
See also
In Spanish: ¡Petróleo! para niños
