A Deal in Wheat by Frank Norris
"A Deal in Wheat" by Frank Norris is a short story that explores the devastating effects of fluctuating wheat prices on farmers and the working class during a time of economic uncertainty. The narrative follows Sam Lewiston, a Kansas farmer, and his wife, Emma, as they grapple with the dire consequences of falling wheat prices, specifically when they learn that wheat is selling for sixty-two cents a bushel—far below the cost of production. As Sam faces financial ruin, the story shifts to the Chicago grain market, where the struggle between speculators—the "bulls" and "bears"—determines the fate of farmers like Sam.
The plot unfolds in several episodes, illustrating the stark contrasts between the lives of farmers and the actions of the market players. While the price of wheat rises and falls, Sam's plight culminates in a breadline, where he learns that rising prices have led to the cessation of free bread distribution, further underscoring his vulnerability. The story offers a poignant commentary on the powerlessness of individuals against the machinations of financial speculators, highlighting the broader societal impacts of capitalism and the critical relationship between agriculture and economic forces. Ultimately, Sam's journey reflects a painful awareness of his precarious position within a system that prioritizes profit over human welfare.
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A Deal in Wheat by Frank Norris
First published: 1902
Type of plot: Naturalistic
Time of work: About 1900
Locale: Kansas and Chicago
Principal Characters:
Sam Lewiston , a Kansas rancher who loses his land during a bear market in wheat and moves to Chicago to find workEmma Lewiston , his wifeMr. Truslow , a wealthy speculator and "great bear" in wheat who never directly appears in the story but to whom characters constantly referMr. Hornung , a wealthy speculator who leads the bull market in wheatHornung's broker , a critic of Truslow who wants the bulls to destroy the "great bear"
The Story
The price of wheat is the thread holding together this episodic short story. As Sam Lewiston hitches up the buckboard, he and his wife, Emma, anxiously wonder if wheat is still selling for sixty-six cents a bushel. Like so many Kansas farmers, they face economic disaster if the price does not rise. Regardless of the market, Sam must sell his wheat today, and if the bears still rule in Chicago, he and Emma will lose the land they love. Both sense that their worst fears are about to be realized. Looking out across the prairie and into an uncertain future, Emma reminds Sam of his brother Joe's offer of work in Chicago. Sam resists the idea of giving up, but as he kisses Emma good-bye and rides off to town, the reader knows that hope is all but gone.
On entering the office of Bridges & Co., Grain Dealers, Sam gets the bad news from Bridges himself. Wheat is at sixty-two cents. "It's Truslow and the bear clique that stick the knife into us," laments Bridges, who is powerless to help his farmer friends. Sam Lewiston is ruined, and so are many of his neighbors. It costs them a dollar a bushel to raise the wheat, and few, certainly not Sam, can afford to store it any longer. Dazed by this sad turn of events, Sam goes home to Emma. "We'll go to Chicago," he tells her. "We're cleaned out!"
The second episode takes place some months later when Mr. Hornung and the bulls have driven wheat up to $1.10 per bushel. The bears, led by the once dominant Truslow, are on the run. Indeed, the scene opens with Hornung agreeing to sell a hundred thousand bushels of wheat to Truslow, working out the deal with Mr. Gates, one of the great bear's minions. Hornung wonders if he has done the right thing. Truslow has paid dearly for the wheat, which he apparently had to have in order to cover overseas commitments, but Hornung's broker warns that the bulls should have taken full advantage of the great bear's distress to destroy him. Only then would the bull market be safe.
The third episode shifts ahead several days to the frenetic pit of the Chicago Board of Trade. The bulls still hold the corner in wheat, with Hornung setting the price at $1.50. Suddenly, one of the bears, a new man named Kennedy, begins selling wheat in thousand-bushel lots, and the bulls cannot figure where Kennedy is getting it. Had Hornung not held firm and kept buying at $1.50, the market might have broken, and that would have given the bears their chance to drive the price down. Who was behind the raid? Truslow is the prime suspect, but for weeks he had made no move, and rumor had it that he was in Wisconsin, bass fishing at Lake Geneva.
The fourth episode solves the mystery. Cyrus Ryder, a detective, tells Hornung and his broker that he dressed as a hobo and rode the Belt Line around Chicago looking for the source of Kennedy's wheat. Truslow, who owns the Belt Line, was shipping the very grain he had bought from Hornung out of Chicago and back to his elevator as though it were new wheat fresh from Kansas. Truslow had been trying to break the bull market by selling back to Hornung at considerable profit the very wheat he had purchased from the latter and pledged to ship abroad. The broker is incensed at Truslow's chicanery, but Hornung laughs it off as a brilliant ploy and plans to recoup his losses and outmaneuver Truslow by raising the price of wheat to two dollars.
The fifth episode begins in a breadline behind a South Side bakery. It is cold and drizzling and almost 1:00 a.m. Dozens of hungry men have been there for hours waiting for the usual handout of day-old bread. One of them is Sam Lewiston. He has left Emma in Topeka and gone ahead to work for brother Joe. The reader learns that Joe's hat factory has failed, in part because of the repeal of tariff duties on cheap imports, and Sam has found little work since. The breadline is a godsend to him and others like him who are out of work and have nowhere else to go and nothing else to eat. Sam looks into the bewildered faces of the men standing with him and is consoled by the knowledge that the bread will keep them from starving. He likes to think of the breadline as a small platform that for now keeps those on it safely above the dark and threatening waters of complete despair swirling below. Suddenly, the bakery door opens and someone tacks up a sign. Groans are heard, and Sam and others push forward to read that because wheat is two dollars a bushel, the bakery will not be distributing free bread. The platform is gone, the price of wheat has ravaged him once again, and Sam walks away stunned by the loss, a hapless victim of a capricious fate.
However, even as he wanders aimlessly, Sam's fortunes are changing. The reader is told that Sam finds a job the next day cleaning the streets. He works hard, sends for Emma, and gets promoted first to shift-boss, then to deputy inspector, and finally to inspector. Sam sees things more clearly after that night. Learning from the papers of Truslow's scheme against Hornung, he recognizes that he and countless others are powerless victims in the battle between the Bear and the Bull. The speculators carelessly ruin both farmers and workingmen and gamble with the nourishment of nations. Only they—the powerful bears and bulls—remain prosperous and unassailable. It is a chilling insight but one based on painful experience, and the reader is left with the impression that understanding this harsh reality somehow helps Sam Lewiston survive.
Bibliography
Boyd, Jennifer. Frank Norris: Spatial Form and Narrative Time. New York: Peter Lang, 1993.
Graham, Don, ed. Critical Essays on Frank Norris. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1980.
McElrath, Joseph R., Jr. "Beyond San Francisco: Frank Norris's Invention of Northern California." In San Francisco in Fiction: Essays in a Regional Literature, edited by David Fine and Paul Skenazy. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995.
McElrath, Joseph R., Jr. Frank Norris Revisited. New York: Twayne, 1992.
Marut, David. "Sam Lewiston's Bad Timing: A Note on the Economic Context of 'A Deal in Wheat.'" American Literary Realism 27 (Fall, 1994): 74-80.
Pizer, Donald. The Novels of Frank Norris. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1966.
Pizer, Donald, ed. The Literary Criticism of Frank Norris. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1964.