The Pit by Frank Norris

First published: 1903

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Naturalism

Time of plot: 1890’s

Locale: Chicago

Principal characters

• Curtis Jadwin, a speculator in wheat
• Laura Dearborn, later his wife
• Sheldon Corthell, an artist in love with Laura
• Mr. Cressler and Mrs. Cressler, friends of the Jadwins
• Gretry, Jadwin’s broker

The Story:

From the first evening that Laura Dearborn meets Curtis Jadwin, she knows that she interests him. She attends the opera with her sister, Page, and her Aunt Wess as the guests of their longtime friends, the Cresslers. Jadwin also is a guest that evening, and the marked attention he pays her is so flattering to her that she listens only absently to avowals of love from her old and devoted suitor, Sheldon Corthell. Corthell is an artist. The life of the capitalist Jadwin who makes and breaks fortunes and human lives from the floor of the Board of Trade seems to Laura more romantic than painting.

The next day, Mrs. Cressler tells Laura part of Jadwin’s story. He had been born into a poor family and had worked to educate himself. When he gained possession of some land in Chicago in default of a loan, he sold it, bought more real estate, and by shrewd dealings eventually owned a portion of one of the wealthiest sections of real estate in Chicago. He also speculated in the wheat market, and he is now a familiar figure on the floor of the Board of Trade.

Stopping by the Board of Trade one morning in answer to the summons of Gretry, his broker, Jadwin pauses in the Pit—the huge room downstairs in which all the bidding takes place—to watch the frenzied excitement of bidders and sellers. Gretry has received information that in a few days the French government will introduce a bill placing heavy import duties on all foreign goods. When this news becomes more widely known, the price of wheat will drop considerably. Gretry urges Jadwin to sell his shares at once, and Jadwin agrees.

The deal is a tremendous success. Jadwin pockets a large profit. The Cresslers try to persuade Jadwin to stop his speculating. Mr. Cressler had almost ruined himself at one time through his gambling with wheat, and he fears that the same might eventually happen to his friend. Jadwin, however, is too much interested in Laura to pay attention to the warning or even to hear the words of his friends. One evening at the Cresslers, he asks Laura to marry him. Laura, in a capricious mood, says that, although she loves no one as yet, she might some day come to love him. She had given Sheldon Corthell the same encouragement. That night, ashamed of her coquetry, she writes to both men to tell them that she does not love either of them and that they must never speak of love to her again if they are to continue as friends. Corthell accepts her refusal and leaves for Europe. Jadwin calls on Laura while she is out and refuses to leave until he has spoken to her. He is eloquent in pleading his suit, and they are married in July.

The early years of their marriage are completely happy. Their home is a mansion, exquisitely furnished and with beautiful grounds. At first, Laura has a difficult time adjusting to her luxurious surroundings, but as time passes, she finds great pleasure in satisfying her interests in art, decorating her home, and entertaining her friends.

Jadwin, caught up in the excitement of the Pit, invests all his money in successful speculative enterprises. For some time, he aligns himself with the bears in the wheat market. As he sees the country becoming more prosperous and the wheat crops increasing, he decides to change to the side of the bulls. He resolves to buy as much wheat as he can and, if possible, to corner the market. Luck is with him. One year, when European crops are very poor, Jadwin buys a tremendous amount of wheat at a low price, determined to hold it until he can ask his own price. Laura is worried by his constant attendance at the Board of Trade, and he promises to give up speculating as soon as he concludes an important deal.

One evening, Laura has dinner with Corthell, who had returned from Europe. Late that night, Jadwin comes home with the announcement that the deal had concluded and that he cleared half a million dollars. He keeps his promise to give up speculating in the Pit, but within a short time, he grows restless. He begins again to try his luck in the wheat market.

Because Jadwin keeps his activities hidden from the public, he is spoken of as the unknown bull. After he purchases as much wheat as he can, it suddenly becomes evident that he is in a position to corner the world’s wheat and name his own price. Cressler, meantime, has been drawn into speculation by the group of bears who are certain that they could break the unknown bull. Cressler has no idea that the bull is his own friend, Jadwin.

Weeks go by while Laura sees her husband only at breakfast. He spends his days and many of his nights at the board. Laura, lonely and unhappy, begins to see more and more of Corthell. Corthell is still in love with Laura and finally declares his feelings for her. Laura, who still loves her husband, is kind in her dismissal.

In cornering the market, Jadwin now rides on a wave of power and prosperity, but he begins to have strange, irritating headaches. He attempts to ignore them, just as he disregards his moods of loneliness and depression.

Mrs. Cressler confides that her own husband is not well. She invites Laura to call on her one afternoon. Laura arrives, but Mrs. Cressler is not yet home. She wanders into the library and sees Mr. Cressler seated in a chair. He had shot himself through the temple.

Jadwin is horrified when he realizes that Cressler had lost all of his money in speculation with the bears, and he feels that he is responsible for his friend’s death. Jadwin himself is in a tight spot, for now that he has forced the price of wheat to a new high, he needs to corner a bumper crop in addition to the millions of bushels he already owns. His enemies are waiting for the time when the unknown bull can buy no more wheat. At that moment, the price would drop considerably. Jadwin puts every penny he owns into his attempt to keep wheat cornered, but he is defeated by the wheat itself. The grain flows in, millions of bushels at a time. Almost out of his mind, he buys and buys, and still the wheat harvest continues. He no longer controls the market. He is ruined.

Jadwin walks into his home one night a broken man. Laura nurses him through days and nights of illness. When he is well enough, the two set out for the West to begin life again. Although they have lost their money, the Jadwins are much happier than they had been for many years.

Bibliography

Graham, Don. The Fiction of Frank Norris: The Aesthetic Context. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1978. The chapter on The Pit discusses differences between this novel and Norris’s other fiction. The Pit contains many musical and literary allusions and, most significant, it reflects Norris’s preoccupation with drama. Like a drama, the novel has few main characters and is staged in confined settings. In addition, The Pit includes a professional opera and plays.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗, comp. Critical Essays on Frank Norris. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1980. Includes the anonymous contemporary review “The Pit: A Dispassionate Examination of Frank Norris’ Posthumous Novel,” Warren French’s “It’s When You Are Quiet That You Are at Your Best,” and Joseph Katz’s “Eroticism in The Pit.”

Hochman, Barbara. The Art of Frank Norris: Storyteller. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1988. This study of recurrent motifs shows Norris as a more complex writer than do traditional assessments of his work. The chapter “Coming of Age in The Pit” uses the symbolic wheat pit to discuss the novel.

Hussman, Lawrence E. Harbingers of a Century: The Novels of Frank Norris. New York: Peter Lang, 1999. A reevaluation of Norris’s novels, in which Hussman demonstrates how these books “rehearsed” many of the themes that appeared in later twentieth century American fiction. Chapter 6 analyzes The Pit, focusing on its theme of “subsuming the self.”

McElrath, Joseph R., Jr. Frank Norris Revisited. New York: Twayne, 1992. Critical biography offering a thorough discussion of The Pit, which McElrath calls “a novel of complications” because of its “sustained alternating portraits of [Laura’s and Jadwin’s] worsening psychological condition.”

McElrath, Joseph R., Jr., and Jessie S. Crisler. Frank Norris: A Life. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006. Comprehensive biography providing an admiring portrait of Norris. McElrath and Crisler maintain that Norris remains relevant to and deserves to be read by twenty-first century audiences.

Pizer, Donald. The Novels of Frank Norris. 1966. Reprint. New York: Haskell House, 1973. A comprehensive and systematic examination of Norris’s novels, with particular attention paid to the author’s intellectual background and philosophical influences. Discusses Norris’s rationale in writing The Pit, as well as the influence on Norris of French naturalists Joseph LeConte and Émile Zola.

West, Lon. Deconstructing Frank Norris’s Fiction: The Male-Female Dialectic. New York: Peter Lang, 1998. West contradicts many critics by arguing that Norris was less of a naturalist and more of a Romantic. He focuses on Norris’s representation of the “natural man” and of refined women characters in his fiction, finding connections between Norris’s characters and Carl Jung’s archetypes of the “great and terrible mother” and the “punishing superego-like father.”