Oil! · Chapter
VI: The Wildcat explained
Bunny and Dad celebrate the Paradise well catching fire, realizing it signals a massive oil strike.
What happens
Bunny and Dad celebrate the Paradise well catching fire, realizing it signals a massive oil strike. Dad hires Paul Watkins to build a modern bunkhouse with amenities, reflecting Bunny's reformist ideals. Dad manipulates local politics to get a road built to the well, demonstrating his growing power. Bunny reflects on his parents' separation and his father's distrust of women, while his relationship with Rosie Taintor fades as he matures.
Themes in this chapter
Oil and Capitalism
The Paradise well fire reveals the immense wealth beneath, and Dad's ability to mobilize resources and manipulate local politics to secure the oil.
Family and Morality
Bunny reflects on his parents' separation, Dad's distrust of women, and the fading of his innocent romance with Rosie as he matures.
Corruption and Power
Dad's manipulation of the road repair through a paid petitioner and newspaper pressure shows how wealth bends local governance.
Characters to notice
- Bunny Ross
Celebrates the oil strike, plans a cultured oil crew, and reflects on his parents' separation and his waning romance with Rosie Taintor.
- Dad Ross
Laughs off the burned derrick, hires Paul, manipulates road repairs, and reveals his bitter views on women and money.
- Paul Watkins
Hired to build the bunkhouse and later works on the derrick, earning $5 a day and gaining respect from his father.
- Rosie Taintor
Bunny's sweetheart, whose gentle nature and lack of new interests cause Bunny to grow bored with the relationship.
- Jake Coffey
Pays Mr. Limacher to circulate a petition for road repairs, revealing behind-the-scenes manipulation.
- Eli Watkins
Impressed by Paul's sudden rise, stops mentioning hellfire and brimstone.
Key passages
““Cheer up, son! This here is nothin’, this is a joke. You’re a millionaire ten times over.””
Dad tells Bunny not to worry about the burned derrick, because the oil underneath makes them incredibly wealthy.
Dad's perspective shifts from loss to triumph, emphasizing the scale of the oil strike.
“Instead of having one long room with bunks, they’d have little individual cubbyholes, each with its separate window, and two bunks, one on top of the other, for the day man and the night man.”
Bunny plans a modern bunkhouse with private cubicles and amenities, reflecting his reformist ideals.
Bunny's vision for a cultured oil crew contrasts with typical roughneck conditions.
“The Eagle stated that a public-spirited rancher, Mr. Joe Limacher, was circulating a petition for immediate repairs to the road along the slide, and it was to be hoped that all citizens and taxpayers would sign up.”
A newspaper article promotes a petition for road repairs, later revealed to be orchestrated by Jake Coffey.
Illustrates the manipulation of local media and politics by oil interests.
“He had thought it over and realized—what everybody wanted was money, and he had lost out because he hadn’t made enough; well, he’d show them.”
Dad's drive for wealth stems from his wife leaving him, motivating him to prove his worth through financial success.
Explains Dad's relentless ambition and distrust of women as rooted in personal pain.