Oil! · Chapter
XXI: The Honeymoon explained
Bunny and Rachel, now married, search for a site for a labor college, visiting a potential property near Mount Hope.
What happens
Bunny and Rachel, now married, search for a site for a labor college, visiting a potential property near Mount Hope. They also travel to the Prospect Hill oil field, where Bunny shows Rachel the discovery well and explains the waste and exploitation of the oil industry, including the tragic human cost. They visit Mrs. Groarty's bungalow, where Bunny recalls the lease meeting and first hearing Paul Watkins. Later, they attend a meeting where Paul speaks about the Russian Revolution, and Bunny plans to bring Paul back to discuss the college.
Themes in this chapter
Oil and Capitalism
Bunny explains the waste and exploitation in the oil field, including the selling of paper over oil and the high casualty rate among workers.
Class Struggle and Labor
The chapter highlights the plight of workers, including the Groartys' legal troubles and the longshoremen's strike and suppression.
War and Imperialism
Paul's speech connects the oil fight to the world war, and the chapter discusses the coming war and Bolshevism.
Idealism vs. Pragmatism
Bunny and Rachel's search for a labor college site contrasts with the harsh realities of the oil industry and capitalist exploitation.
Characters to notice
- Bunny Ross
Shows Rachel the oil field, explains the industry's waste and human cost, visits Mrs. Groarty, and plans the labor college.
- Rachel Menzies
Accompanies Bunny on the search for a college site and to the oil field, learning about the oil industry's dark side.
- Mrs. Groarty
Bunny and Rachel visit her bungalow, where she shows them legal papers about her lot and discusses her troubles.
- Paul Watkins
Expected to return from Russia; speaks at a meeting about the Russian Revolution and is sought by Bunny for college discussions.
- Ruth Watkins
Informs Bunny of Paul's return and the meeting; expresses pleasure at Bunny's marriage.
- Aunt Allie
Bertie asks Bunny to investigate Vernon Roscoe's reports on the Prospect Hill field.
- Vernon Roscoe
His reports on the Prospect Hill field are suspected by Bertie of being a trick.
- D. H. Culver
Mentioned as having destroyed his eardrums trying to stop the flow of the discovery well.
Key passages
“That had been the beginning of Dad’s big wealth; he and perhaps a score of others had got rich, and to balance it, there were in Beach City many thousands of people who had their homes plastered with mortgages, representing losses from the buying of “units.””
Dad's fortune came from the oil field, but many others lost money by buying units, leaving them with heavy mortgages.
Bunny explains the unequal distribution of wealth from the oil boom.
“It was literally true that capitalist industry was a world war going on all the time, unheeded by the newspapers.”
Capitalist industry is like a constant world war, but the newspapers ignore it.
Bunny reflects on the ongoing violence and exploitation in industry.
“Paul said it was a little oil fight, and the world war had been a big oil fight, and they were exactly the same.”
Paul compared the local oil dispute to the world war, saying both were fundamentally about oil.
Paul's perspective on the connection between local conflicts and global wars.
“Oh, the fury of the capitalist press next day! They didn’t report the meeting, but they published protests about it, and stormed in editorials.”
The capitalist press was outraged, ignoring the meeting's content but publishing protests and angry editorials.
Describes the media's hostile reaction to Paul's speech.
