Short Fiction · Chapter
Buried Treasure explained
The narrator, a self-described fool of the sentimental sort, recounts his pursuit of May Martha Mangum, a beautiful young woman in a Texas prairie town, and his rivalry with the learned Goodloe Banks.
What happens
The narrator, a self-described fool of the sentimental sort, recounts his pursuit of May Martha Mangum, a beautiful young woman in a Texas prairie town, and his rivalry with the learned Goodloe Banks. After May Martha and her father disappear, the narrator and Goodloe search for her in vain. The narrator then becomes obsessed with a supposed treasure map from 1863, leading to a falling out with Goodloe. He follows the map alone, finds no treasure, but instead discovers May Martha living with her father in a hidden valley. They reunite, marry, and build a happy life together, while the narrator reflects on the uselessness of excessive education.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Romance
The narrator's romantic pursuit of May Martha Mangum drives the plot, culminating in their reunion and marriage.
Ambition and Failure
The narrator's quest for buried treasure ultimately fails, but his true ambition—winning May Martha—succeeds, highlighting the contrast between material and emotional goals.
Humor and Irony
The narrator's self-deprecating tone and the ironic twist that the treasure hunt leads to love rather than gold provide comic relief.
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
The treasure map appears genuine but is revealed as a fraud; the narrator's initial perception of May Martha as an 'unsophisticated angel' contrasts with her eventual role as his wife.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator and protagonist, a sentimental fool who seeks buried treasure and ultimately wins May Martha Mangum.
- Goodloe Banks
The narrator's rival for May Martha's affections; a college-educated man who dismisses the treasure map as a fraud and abandons the quest.
- May Martha Mangum
The beautiful young woman both the narrator and Goodloe court; she disappears with her father but later reunites with and marries the narrator.
- Old Man Mangum
May Martha's father, an absentminded etymologist who chases insects and forbids the narrator and Goodloe from seeing his daughter.
- Young Lee Rundle
A young farmer who brings the narrator the treasure map left by his grandfather.
Key passages
“I had been every kind of fool except one. I had expended my patrimony, pretended my matrimony, played poker, lawn-tennis, and bucket-shops—parted soon with my money in many ways. But there remained one rule of the wearer of cap and bells that I had not played. That was the Seeker after Buried Treasure.”
I had acted foolishly in many ways—wasting my inheritance, faking marriage, gambling—but I had never tried being a treasure hunter.
The narrator introduces his folly and sets up the central adventure.
“I saw May Martha Mangum, and was hers. She was eighteen, the color of the white ivory keys of a new piano, beautiful, and possessed by the exquisite solemnity and pathetic witchery of an unsophisticated angel doomed to live in a small, dull, Texas prairie-town.”
I fell in love with May Martha Mangum at first sight; she was a beautiful, innocent eighteen-year-old stuck in a boring Texas town.
Describes the narrator's romantic infatuation with May Martha.
“If all the benefits of it are to go to others, where does it come in? For May Martha Mangum abides with me. There is an eight-room house in a live-oak grove, and a piano with an automatic player, and a good start toward the three thousand head of cattle is under fence.”
What good is education if it only benefits others? I have May Martha, a nice house, a piano, and a growing cattle ranch.
The narrator concludes that his simple life with May Martha is more valuable than formal learning.
