Project Gutenberg 2008-07-11 Public domain in the USA. 1000 Norris, Frank 1870 1902 Norris, Benjamin Franklin The Octopus : A Story of California Wikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Octopus:_A_Story_of_California Produced by John Hamm, and David Widger "The Octopus: A Story of California" by Frank Norris is a novel written during the late 19th century. The narrative follows Presley, a poet reflecting on his quest for a grand subject to write about, amid the turmoil and complexities of agricultural life in California's San Joaquin Valley. Initially, he aims to capture the essence of the West and its burgeoning society, clashing with the mundane and harsh realities of ranch life, particularly the struggles against railroad monopolies and drought conditions. The beginning of the novel introduces Presley, who sets off on a cycling journey to Guadalajara but becomes embroiled in the conflicts faced by farmers in the region. He interacts with various characters, such as the German ranch hand Hooven and Harran Derrick, the son of a ranch owner, revealing the underlying tensions due to failed crops and plans for crop management. As Presley navigates through this landscape, he confronts both the romanticized beauty of the California countryside and the stark realities of agricultural economics, foreshadowing the conflict between individuals and the larger societal forces represented by the metaphorical "Octopus" of the railroads. This interplay of character, setting, and conflict underscores the thematic depth that Norris explores throughout the work. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 81.1 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Didactic fiction Farm life -- Fiction Mussel Slough Tragedy, 1880 -- Fiction Wheat farmers -- Fiction Farmers -- Fiction San Joaquin Valley (Calif.) -- Fiction California -- Fiction Railroad stories PS Text Category: Novels Category: American Literature 1332479 2025-08-01T04:53:06.424367 text/html 1372984 2021-01-28T02:43:20 text/html; charset=utf-8 469594 2021-01-28T02:43:20 text/html; charset=utf-8 application/zip 555762 2025-08-01T04:53:19.380262 application/epub+zip 573017 2025-08-01T04:53:09.868354 application/epub+zip 560851 2025-08-01T04:53:08.401373 application/epub+zip 927654 2025-08-01T04:53:27.216241 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 877441 2025-08-01T04:53:18.489293 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 805544 2022-09-01T05:08:30.963721 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 1170598 2025-08-01T04:53:04.350360 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 1170408 2018-03-11T14:49:06 text/plain; charset=utf-8 450452 2018-03-17T15:22:28 text/plain; charset=utf-8 application/zip 1157946 2008-07-08T11:47:22 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 448941 2008-07-08T11:49:06 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 22131 2025-08-01T04:53:27.378224 application/rdf+xml 12535 2025-08-01T04:53:08.928315 image/jpeg 2927 2025-08-01T04:53:08.668313 image/jpeg 543398 2025-08-01T04:53:06.538353 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia