A Deal in Wheat by Frank Norris
tells about the plight of Sam Lewiston and his wife and thousands of other wheat
farmers driven to bankruptcy due to the trickery of wheat
dealers who gambled with the prices of grain, oblivious of the untold
suffering caused by their machinations. Sam and his wife and the people who lined up at night at the bread line belonged to the lower classes of society, most of them unemployed or
forced out of work by the hard times. These hungry men and women grumble upon being abruptly notified that the bread line was being discontinued owing to the increase in the price of grain. This particular scene imparts to the reader Sam Lewiston’s and the crowd’s pathetic plight, their helplessness against the market forces that conspired to bring about their ruin. The undercook who posts the notice and disappears within the bakery symbolizes an indifferent nature, perhaps an indifferent society, not caring whether or not the hundreds of people that have silently, patiently stood outside in the cold would go to bed hungry that night and for nights to come. This story brings into focus the grim silent suffering of people at a bread line. It is an attempt to portray the lives of common persons as they grapple with the forces of nature and endure calamity caused by the manipulation of other human beings. It drives home to our consciousness a world of harsh and cold reality: of ordinary human beings forced to contend with an uncaring, indifferent nature, yet making them stronger in the end.
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