This paper explores the image of the American
business world in "The Octopus" by Frank Norris, "The House of Mirth" by Edith
Wharton, "The Golden Bowl" by Henry James, "Babbitt" by Sinclair Lewis and "The Rise of Silas Lapham" by William Dean Howells. It discusses the authors' use of Naturalism, Realism, and Cultural Darwinism to portray the American
business and businessman at the turn of the century as grasping, greedy, and selfish.