The Octopus | Characters/Themes
The background and the main events relating to the central problems facing the characters in The Octopus closely resemble the history of the Mussel Slough Affair. In fact, every alternate section of the land farmed by the ranchers in Norris's novel belongs by federal grant to the Pacific and Southwest Railroad which has agreed to sell it to the ranchers at some future date for two and a half dollars an acre. On the strength of this promise, the ranchers have built houses, dug irrigation ditches, and made other improvements on the land. As the novel opens, and the ranchers are about...
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