As the story depicts Oliver Bacon’s rise to wealth and success from a childhood of poverty, class distinctions, and socioeconomic mobility are a key theme. The narrator repeatedly presents, through Oliver’s perspective, memories of his boyhood, which was characterized by “a filthy little alley,” “selling stolen dogs,” and incurring his mother’s disapproval and reminders to “have sense.” By contrast, Oliver’s current status as the best jeweller in the world is mirrored by his improved living conditions. His flat overlooks a neighborhood in central London and is decorated in “tapestry” and “satin.” He adheres to norms of upper-class life, such as keeping “the right brandies” in a “mahogany sideboard [that] bulged discreetly.” The modifier “right” suggests Oliver’s willingness to take cues from the aristocracy and to imitate their behavior and mannerisms. The paradoxical description that the liquor cabinet “bulged discreetly” suggests that the cabinet is filled to the brim but also that Oliver is not showing off his wealth, which would be seen as vulgar or crass.

Even though he has steadily made his way to this upper-class position—“he dressed better and better; and had, first a hansom cab, and then a car”—Oliver harbors some insecurity about his place, indicated by his memories of his childhood and the fact that he “dismantle[s] himself often.” This phrase implies that Oliver is not a true member of the upper class and that he wears a sort of disguise that is easily removed to reveal the embarrassing truth of his origins. Oliver’s insecurity is also seen in his interactions with the duchess. He feels the need to assert superiority over her, as when he makes her wait ten minutes to see him, but he is also easily manipulated and outsmarted by her. Oliver’s weakness is his desire to be legitimately part of the upper echelons of society, which he can accomplish through his marriage to the aristocratic Diana; her mother, the duchess, uses this knowledge to convince him to pay her for what are likely false pearls. Significantly, she also refers to him only by his first name when inviting him to the countryside for the weekend. It seems that the duchess’s being “daughter of a hundred Earls” keeps Oliver at a disadvantage no matter how much he would like to pretend he is on equal footing with the duchess due to his accumulated wealth. Ultimately, the representative of England’s long-established aristocracy wins the power struggle in this story.

Despite his place at the top of his profession and his relatively respectable social position, Oliver is not satisfied. Instead, he experiences a nagging feeling that he must do more and have more. The narrator describes Oliver’s ambition in a particularly unflattering manner, comparing him to “a giant hog” hunting for truffles; when the hog finds a valuable truffle, he does not stop or enjoy his achievement but feels the urge to continue hunting for a bigger and better truffle. The metaphorical hog aligns Oliver with greed and gluttony, as well as suggesting an instinctual, animalistic inclination that is perhaps not fully in Oliver’s control. After Oliver writes the duchess a check for her false pearls, he again thinks of this symbolic truffle, equating it with the pearls he has just bought. When he examines the pearls closely, he thinks, “This, then, was the truffle he had routed out of the earth! Rotten at the centre—rotten at the core!” In this moment of utter dismay, Oliver recognizes that he has allowed his ambition—to secure a legitimate place in the upper class by marrying...