Chapters 4–6 Summary and Analysis
Chapter 4: The Ranch
Bunny visits his mother, whom he only gets to see for one week every six months. She tells him to persuade his father to increase her monthly allowance.
Ross plans to set up more oil rigs on the Bankside property. However, Bunny convinces him to first take a hunting trip with him to San Elido, Paradise, where Bunny knows the Watkins family lives. Aware that the family is falling behind on their mortgage payments, Bunny asks Ross to take pity on the Watkins family and buy their land.
In San Elido, Bunny and Ross develop a friendly relationship with the Watkins family, who are unaware of Bunny’s previous acquaintance with Paul. After hunting quail on the Watkins’ land, Ross and Bunny find a crack in the ground where oil is seeping through. This convinces Ross to buy the land. He negotiates with the Watkins and promises to let them stay on for a small renting fee, for which the family is grateful.
Ross and Bunny go meet with a local banker to buy out the tracts of land adjacent to San Elido. On their way back to the Watkins’ farm, they run into Paul Watkins, whom Bunny fails to recognize. Ruth Watkins then informs Bunny that Paul is displeased with the business transaction made in his absence.
Chapter 5: The Revelation
At the insistence of the women in his family, Bunny is enrolled in Beach City High School. Although he acclimates to the school environment quite well, Bunny often feels alienated from his peers. Soon, Bunny develops a crush on one of his schoolmates, Rosie Taintor.
Having set up more oil rigs on both the Lobos River and Bankside properties, Ross’s business operation grows much larger. He is also successful in buying out all the lots in Paradise, except for Mr. Bandy’s tract, as Ross thinks the landowner’s price is too high. Meanwhile, the preliminary events of World War I unfold on the international stage.
At Christmastime, Ross and Bunny return to San Elido to hunt quail. There, Bunny is horrified to learn that Abel Watkins recently beat his daughter Ruth for reading “The Age of Reason.” Because of this, Ross tries to fabricate a religious doctrine to refute Abel’s intolerant ways. When he claims that the prophet of the new “Revelation” is Paul, however, Eli, Paul’s younger brother, is offended and insists that it is he who is chosen.
The next day, Ross and Bunny survey the land and find an empty bungalow at the Ruscum ranch. They also stop by the church and listen to Eli’s sermon from the outside. Convinced that he is the prophet of the so-called “Third Revelation”, Eli repeats Ross’s talking points from the night before. Before Ross and Bunny leave Paradise, Bunny persuades Ruth to move into the Ruscum bungalow with Paul.
After three months, Ross and Bunny are pleased to find Ruth and Paul in the Ruscum bungalow. Having worked for a lawyer for almost three years, Paul has grown to be an intelligent and well-spoken young man. Ross takes a liking to Paul and so entrusts the Ruscum ranch to him.
In the summer, Ross and Bunny return to Ruscum to help build the cabin they had planned. The four—Ross, Bunny, Paul, and Ruth—enjoy their time together. Ross and Bunny also learn that Eli, who has grown to be a local celebrity, plans to build the “Tabernacle of the Third Revelation.”
During their stay, the Bandy family finally gives in and agrees to sell their land to Ross for twelve thousand dollars. Ross tells Bunny that they...
(This entire section contains 1231 words.)
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will commence drilling operations in Paradise soon.
Chapter 6: The Wild-Cat
Ross gives Bunny a lesson in practical “civics” by deftly negotiating with and bribing public officials to pave the public road which runs through his property in Paradise. At the Ruscum ranch, he convinces Paul to take up carpentry and oversee the construction of the living quarters of their soon-to-be oil crew.
In one of Bunny’s visits to his mother, she informs him that she is getting divorced from her second husband. He then learns from Bertie what had happened between his mother and Ross. She left Ross for a bond-salesman, pushing Ross to work hard and accumulate wealth.
Soon, their first oil drill in Paradise—dubbed the Ross Junior–Paradise No. 1—is completed, along with the workers’ quarters. Ross and Bunny drive up to Paradise so the latter can start the machine himself. Eli makes a surprise appearance, and Ross invites him to bless the oil drill.
During Thanksgiving season, Ross and Bunny return to Paradise only to be greeted with unfortunate news—a worker named Joe Gundha has fallen into the hole. In order to save Bunny from the sight of the body, Ross sends him to Ruth to deliver the tragic news. Over Thanksgiving dinner, Ross somberly shares stories of the tragic drilling accidents he has witnessed.
Near Christmastime, Ross and Bunny receive the news that the Excelsior Petroleum Company has struck oil in Paradise. Sure enough, their own Ross Junior–Paradise No. 1 strikes oil a few days later. They rush to Paradise on Christmas Eve and oversee the construction of the oil well.
Meanwhile, Bunny’s relationship with Rosie Taintor begins to fade; he continues to admire her but realizes that he is increasingly bored by their rapport.
At night, a powerful oil geyser flings the well’s cement casing into the air. Suddenly, the oil catches fire and spews flames all over the area. Bunny evacuates Ruscum with the others while his father drives off to procure some dynamite with which to suppress the oil fire.
Finally, they successfully use dynamite to snuff out the oil fire. Bunny is heartbroken over the ruins of the Ross Junior–Paradise No. 1 and the Ruscum cabin. However, his father tells him to cheer up, as the fire is a sure sign that there is an ocean of oil below the ground.
Analysis
Chapter four marks one of the first moral dilemmas young Bunny experiences. He wonders whether it is right to purchase the Watkins’ ranch without disclosing to the owners that they mean to drill for oil there and make millions in profit. Because Ross successfully buys the ranch for much less than it is potentially worth, Bunny feels that they are, to some extent, cheating the Watkins. These feelings of guilt are overpowered by the elation of having his childhood dream come true—that of discovering oil for his father. Bunny will eventually find, however, this dream progressing into a nightmare.
As the initial events of World War I occur abroad, readers are afforded a glimpse into how American businessmen such as Ross profit from the demands of war. This foreshadows how Ross and other players in American big business will eventually use the war effort to further their business interests.
Finally, chapter six finds Bunny falling out of love with Rosie Taintor. He is at the age where he is beginning to acquire a deeper understanding of the opposite sex. While Ross warns him of the opportunistic nature of women, however, the latter feels that he is too pessimistic. Ross’s view is informed by the fact that Bunny’s mother left him for a wealthier man, a deeply traumatic experience which helps account for his obsessive greed.
