Norris described The Pit as a fictitious narrative of a "deal" in the Chicago wheat pit, which is the nickname of the trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, where commodities are traded like stocks and bonds. One man tries to corner the market on wheat to make a fortune. More than a business story, the novel deals with love and the lack of love in a relationship, selfishness, power, greed, the financial power of men and lack of their power to control events that are shaped by nature. Quote: "Think of it, the food of hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people just at the mercy of a few men down there on the Board of Trade. They make the price. They say just how much the peasant shall pay for his loaf of bread. If he can't pay the price, he simply starves." These poor people's lives are completely out of their hands. In contrast, Norris suggests that ultimately the men down in the Pit don't have power over them either, nor over their own lives, because above all, nature rules. Benjamin Franklin Norris, Jr. (March 5, 1870 - October 25, 1902) was an American novelist during the Progressive Era, writing under the name Frank Norris, predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include McTeague (1899), The Octopus: A Story of California (1901), and The Pit (1903). McTeague tells the story of a couple's courtship and marriage, and their subsequent descent into poverty, violence and finally murder as the result of jealousy and avarice. The Octopus depicts the tension between a corrupt railroad in California and the ranchers and the ranchers' League. The book emphasized the control of "forces" such as wheat and railroads over individuals. The Pit is a story of wheat speculation and greed driving up the price of wheat at the Chicago Board of Trade, where commodities are traded like stocks and bonds. It was the second book in what was to be the trilogy The Epic of the Wheat, but Norris died before the third novel was completed.