Aniruddha Joshi

English 1102

Dr Reynolds

January 14, 2009

“The Pit” by Frank Norris was a very interesting book thus far. While I was reading the first chapter of the book I was posed with the question of why Laura had a very uninterested tone towards Corthell while he was expressing his love to her when suddenly in the same conversation she cries out that she is extremely glad that he loves her. Furthermore, on the way back to her home she again internally accepts that she does not love Corthell. Her actions do tend to be a little confusing to me. I do feel that many of the romantic conflicts which occur in the book could well have been avoided if she were to be completely honest with the gentlemen rather than, in effect, raise their expectations only to disappoint them in the end. I understand that she would be looking for company and hence would have liked Corthell’s love in that way but I do feel that her behavior was somewhat unnecessary. Laura’s behavior as a whole was quite difficult for me to relate to and I did feel that the character did fluctuate a bit through the course of the first five chapters.

I feel that Norris has successfully managed both the romantic side and the business side of his novel very well. However, I did find them to be somewhat disconnected at times. This may not be such a bad thing but nonetheless it did grab my attention. I found that Norris moved from Laura to the Pit in a very sudden manner at times. For instance in chapter two the reader has his full focus on Laura and in chapter 3 the reader is suddenly dragged to the Pit.