Gain Richard Powers
Gain and Loss in the Circle of Life
In Richard Powers’ novel, Gain, he intertwines two fictional stories to analyze the growth of large corporation in America and the deterioration of the individual as a potential result. He tells the story of the rise of a family soap making business, J. Clare and Sons, into a large-scale corporation over a span of 150 years. As a second story line, he incorporates the end of the life of Laura Bodey, a divorced real estate agent with ovarian cancer living in Lacewood, a town centered around the corporation’s headquarters. He makes a unique statement about the increasingly detrimental nature of business as it grows in scale. He never condemns Clare International nor does he overly-victimize any individual character that the corporation effects. He does not tell the story of J. Clare and Sons nor that of Laura Bodey perfectly objectively, but his opinions are subtly placed so that he leaves the reader with the ability to decide for themself whether or not current American businesses do more harm than good. He uses the characters of the two founding members of Clare International as tools to analyze the different elements and theories of capitalism and different motives for gain. He also uses the death of many characters in the novel to analyze the effect that the swelling growth of corporations has on individuals in its path.
The story of the creation of Clare International begins with two of the Clare brothers, Resolve and Samuel. Resolve, the business savvy brother, embodies some of Marx’s criticisms of capitalism, but Powers does not necessarily present his character in an overly critical way. He drives the company to success by his never-ending need for improvement. He takes capital, turns it into commodity, only to re-invest in some new capital, constantly striving to more efficiently yield his product. When he cannot find an outlet to re-invest, he buys out another local business and strips it of its useable
In Richard Powers’ novel, Gain, he intertwines two fictional stories to analyze the growth of large corporation in America and the deterioration of the individual as a potential result. He tells the story of the rise of a family soap making business, J. Clare and Sons, into a large-scale corporation over a span of 150 years. As a second story line, he incorporates the end of the life of Laura Bodey, a divorced real estate agent with ovarian cancer living in Lacewood, a town centered around the corporation’s headquarters. He makes a unique statement about the increasingly detrimental nature of business as it grows in scale. He never condemns Clare International nor does he overly-victimize any individual character that the corporation effects. He does not tell the story of J. Clare and Sons nor that of Laura Bodey perfectly objectively, but his opinions are subtly placed so that he leaves the reader with the ability to decide for themself whether or not current American businesses do more harm than good. He uses the characters of the two founding members of Clare International as tools to analyze the different elements and theories of capitalism and different motives for gain. He also uses the death of many characters in the novel to analyze the effect that the swelling growth of corporations has on individuals in its path.
The story of the creation of Clare International begins with two of the Clare brothers, Resolve and Samuel. Resolve, the business savvy brother, embodies some of Marx’s criticisms of capitalism, but Powers does not necessarily present his character in an overly critical way. He drives the company to success by his never-ending need for improvement. He takes capital, turns it into commodity, only to re-invest in some new capital, constantly striving to more efficiently yield his product. When he cannot find an outlet to re-invest, he buys out another local business and strips it of its useable