Pursual Of Meaning In Michael Crichton's The Great Train Robbery

Man’s Pursual of Meaning It seems as if all the wealth, power, and success is not enough to satiate the importunate avarice that rests innately within a man. Such a spectacle was seen in Edward Pierce, the protagonist of Michael Crichton’s The Great Train Robbery. Edward Pierce, a man of great wealth and dominance in both the public and underground of society, constructs a heinous scheme to steal a load of treasure off a train. Although Pierce is shown to have unshakeable perseverance, Crichton never explicitly states a motive behind Pierce’s actions. However, because Pierce seems to be detached from society and beyond many of the ultimate goals of human life, it can substantiate that Pierce’s motives are for creating a higher purpose of dignity
aside from the wealth and power he has already obtained. Pierce has continuously proven himself to be an odd individual with a certain discontent toward Victorian society. One of the first descriptions of Pierce marked him as an “oddly mysterious figure” (Crichton 5). It is clear that Pierce keeps himself a mystery from society as his name and source of income are doubtful (6). Pierce’s accomplices, including his mistress, seem to have no emotional attachments with Pierce, who treats them only as essential tools. Take for example the impetuous manslaughter of Clean Willy, a presumable apostate (169). These details deliver a message of mental dissociation and fortitude over mainstream Victorian society that show Pierce wants to pretentiously challenge the norm of thought. Of all the places Pierce could raid, he chose the one that was the least expected, the most difficult, and the least compensating. The aberrancies of his intuition can convey that Pierce only wanted to amuse himself in creating a convoluted mystery in the midst of a mundane society: a crime of the century. Pierce, who has acquired all the wealth and power a man could want, is seen as being detached from the materialism of society. Many crimes are executed for greed but this is not limited to money only (Crichton xvi).