Imagination has never been Theodore Dreiser’s forte, at least, not the kind of imagination which soars beyond memory and adds fancy to experience. Yet the essential of his philosophy will be found in the first pages of “The Financier,” in the disguise of an allegory. He tells us how, when still a child, Cowperwood began to doubt the story of the origins of mankind as it is told in the book of Genesis. The Bible did not give him a satisfactory interpretation of human actions, so he turned to a fishmonger near his home. The fishmonger had tubs full of fish. They gave him his first lesson in philosophy. I cannot help quoting the whole anecdote as a faithful summary and an illustration of the struggle for existence. The battle between the lobster and the squid was indeed a natural prelude to introduce the readers to the exploits of what is commonly called among mortals a “shark,” and Cowperwood is one of the first brand: The lobster lay at the bottom of the clear glass tank on the yellow sand, apparently seeing nothing. You could not tell in which way his beady, black button eyes were looking--but apparently they were never off the body of the squid. The latter, pale and waxy in texture, looking very much like pork fat or jade, was moving about in torpedo fashion; but his movements were apparently never out of the eyes of his enemy, for by degrees small portions of his body began to disappear, snapped off by the relentless claws of his pursuer. The latter, as young Cowperwood was one day a witness, would leap like a catapult to where the squid was apparently idly dreaming, and the squid, very alert, would dart away, shooting out at the same time a cloud of ink, behind which it would disappear. It was not always completely successful, however. Some small portions of its body or its tail were frequently left in the claws of the monster below. Days passed, and, now fascinated by the drama, young Cowperwood came daily.[21] The size of the squid’s body decreased day after day and he wasted all his ink ammunitions. The battle now was too uneven to last. One evening, when Frank came back to watch it, he saw a crowd around the tub. The lobster was still squinting in his corner and close to him lay the squid or, at least the little that was left of him. Young Cowperwood felt aggrieved. He had come too late to enjoy the most thrilling part of the fight, but he did not miss its lesson. Such was life! Lobsters and squids fought and finally one was bound to devour the other. The lobsters fed on the squids, men fed on the lobsters and--who fed on men? For days and weeks, says Dreiser, young Cowperwood could think of nothing but lobsters and squids. This was a true picture of life and of what it had in store for an ambitious young man ready to start on his career. It filled him with courage and anxiety.