The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a 1927 adventure novel by German author B. Traven, whose identity remains unknown. In the book, two destitute American men in Mexico of the 1920s join an older American prospector in a search for gold. John Huston adapted the book as a 1948 film of the same name. Historical setting The novel is set in the decade following the global upheavals of the First World War and social revolutions in Russia and Mexico. The United States is an emerging economic and political power. European and US corporations are aggressively seeking foreign markets, natural resources and cheap labor. Elements within the Catholic Church are struggling to retain their authority as liberal Mexican administrations institute social reforms, including an 8-hour day, literacy programs and health care. This is the context of the story. Plot The author employs a third person-omniscient in a dramatic-progressive structure, where Howard is the focal character. Three stories within a story provide historical and social significance for the outer narrative. Summary The story opens in the oil boomtown of Tampico, Mexico in the early 1920s. Dobbs, an expatriate who hails from “an industrial American city” is unemployed, penniless and reduced to bumming spare change from American tourists. Loitering on Tampico's main plaza, he collects a number of generous handouts from well-to-do men who wear white suits. To Dobbs’ dismay, he discovers that he has been accosting the same individual repeatedly. The irate tourist at last upbraids the panhandler, dismissing him with a half-peso tip.