The Business Man (short story)

"The Business Man" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe about a businessman boasting of his accomplishments.

That single event determined his fate: the resulting bump was in the area dedicated to system and regularity, according to phrenology.

When he sees a large home or palace being built, he buys a nearby or adjoining property and builds a "mud-hovel" or "pig-sty" so ugly that he is paid 500% the value of the lot to tear it down—essentially a species of spite house for extorting purposes.

He then tries forging letters and delivering them to rich people, asking them to pay postage themselves, as was the custom at the time.

The story was originally titled "Peter Pendulum"[1] and published in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine in February 1840.

[4] The story is a satire[5] and is often interpreted as a reflection of Poe's strained relationship with his foster father John Allan, himself a successful businessman.

[3] The story also satirizes businesspeople in general, suggesting that their success is not due to their method of punctuality and self-discipline but because of ruthless business practices, violence, egotism, and pure chance.

[8] In "The Business Man", Poe also makes fun of the dubious nature of phrenology, then a popular pseudoscience.