The central theme in Lillian Hellman's play, The Little Foxes, is greed, and the extremes to which people will go to fulfill their lust for money. The greedy characters in The Little Foxes want to be as rich as they can possibly be. This idea of supreme greed is summed up in the line "you should either be a nigger or a millionaire" nothing in between (1035). With this line, Hellman illustrates her characters ultimate greed by showing that they would not be happy simply being rich; they had to be millionaires.
             Hellman displays this theme through the use of her character Oscar, and the way his greed leads him to betray his brother-in-law, Horace. Oscar is by far one of the greediest characters in Hellman's play, judging by the deliberate way in which he will do whatever is necessary to further himself financially. Ben sums it up best when he says, "you [Regina] and I, aren't like Oscar. We're not sour people" (1076). With this statement, Ben is inferring that Oscar is a very bitter person, because all he cares about is money. Oscar's main goal in life is to become as rich as he possibly can, and he doesn't care who he has to swindle in order to achieve his goals. Oscar's extreme greed eventually led him to commit an immoral act to satisfy his need to be rich.
             Oscar displays this overwhelming greed in the scene in which he conspires to "borrow" Horace's money in order to acquire the needed share to invest in the cotton mill. Oscar says that he will borrow the bonds for " three months, maybe four," and because " [Horace] doesn't look at them until fall, he wouldn't even miss them out of the box" (1048). With this statement Hellman is showing us, that because of his overpowering greed, Oscar is willing to steal bonds from his brother-in-law, in order to further himself financially. Oscar's greediness is very evident
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