Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Flivver King, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Capitalism and Dehumanization
American Idealism and Disillusionment
Misinformation, Media Bias, and Ignorance
Individualism vs. Unionization
Technology and Progress
Summary
Analysis
In 1908, Ford decides to create a single cheap model that he can sell to the masses: the Model T. All of the cars are ugly and black, but he figures that most Americans are like him and care less about the car’s and more about its usefulness. He buys 60 acres of land in Highland Park (just north of Detroit) and builds the world’s largest automobile plant. He charges $950 for his car that year and makes 18,000 of them. The next year, he reduces the price to $780 and sells twice as many, earning millions of dollars. Ford also wants his workers to have high wages so that they can then buy his cars.
This section reinforces how initially, the capitalist system does provide benefits for both Ford and his workers. This is particularly due to the fact that Ford has an incentive to give his workers higher wages, so that they will then be able to buy his cars and he can earn even more money. Yet even though Ford aims to give his workers good wages, they are not keeping pace with his profits, highlighting again the need for workers to unionize and negotiate for better working conditions and wages.
Themes
