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
Ford is an idealist; he wants to make his workers happy, and he also knows that if he pays high wages, his workers will be able to buy his cars. Thus, in 1914, he declares that he is going to divide a bonus of $10 million a year to his workers, which would bring the lowest paid workers a minimum of $5 a day. The working day would also be reduced from nine hours to eight. Instantly, Ford becomes a national hero.
Here, Ford begins to lose a little of his idealism: while he wants his workers to be happy and to have solid wages, he is also motivated by a desire for good press and by his own greed, knowing that the money he invests in his workers would likely come right back to him when they purchase one of his cars.
Themes
Because of Ford’s announcement, manufacturers, businessmen, and newspapers call him a socialist. In addition, workers from all over the country take the first train to Detroit in the hopes of being hired, only to find that there are few jobs for them. The workers stand outside the factory and throw stones but ultimately recognize that they can’t do anything about the lack of jobs. Meanwhile, Ford and his wife, Clara, become instantly famous. Ford has to live like a “European potentate,” with armed security between him and the public.
Ford’s new label as a socialist is ironic, particularly given the fact that he is completely motivated by a desire for profit. The passage also illustrates how capitalism is already degrading some aspects of his life. While he is attaining the success and power of a “potentate” or king, he is simultaneously forced to be secluded from others for fear that they might be violent or critical of him.
Themes
