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, now 55 years old, spends the winter resting in California with Clara and their son, Edsel. During this winter, an idealistic author meets with Ford. The author discovers that Ford is kind and unassuming—largely unchanged by his success. The author asks what Ford thinks about the profit system, and Ford explains that he doesn’t know what it is. The author explains that no one can or will work without the promise of making a profit. Ford counters, explaining that that he promised President Wilson to turn over his plant and resources to the government without profits during the war. When the author asks why he doesn’t do this during peacetime, Ford says that he wants money to be able to try out more inventions, and because he doesn’t want politicians butting in on his work.
The unnamed author (who could perhaps be Sinclair himself) questions Ford about the benefits and deficiencies of the capitalist system. Ford himself acknowledges that a person can work without profits, and yet he chooses not to because of his desire for greater wealth, power, and freedom. However, as Sinclair foreshadows, Ford’s humanity becomes degraded by that desire. No longer is he as interested in supporting his workers or the American people generally; instead, he aims simply to expand his industry.
Themes
Ford points to the railroad industry, which broke down during the war, leaving the government to run them. Ford submitted proposals for how to fix the situation to the Secretary of the Treasury, but the Secretary was a businessman and did nothing about it because he was serving the banks and private interest. The author points out that in that case, private interest is what corrupted politics, but Ford argues that politics is full of waste and incompetence.
The author points out the contradiction in Ford’s assessments. While Ford believes government is wasteful and self-interested, the author examines the root cause of that waste and self-interest: loyalty to the banks and the capitalist system. Thus, he argues that the constant greed and desire for power latent in capitalism is instead what corrupts America’s institutions.
Themes
The author makes one more point: that a monarchy is good with a good king, but with a bad king, there is trouble. Ford concedes this point indirectly later when he admits that the reason there are no unions in the Ford shops is because the men don’t want them.
Here the author foreshadows Ford’s eventual problems, particularly given the book’s title of The Flivver King. Currently, Ford tries to support the workers and pay them high wages. But in hard times where a king may not be as generous, workers need institutional regulations and union protections.
Themes
