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 the summer of 1893, there is a panic on Wall Street, and by the winter, Tom and his older sons lose their jobs. These economic downturns are mysterious to the Shutts, who don’t fully understand why they occur. All they know is that as a result, they have to sell most of their belongings, move into one tenement room, and live on very little food. Abner has to leave school and make a few pennies selling newspapers. One day, his fingers freeze on the job, and a doctor has to cut one of them off. Meanwhile, Tom stands on the breadlines with hundreds of starving men.
This is the book’s first implicit critique of the capitalist system. The wealth inequality in America means that the poorest workers are often hit hardest by the economy’s fragility. The Shutts live in destitution for several years and this period of poverty has a huge impact on Abner going forward. Not only does Abner lose a finger, but he also misses out on the rest of his education as a result of this crisis.
Themes
After three years of this hardship, business picks up again. Abner never returns to school; instead, he gets jobs where he can find them. He grows up to be an upstanding boy, keeping Tom’s faith in the country and its institutions in spite of the family’s poverty. The newspapers report that hard times are an inescapable law of nature, but now America is returning to prosperity and remains the greatest and richest country in the world. Abner thinks that if a person works hard and lives a God-fearing life, success is bound to come.
Abner’s idealism is resilient at first: even when facing hardship and poverty, he has faith in America’s institutions and his own future. He continues to hold onto the American Dream that hard work can give a person opportunity and social mobility.Additionally, Sinclair hints at the press’s impact here. Because the newspapers report that hard times are inevitable, many Americans like Abner take this as fact. But part of Sinclair’s project in the book is to illustrate that this is misleading, and that major economic systems could be regulated better.
Themes
