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
John manages to find a job for Abner in the tool shop of the welding department, and Abner is on his feet once more. As a result, Abner’s legs quickly grow sore and he can hardly sleep. Abner doesn’t complain, however, because this is his only chance to earn a living. It’s the same across all the jobs in the automobile industry: every worker is pushed to their limit because the companies are all in incessant competition with each other. Meanwhile, Abner reads about Ford boasting of the great working conditions in the plant, and Abner thinks that Ford must simply not know about the conditions. So Abner does his work and stays quiet.
Abner’s experience here demonstrates the clear inhumanity of the factory. Abner faces grueling conditions, but he has no way to address this fact because then his job will simply be given to someone else. Without union protections, Ford can make the conditions worse and worse as long as there is someone willing to work for less. And the system also degrades Ford’s humanity, as his desire for profit has either made him ignorant of the factory’s conditions or, if he does know about the conditions, prevents him from caring about his workers at all.
Themes
