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Milly Crock Shutt
Tom Sr. is Abner’s father. At the beginning of the book, Tom works in a freight-car factory making $1.40 a day. Although he is poor, he maintains faith in the American Dream and believes that his son can achieve social mobility. When Tom is in his 60s, his legs are overcome with joint pain and he loses his job and is forced to move in with Abner and Milly. Tom subsequently dies during the Great Depression.
Tom Shutt Sr. Quotes in The Flivver King
The The Flivver King quotes below are all either spoken by Tom Shutt Sr. or refer to Tom Shutt Sr.. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 58 Quotes
Such things do not seem much to outsiders, but they are what break the spirit of poor people who have always earned what they spent and kept themselves “respectable.” Abner had come now to the point where he had to forget that his second son was a bootlegger and a gangster, and let Milly take gratefully whatever money Hank brought.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Tom Shutt Sr. Character Timeline in The Flivver King
The timeline below shows where the character Tom Shutt Sr. appears in The Flivver King. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
Abner’s father, Tom Shutt, works in a factory making railway freight-cars. For this skilled work, Tom makes $1.40...
(full context)
One evening, while Ford is working on his invention, Abner introduces him to Tom. Ford is 28, lean, and intelligent, and he tells Abner and Tom that he plans...
(full context)
Chapter 5
...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,...
(full context)
...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...
(full context)
Chapter 31
Back in Highland Park, Abner’s father, Tom, is now in his 60s, and his legs are overcome with joint pain. Though he...
(full context)
Chapter 58
In the first winter of the Great Depression, old Tom Shutt dies, and the Shutts are able to give him a nice burial. But when...
(full context)
