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Chapter 54
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
The first panic on Wall Street affects John Shutt very little. He is a specialist in welding at the new plant, he has a very good salary, and he has a home in a neighborhood that protects him from meeting people poorer than he is. He and Annabelle belong to a system of feudalism: a hierarchy of rank based on income. They avoid those of lower levels and persistently seek to attain higher levels of wealth.
Here, the book spells out how the constant desire for profits and wealth leads people to a dehumanizing social structure. John and Annabelle care only about ensuring their own social standing and don’t recognize that they have become part of a tyrannical system that oppresses poorer workers during economic downturns.
Themes
The Ford empire is not a metaphor: Ford is a feudal lord with wealth and the power of the press. The more John works for Ford, the more John prospers; the more John prospers, the more he admires Ford and works hard. Abner and Milly, on the other hand, are “serfs,” happy to watch their children join Ford’s ranks and rise above themselves.
Just as John Shutt willingly upholds a capitalist system that benefits him, so too does Ford act as a king intent upon maintaining his own power. He uses the press and his wealth in order to manipulate people like Abner and Milly, who are content with lesser social standing and meager living conditions as long as they can watch their children rise.
Themes
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