Previous
Chapter 85
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 enjoys several courses of decadent food prepared by the hostess’s chef, including terrapin-soup, quail, and an alligator pear salad. Meanwhile, Tom Jr. explains that the car industry can produce twice as many cars as the American people need; factories drive men like racehorses during active periods, then turn the men out to the breadlines the rest of the time. Tom explains that under the New Deal, profits increased 50 percent while wages increased only 10 percent, so the issues that caused the depression are worse than ever.
Here, Tom ties together the threads of argument running throughout the story explaining why the capitalist system is problematic. Ford can keep creating cars in a concentrated timeline because he drives his workforce so hard, and then he can discard his workers the rest of the time. This intense pursuit of profit is exactly what exacerbated the Great Depression, as people’s buying power did not keep up with the amount of goods that they were producing. Thus, Tom argues that the profit system needs to change in order for workers to maintain a decent standard of living.
Themes
