Upton Sinclair's Novel A Story of Ford-America

Categories: Novel

Upton Sinclair's view of the common laborer (Abner Shutt) is fair and illustrates the difficulties of the early 20th century worker because, he treats Abner and other workers as if they are not human and don't have families. He expects up most respect from his workers giving them not much in return. In the early parts of the book it shows how the man Henry ford was a crazy man with these crazy ideas and no one paid attention to him, he had to work sleepless nights to get his invention to actually work.

As his ideas start to progress he still couldn't make this baby-carriage(3) on four bicycle wheels become a part of the modern civilization because none of the business men would give in.

Every one chose to ride bikes, and then you have Abner Shutt. As a young boy Abner lived in poverty he dropped out of school just to make a extra little cash. At this time everyone was losing their jobs.

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These are general events that happened that depicts the difficulties of the 20th century worker and why Upton Sinclair's view is fair. This book took place in the early progressive era which was when muckraker came to be, exposing businesses and the harsh conditions workers are put through also there will be a lot of changes. First and foremost Abner Shutt lived a harsh life, he caught frostbite trying to sell newspapers as a kid and had to get his finger cut off.

Abner worked and worked till he can finally become some one.

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In the text The Flivver King it states he had been working at his hard job with the tool company for three years and had made up his mind that he had no future there.This is one of the problems also faced in today's society as well. People feel as if they are life less going to a job they hate everyday just to make minimum wage, it's a living hell if you think about it and people just end up quitting because they can't take it anymore. That's how Abner felt at this time.The text once states If you worked hard and lived a sober and God-fearing life, success was bound to come to you.(10).I feel this quote resembles back to Abner. When Abner went looking for his Hero also known as Henry Ford who just got started on his new company The Ford motor company. Abner begged to work under Mr. Ford in the text Abner states I'm a good worker, Mr.Ford. I don't never drink, and I come to work regular.(14).

Mr Ford gave him the job and from there soon came Abner's blessings along the way. After working for Mr.ford after a while Abner convinced Mr.ford to give him the promotion he deserved. Abner was the only worker Mr.ford had and he was hard working and never missed a day. I've once heard from a coach of mine,Coach Borman that people become millionaires doing the job they love instead of doing the job that make enough money. I stated this because Abner really loved his job and wouldn't want to work anywhere else,especially working under his hero. He was making enough to take care of his family. Abner always wanted to make sure Mr.ford was happy, but the more successful the business was the more corrupted Mr.Ford mind was with money and power. This was when the labor became unfair and brutal. At first he wanted all his workers to be able to buy one of his cars but then Mr.Ford starts to pushed his employees to the max, they were working more hours and harder. He wanted them to obey him, be loyal and wanted them to live in the same neighborhood as the business just to make minimum wage He even hired a service department to make sure nothing happens with the company but, those people were thugs and gangsters.

Abner was doing fine till Mr.ford started acting this way.By the end of Abner's life he was no richer then he was before. When The Ford Company came up with this Bonus scheme prices for houses were higher and rent was tooThe Shutts had been paying twelve dollars a month, and now were told that the rent was twenty.(31) Most of the workers in the early 20th century lived and worked in harsh conditions.Soon Abner's had 4 children and each one of them started working under Mr.Ford.Except for Tom,Tom got his college degree and tries to correct Ford's company abuse on workers. Tom came up with the United automobile workers union.Tom was eventually almost beat to death by The ford company thugs. As you can see Upton Sinclair's view of the common laborer is fair and illustrates the difficulties of the early 20th century worker because he demonstrates the Abner's personal obstacles as a worker and Abner's family obstacles as a worker. Even the obstacles of Henry's early life demonstrates the difficulties of the 20th century. Abner was more afraid of hard times than of any tyrant(25).

After he got his life stabilized he wanted to make sure he never experience hard times again, this was one of the reasons Abner was so grateful to Henry Ford. Mr.Ford helped him build his life and family just by giving him a job. Once Mr.Ford became obsessed with the power, It brought in hard ,nonhuman labor.The 20th century was a big time for business and most of these businesses were corrupted and operated in the wrong way. For example the triangle shirtwaist fire a factory full of women were killed due to a fire, the women were locked in when the fire broke out and the women who tried to escape had to jump out a window to they're death. Another example would be when children started working in dangerous factories causing them to get injured or die. Nowadays you need requirements to work, you can't have thugs and gangsters in your business beating people to death for trying to better the business. Upton Sinclair wants people to that people deserve right, they deserve to work less hours,they deserve to be safe and they should make more money working in these conditions.

These work conditions is not acceptable. These workers needed to establish a union. Abner did not have the strength to rebel against Mr.Ford.Tom Shutt tried to rebel, But that was a job that would be fairly impossible knowing Ford motor company was such a big company and had a huge impact on the industry. Although Ford's company was a successful company some had to stand up to Henry ford's corrupted was because it would serve him justice and maybe those workers would have been paid what they deserve. Sinclair also shows in the story how power can turn someone good intentions into someone evil, making them obsessed with power. This story is also an example of scientific management, Henry Ford started with just skilled workers to do simple jobs but then he got unskilled workers to do these jobs because then he can pay them less. He also started the assembly line so work can get done at a faster pace, so cars can get built within weeks.

Updated: Apr 19, 2023
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Upton Sinclair's Novel A Story of Ford-America. (2019, Aug 20). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/upton-sinclairs-novel-a-story-of-ford-america-essay

Upton Sinclair's Novel A Story of Ford-America essay
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