Friday, January 26, 2018

Doctorow's Henry Ford

When Doctorow introduced Henry Ford, it was confusing as to if he actually liked him. In Ford's first chapter appearance, Doctorow said that "Instead of having one man learn the hundreds of tasks in the building of one motorcar (...),  why not stand him in his place, have him do just one task over and over, and let the parts come past him on moving belts. Thus the worker's mental capacity would not be taxed. (...) the men who build the products be themselves interchangeable parts." This quote makes it seem as if Doctorow has disdain for Ford since he describes Ford as exploiting his workers by making them do simple repetitive tasks in the assembly line and basically turning them into a machine.

Although Doctorow shows Ford dehumanizing his workers, he still seems to have some sort of respect for Ford as he also emphasizes Ford's genius in creating the assembly line. He shows Ford being an eccentric character who was a pioneer truly invested in his work as can be seen when the first car rolled off the assembly line. You can see that he was truly excited as he allotted a whole 60 seconds to appreciate the moment. We can also see that Doctorow likes Ford more than JP Morgan when Doctorow starts giving us his version of Morgan's background. 

Doctorow describes Morgan as top of the business ladder and how he was born rich and used his wealth to get richer. This is unlike Ford who Doctorow depicts as a person who started small and was able to work hard to amass their fortune. Doctorow is showing the two different types of capitalism that is represented by these two tycoons. In Morgan you have the old capitalist who was successful through using his ancestor's assets and Ford, the new capitalist who used innovation, hard work, and young perspective to succeed in society. 

This comparison with Morgan shows that although Doctorow is against the exploitation of workers in Ford's assembly line, he is more supportive of Ford's rise to success than how Morgan rose. Doctorow appreciates this new type of capitalism than emphasizes innovation and also believes that everyone is able to participate in this new type of capitalism and not just the very rich.  
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3 comments:

  1. Tim ChoFebruary 10, 2018 at 8:39 PM

    I agree that Doctorow appreciates how Ford rose more than how Morgan rose. I think that Doctorow approaches the topic of capitalism in a very nuanced way, but that he likes the fact that capitalism offers opportunities for those that weren't given a comfy position in the elite of society. I think he shows this with what you wrote about Ford and also in how he shows Tateh's largely positive and happy economic rise near the end of the novel.

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  2. UnknownFebruary 11, 2018 at 7:39 PM

    I think that Doctorow actually portrays Ford extremely well - he shows both the bad and good sides of him. Specifically, the bad he shows in his treatment of his workers as simple cogs of a machine. The good, however, is the way that Ford shrugs off the 'high and mighty' ideas, giving us a respite from his craziness.

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  3. UnknownMarch 17, 2018 at 2:35 PM

    I think that Doctorow has a sort of attack against Ford as well, I felt like how Ford reacted to Morgan's "project" looked like he felt like he was better than all of Morgan's scientists and historians, quite a arrogant claim. How this statement is worded certainly feels like it could be worded otherwise in a far more humble way.

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