Literature Analytical

Interurban Queen is a fictional story written about a man around the beggining of the automobile industry. The story is intresting because it is a what if story, like what if the U.S. didn't drop the atomic bomb. This story is written about the intoduction of the automobile into society. It talks from many differents peoples differnt points of veiws about what the automobile would do for our country. The story has many different symbols and shows how important these cars have been for our society. The first man says that although the horse will be eliminated from the main form of transportation that the automobile wont take off and the railroads that will take off. The man is saying that although the horses and the things of the past will be improved and advanced upon, the automobile wont be able to progress. He says that it gives people too much independance and arrogance and will therefore never be able to be used in a succesful society. He believed that the people will break apart and live more for themselves if the auto industry ever became the main form of transportation because of how much flexibility it allowed the people. He then talked to another man who also believed that the cars would never be able to replace the other forms of transportation. This man believed so because he said even the nicest men can be changed by things of power like the horse. A man on a horse assumes a new person and becomes a dangerous machine. A man in a car is hunderds of times more dangerous and will become even more arrogant. He believes that the flexibility isn't worth the danger that this industry brings with it. "It will breed violence on a scale never seen before." (241) He believed that the amount of power given by these vehicles will make every man become tyranical and. Not only will the auto industry not take up but it would be morally wrong for our world to ever let it happen. Lastly he talked to a rich man. This man discussed how much he infact loved the car industry because of how free it made him and how royal he felt driving his cars. However, he said that the automobile will only ever be "a rich man's pride." He didn't think anyone but the rich and truly wise should ever be able to own a car as the normal working man shouldn't ever be able to hold the same arrogance as the rich.
All these men in the story represented different pros and cons with the automobile industry going forth in our society. The first man brings up how the automobile industry will give men freedom however they will break off from their community with this new given freedom. The automobile has given the world more freedom than any other invention ever, the ability to travel wherever and whenever you want has become a huge part of our society. However, the benifit will come with a consequence as people wont have the same connection with their home and community lives because they are so readily able to go back and forth anywhere they please. The second man brings up the idea that the cars will give extreme freedom for men to do what they please, along with the freedom however comes an overpowering feeling of arrogance. A man in a car has a imense feeling of power and is therefore extremely dangerous. For our society to ever let the automobile industry flourish would be imoral. The only thing the automobile will create is an inner tyrant in any man. Although the automobile has given man freedom it is infact extremely dangerous. There are millions of deaths in car accidents and thats exactly what the man predicted. The third man discusses how only the rich should be the only ones aloud to drive a car and that the working man should never be able to have the same luxury as the rich. This shows that even though it is a luxury to own a car its very expensive, the car itself and maintenance. The car must be constantly maintained with gas, washes, and check ups and is very expensive. I think the bigger meaning to the cost issue however is the cost it has had on our world in general. The automobile has created so much permenant polution. This story symbolically showed many problems with this industry that are not neccesarily evident. The key to this story was the underlying meaning of all these men.