The hitch hiker brings up the idea that the driver does not control his own life. Most people from the Dust Bowl era had to give up everything. Including their hopes and dreams. The hitch hiker plays on these dreams by giving the driver a chance to take control over his life again. That chance might just be rebelling against the man who pays his checks, but if the driver rebels it puts the driver and his boss on the same level. No longer will his rich boss have control over him. His life is up to him to decide and no one can take that away from him.
The hitch hiker knows that anyone who is not rich thinks that the rich believe they are better than them just because they have more money. He also knows that most people around the area have lost almost everything. These people are just looking for a way to get back what they once had. Especially their pride. They see the rich as people who could be them. They have great resentment to the rich, because the rich have nothing to be shameful about. The rich have succeed were the poor failed and now the people who once worked for themselves now work for the people who were their equals.
The driver weighted out his pros and cons for driving the hitch hiker. He decided that there was not really any cons, because he was already at the bottom. On the other hand the pros were that he would disobey his boss and that he would be helping someone in need of help. This would make him feel like he regained some of his once lost pride. Which meant that he is still the same person he once was in his past.
Matt,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great first post! I especially like that you've taken the time to detail your observations with incidents in the text and fully explaining your understanding. Keep it up - I look forward to more posts with insight like this.
This post scores a 4.