Cars and Class

As Evelyn is driven by her chauffeur through the extravagant neighborhoods of her home in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, “On an impulse she told the driver to turn and go east. A servant of Harry Thaw’s mother, the driver permitted himself a frown. Evelyn took no notice. The car moved through the city, its motor humming in the warm afternoon. It was a black Detroit Electric with hard rubber tires. After a while through the window Evelyn saw the peddlers and pushcarts of the Lower East Side” (41). Here, with cars as signifiers of class and distinct imagery, Doctorow provides a juxtaposition of classes in New York City. Evelyn is shocked by images like those in Jacob Riis’s photographs of Mulberry Street published in his bestselling book, “How the Other Half Lives.” These photographs portray the “have-nots” of American society in the early 1900s, who can’t afford the luxury of a coveted Detroit Electric car. Instead, they made their livings like Tateh, making use of their skills or selling what they can on the streets of areas like Mulberry Street, where people can barely even afford the cheap goods sold there. Evelyn represents the changing ideals of the times in America by noticing these great gaps in standard of living and takes interest in Tateh and his daughter, experiencing a glimpse of what life is like for the “other half” of the inhabitants of Manhattan. Doctorow’s use of Evelyn to portray this recognition of class is even further contrasted with her celebrity image.

By Elizabeth Huebsch

Sources:

"Detroit Electric | ZAP Electric Vehicles." ZAP Electric Vehicles | ZAP Electric Cars, Trucks, Scooters, ATV's, Alias, 100% Electric. ZAP Headquarters, 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://www.zapworld.com/detroit-electric>.

Detroit Electric. Detroit Electric, 2009. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://www.detroit-electric.com/>.

"Jacob A. Riis." The New York Times. The New York TImes, 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/r/jacob_riis/index.html>.

Riis, Jacob A. "Riis, Jacob A. 1890. How the Other Half Lives." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Bartleby Bookstore, 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://www.bartleby.com/208/>.