n Literature, as in life, details always signify. An author will use an object in a setting to represent deep, complex emotions and values; in other words, a thing in any story is more than it seems, as the object symbolizes and communicates meaning. Although the authors of Fences “Sweat” and “Fiesta 1980″ differ, each has written about characters striving for an American ideal in a place that is unwelcoming and difficult. One symbolic artifact in these tales is the vehicle, a machine designed for self-propulsion and agency. These vehicles represent so much beyond their practicality.
According to the author of “The Humanity of the Car: Automobility, Agency, and Autonomy,” “Nearly everyone in modern societies of automobility is aware of how people use their cars to express their aesthetic, vocational, or recreational preferences and how types of cars closely correlate with aspects of drivers’ personal identity: class, region, gender, age and politics” (Sayre).
In an MLA formatted double-spaced 1200-word essay with clearly developed academic paragraphs and at least two in-text direct quotes with in-text citations per body paragraph, write an essay identifying, defining, and discussing the significance of the vehicle to the characters in the stories. Discuss what the vehicle symbolizes. How do the vehicles correlate with aspects of the “drivers’ personal identity, class, region, gender, age or politics”(Sayer)? Furthermore, what do these aspects communicate about a challenging American life?
Here are questions to consider: How is each vehicle expressing the characters’ circumstances? What is the purpose of the mode of transportation, and how does this purpose reveal a more significant problem, conflict, or social situation? Can you define the characters’ automobility, agency, and autonomy? Who is driving the vehicle? What is the power/submission dynamic? What is the social situation? Does this power dynamic change? Why is this change significant? What conclusions can you draw from your critical analysis?
Your paper must be complete (1200 words) and have a thesis (not a purpose statement) to be considered valid. Documents flagged as AI will not be considered passing papers. Please do not use Grammarly to rewrite your sentences.
Sayre, Gordon M.“The Humanity of the Car: Automobility, Agency, and Autonomy.”