We couldn't imagine the emptiness of a creature who put a razor to her wrists and opened her veins, the emptiness and the calm.
Jeffrey EugenidesRead
Historical fact: People stopped being people in 1913. That was the year Henry Ford put his cars on rollers and made his workers adopt the speed of the assembly line. At first, workers rebelled. They quit in droves, unable to accustom their bodies to the new pace of the age. Since then, however, the adaptation has been passed down: we've all inherited it to some degree, so that we plug right into joy-sticks and remotes, to repetitive motions of a hundred kinds.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on how industrialization and the assembly line altered human behavior and experience.
Jeffrey Eugenides comments on a pivotal shift in human existence that began with Henry Ford's introduction of the assembly line in 1913. He suggests that this mechanization transformed people from being fully embodied beings to individuals who conform to the rhythm of machines, ultimately affecting not just workers of that era but modern society at large, leading to a cultural legacy where our interactions often mimic the repetitive motions of technology.
Themes
IndustrializationAssembly LineMechanizationAdaptationTechnology
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the impacts of technology on the workforce.
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Jerome was sliding and climbing on top of me and it felt like it had the night before, like a crushing weight. So do boys and men announce their intentions. They cover you like a sarcophagus lid. And call it love.
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