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The automobile | | |

|Already 1800 B.C, the Egyptians invented some kind of vehicle for their pharaoh. But it was not before 1885 that C. Benz built the first |

|car, with the well known combustion engine, that was usable (1). |

|From then on the vehicles improved more and more, they motorized carriages and in 1923 Ford started the mass production of the Model T, |

|which was a very cheap car everybody was able to afford. They built more than 15 millions without changing their design or anything else |

|(2). So the era of the automobile had begun. Millions were spent in mass production and all over Europe and USA, car manufacturing |

|factories were built very fast (3) |

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|It was and still is a kind of status symbol to own the newest and fastest car which has got the best trimmings. In this book the car has a |

|special function, it represents the reckless convictions of the flapper society. |

|Cars in these times were not bought for use as they are today. If you were rich enough you had 2 or 3 and went for a ride on Sundays just |

|to show off. |

|Technology made it possible to improve the standard of a normal car a lot. During the 1920s the importance of the automobile grew a lot. In|

|this decade there was some kind of a “revolution“, cars were built to emphasize the actual fashion instead of functions. A lot of |

|knick-knack was installed for example a “three noted horn“ (51,35), as well as “hat-boxes, supper-boxes, and tool-boxes“ (52,15f.). |

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|Cars like the typical Cadillac with extraordinary outline emerged. Cars were also often painted in, for this time, very strange colors to |

|make it even more individual. For example, Tom had a very blue car. |

|As a consequence of improving cars to high-tech machines, the cities also improved their streets. A lot of gas stations were installed |

|during that time and also many railroads were built. Moreover a garage - building spree began. In the 20s everybody who had a house also |

|had a garage for his car. People did not care about how they drove, they just did it: “I know very little about driving - next to nothing“ |

|(46,19). That is why cars were also an agent of catastrophe for example, Myrtle just dies because of an irrelevant car accident. Also, the |

|car accident after the first party Nick went to, gives a hint for the bad things coming (p.46f.) |

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