W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1992 Running on Empty: The Myth of the Automobile in Three Works by Chester Himes Christopher Blair Hailey College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons Recommended Citation Hailey, Christopher Blair, "Running on Empty: The Myth of the Automobile in Three Works by Chester Himes" (1992). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539625707. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-40nn-bd57 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. RUNNING ON EMPTY: THE MYTH OF THE AUTOMOBILE IN THREE WORKS BY CHESTER HIMES A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of American Studies The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Christopher Hailey 1992 APPROVAL SHEET This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Author v Approved, May 1992 Robert J. Sdnolmck\ 1 w i lr ' Michael A. Faia Richard S . Lo^rfjry ABSTRACT The purpose of this thesis is to examine the use of the automobile as a symbolic and structural device in three works by Chester Bomar Himes. A careful survey of If He Hollers Let Him Go (1945), his first novel, All Shot Up (1961), a detective novella, and The Quality of Hurt (1973), the first volume of his autobiography, reveals a great distance between the popular myth of the automobile and the reality of the automobile's place in the lives of black Americans.