The Hack Driver by Sinclair Lewis

                                                       The Hack Driver by Sinclair Lewis

INTRODUCTION— 

The story ‘The Hack Driver’ is about a man named Oliver Lutkins. He was a cunning man who was a  witness in a case, but he ignored all the summons for appearing. A young lawyer was given the duty  to find this man in New Mullion. There he met a helpful hack driver. The driver took him around the  village in search of Lutkins but was unable to find him. Later on the lawyer came to know that the hack  driver was Oliver Lutkins himself. Hence the young lawyer became the laughing stock of all.

 SUMMARY—

 This story is about a junior assistant clerk. His job was to serve summons. As he hated this work, he  thought about running away to his own home town, and become a lawyer right away. One day, he was  asked to serve summons on a man, called Oliver Lutkins as he was a witness in a law suit.

On reaching New Mullion, he found that a delivery man (hack driver) was willing to help him find him  the person in quarry. He would charge two dollars an hour for that work, as it would be very difficult to  locate Lutkins. The hackman started talking to him and said that Lutkins never parted with his money.

 Wherever they went, he told the narrator to keep out of sight, while he enquired for Lutkins. They went  to Fritz’s where Lutkins played poker and from there to a barber and then a poolroom. They were not  able to find Lutkins.

 In the afternoon as the narrator was feeling hungry, he decided to buy lunch and offered to pay for the  hack driver’s lunch also. The driver got the lunch prepared by his wife and charged him half a dollar  for it.

 Finally, the hack driver took him to Lutkin’s house. When Lutkin’s mother heard that they had come to  serve summons on her son, she seized an iron rod and marched on them. She also threatened to burn  them if they did not go away. Although the narrator was frightened, they searched all over, but were  unable to locate Lutkins. The narrator returned to his city.

As the case was coming up for hearing the next day, he was asked to go back and somehow serve  sum

On reaching New Mullion, the narrator was shocked to find that the hack driver himself was Oliver  Lutkins. Lutkins and his mother laughed at him. Feeling insulted and humiliated, the narrator served  summons on Lutkins.

Short and Long Questions

Q. 1. Why was the lawyer not happy with his job?

The lawyer was not happy with the job because he was made to deliver summons, instead of preparing legal  briefs. For that task, he had to go to dirty and shadowy corners of the city. He also feared of being beaten up by  the witnesses.

Q2.  Who was Lutkins? Did the narrator serve the summons that day? Why?

Ans. Oliver Lutkins was a man from New Mullion who was to be served a summon to testify for a pending court  case. The narrator, the lawyer who was assigned the task, was cleverly tricked by Lutkins who exploited  the gullibility of former and helped him chase himself, thus subjecting him to ridicule by the village folk.  No, the lawyer could not serve the summons that day for its obvious reason.

Q3. Who was Oliver Lutkins? How did he try to fool the young lawyer?

Ans. Oliver Lutkins was a middle-aged person from New Mullion town. He was the prime witness in a law case.  When the lawyer was sent to his town to serve the summons, he fooled him by befriending him as such a hack  driver who was willing to help him. He takes him all around the town but they were unable to find Lutkins.

Q4.  Do you think Lutkins was right in befooling the lawyer and earning money by using unfair means? What  precautions should be taken to avoid a situation like the one in which the lawyer was placed? 

Ans. No, it is not right on Lutkins part in befooling the lawyer and earning money by using unfair means. Because it is  said “Honesty is the best Policy”. But this was not applicable on Lutkin’s part. He was very cunning and daring.  He was not scared to befool the employee of law. And playing with law is never a good thing. Oliver Lutkins  had taken undue advantage of the lawyer’s gullibility and taking him around the village, chasing himself.  He charged him two dollars an hour for that work. He not only charged him money for the ‘service’ but also  subjected him to immense ridicule by his mother and village folk. Such dishonest and unethical behaviour of  Lutkins can never be endorsed.  We the readers should remember that deceptive people are all around us. We should first judge a person  thoroughly and then only trust strangers. We should be beware of such people who are always on the prowl to  grab an opportunity to cheat and not be trusted by strangers. 

Q5. What really hurt the feelings of the narrator in the story, ‘The Hack Driver’? 

Ans. The narrator was really fed up of his job. As he hated his work, he thought about running away to his own  home town and become a lawyer right away. He was always under the impression that the country people were  honest, simple and helpful. Such impression made him gullible because he was easily befooled by the hack  driver who was himself Oliver Lutkins. He took him around the village chosing himself. He not only charged  him money for the ‘service’ but also subjected him to immense ridicule of his village folk and his mother. He felt  like a fool who was easily coaxed into believing that Lutkins was someone else whereas Lutkins was with him  the whole day.  He felt really shameful of his act and realised that he should have done his homework more carefully about  finding out the details of Oliver Lutkins before hand.

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