Sinclair Lewis was a prolific writer, but his later works were not as successful as his works from the 1920s. He moved to Europe after divorcing his second wife in 1942.Lewis wrote 24 novels, more than 70 short stories and several plays and poetry collections.
Today he is mainly remembered for the satirical novels Main Street (1920) and It Can’t Happen Here (1936). His later novels include Ann Vickers (I933), It Can’t Happen Here (1935), The Prodigal Parents (1938), Gideon Planish (1943), Cass Timberlane (1945), Kingsblood Royal ( 1947), The God-Seeker (1949), and World So Wide (1951). From Main Street to Stockholm: Letters of Sinclair Lewis 1919-1930 was published in 1952, one year after his death in Rome..
The Hack Driver Summary
“The Hack Driver” is a fascinating story penned by Sinclair Lewis. The narrative revolves around a young lawyer who had just started his career as a junior assistant clerk at a prestigious law firm in the city. One day, he was assigned the task of serving a summon to Oliver Lutkins, an important witness in a crucial legal case. The lawyer was excited to travel to New Mullion, the small village where Lutkins resided, but his excitement soon turned into disappointment when he saw the shabby streets of the village.
As the lawyer was wandering around the railway station, he met a cheerful hack driver named Bill Magnuson. Bill was a friendly and talkative person who quickly struck up a conversation with the young lawyer. He skillfully extracted information about the reason for the lawyer’s visit, and the lawyer unwittingly revealed that he was there to serve Lutkins with a summons.
Bill was intrigued by the lawyer’s story and offered to help him find Lutkins. The lawyer, impressed by Bill’s friendly demeanor, accepted his offer and rented his hack. Together, they went to various places in the village, including Fritz’s shop and Gustaff, the barbershop, but they could not find Lutkins.
Undeterred, Bill suggested that they should ask one of Lutkins’s friends to find out his whereabouts. The lawyer was hesitant at first, but Bill assured him that he knew everyone in the village and could help him locate Lutkins. They eventually found Lutkins’s friend, who revealed that Lutkins had left the village and was now living in the city.
The lawyer was amazed by Bill’s resourcefulness and thanked him for his help. As they parted ways, the lawyer realized that he had underestimated the hack driver. He had initially judged Bill by his appearance and had assumed that he was an uneducated and simple person. However, Bill had proven him wrong, and the lawyer learned an important lesson about not judging people based on their appearance.
In conclusion, “The Hack Driver” is an engaging story that teaches us about the importance of not judging people based on their appearance. It also highlights the fact that sometimes, the most unexpected people can surprise us with their resourcefulness and intelligence.
The lawyer had been tasked with serving a summons to a man named Oliver Lutkins, who was known for being notoriously difficult to track down. After several days of searching, the lawyer finally received a tip from a friend that Lutkins could be found at his mother’s house.
Eager to complete his task, the lawyer enlisted the help of his friend Bill, who agreed to drive him to Lutkins’ mother’s house. However, their arrival was met with hostility, as Lutkins’ mother chased them away and refused to let them enter the premises.
Undeterred, the lawyer and Bill waited outside the house, hoping for a chance to speak with Lutkins. After a few hours, they spotted a man who appeared to be Lutkins himself, getting into a nearby taxi.
Quickly, the lawyer hailed the taxi down and showed the driver the summons, asking him to take them to Lutkins’ location. The driver agreed, and they set off in pursuit of their target.
Upon arriving at their destination, the lawyer was surprised to find that they had ended up at a rundown apartment complex on the outskirts of town. He and Bill made their way up to Lutkins’ apartment, only to find that he was not there.
Frustrated and exhausted, the lawyer returned to his office, where he was met with a scolding from his Chief. He was ordered to go back out and find Lutkins, this time with a colleague who could assist him.
Reluctantly, the lawyer set out once again, this time with his colleague in tow. As they were driving through the city, they spotted a familiar face behind the wheel of a taxi. It was Lutkins himself.
The lawyer was shocked to discover that the man he had been chasing all this time was actually the hack driver who had taken him and Bill to Lutkins’ mother’s house earlier. Lutkins and his mother had been playing a game of cat-and-mouse with the lawyer, and they had succeeded in fooling him completely.
Feeling foolish and embarrassed, the lawyer accepted Lutkins’ invitation to join him and his mother for coffee at a nearby neighbor’s house. As he sat sipping his coffee, he couldn’t help but marvel at the cunning and resourcefulness of the man who had managed to evade him for so long.
Hope ,the above content written by me on the hack driver summary has helped you in understanding the lesson.
Question and answers
Question 1. Why is the lawyer sent to New Mullion? What does he first think about the place?
Answer: The lawyer is sent to New Mullion to serve a summons on a man called Oliver Lutkins. Lutkins was needed as a witness in a law case, but he had ignored all letters from the law firm.
He thinks that New Mullion would be a sweet and simple country village.He believed that the people in the country were simple, honest, helpful and peaceful life. After meeting and identifying Oliver Lutkins his overview of the country life.
Question 2. Who befriends him? Where does he take him?
Answer: Bill Magnuson, who says that he is a delivery man at the station, befriends the lawyer. Bill tells him that Lutkins is a very hard man to catch. Then he offers to help him by going with him to the places where Lutkins usually hangs out at. He takes him to Fritz’s shop, where Lutkins is known to play poker games; then to Gustaf’s shop; Gray’s shop; poolroom; and many other places before finally taking him to Lutkins’ mother’s farm.
Question 3. What does he say about Lutkins?
Answer: He says that Lutkins is a hard fellow to catch and is always up to something or the other. Lutkins owed a lot of money to people and never paid them back. Lutkins plays poker a lot. Bill also tells the lawyer that Lutkins is very good at deceiving people.
Question 4. What more does Bill say about Lutkins and his family?
Answer: Bill says that he knows Lutkins’ mother. He says that she is a terror. He shared the incident where he had gone to her farm to deliver a trunk, and she almost took his skin off because he did not carry it as tenderly as one would carry a box of eggs. He said that she was about nine feet tall and four feet thick. She was very quick and could talk a lot.
He also said Lutkins must have heard about them chasing him and, thus, would have come to hide behind his mother’s skirts.
Question 5. Does the narrator serve the summons that day?
Answer: No, the narrator is not able to serve the summons that day.
Question 6. Who is Lutkins?
Answer: The hack driver, Bill Magnuson, himself is Lutkins. He deceives the lawyer the entire day so as to avoid receiving the summons from him to be a witness.
Question 7. When the lawyer reached New Mullion, did ‘Bill’ know that he was looking for Lutkins? When do you think Bill came up with his plan for fooling the lawyer?
Answer: When the lawyer reached New Mullion, ‘Bill’ did not know that he was looking for Lutkins. He found it by talking to the lawyer and taking him into his confidence.
Bill came up with his plan to fool the lawyer as soon as he got to know that the lawyer was looking out for Lutkins, and he did not know Lutkins by face.
Question 8. Lutkins openly takes the lawyer all over the village. How is it that no one lets out the secret? (Hint: Notice that the hack driver asks the lawyer to keep out of sight behind him when they go into Fritz’s.) Can you find other such subtle ways in which Lutkins manipulates the tour?
Answer: Lutkins openly takes the lawyer all over the village, but no one lets out the secret. He never lets the lawyer talk to the village people at first. It is always he who approaches them. He keeps telling the lawyer how deceiving Lutkins is and scares him of Lutkins’ mother. The villagers and Lutkins’ mother also join him in deceiving the lawyer.
Question 9. Why do you think Lutkins’ neighbours were anxious to meet the lawyer?
Answer: Lutkins’ neighbours were anxious to meet the lawyer because they were the only ones who did not get a chance to meet the lawyer, who was fooled by Lutkins for an entire day. Everybody else in the village had witnessed the lawyer being deceived by Lutkins.
Question 10. After his first day’s experience with the hack driver, the lawyer thinks of returning to New Mullion to practise law. Do you think he would have reconsidered this idea after his second visit?
Answer: No, I don’t think he would have considered this idea after his second visit. After his first visit, he was quite positive about the people of New Mullion. He thought that Bill was so nice and helpful to a stranger, and so would the rest of the villagers.
On the second visit to New Mullion, he realizes that he was deceived by ‘Bill’ for an entire day. He kept searching for Lutkins with Lutkins himself. He was now made fun of by the people of the village. He would never think of visiting New Mullions again.
Question 11. Do you think the lawyer was gullible? How could he have avoided being taken for a ride?
Answer: Yes, the lawyer was a gullible and inexperienced man. There are multiple things that he could have done to avoid being taken for a ride and made fun of. He could have tried to find out how the witness he was going in search of, i.e., Lutkins looked.
He could have spoken to other people at the station and interrogated them about Lutkins rather than believing one person who appeared to be overly friendly and was a total stranger to the lawyer. Also, he should have been the one to interrogate the whereabouts of Lutkins while visiting the places where Lutkins mostly hangs out.
Question 12. What did the hack driver tell the narrator about Lutkins mother?
OR
What does Bill say about Lutkins mother?
Answer:The hack driver told the young lawyer that Lutkins mother was quite a terror. She was nine feet tall and four feet thick. She had the agility of a cat and could talk a lot.
Question 13. With what impression did the lawyer come back to the city?
Answer: At New Mullion, the lawyer was greatly impressed by the cheerfulness of Bill, the hack driver and his eagerness to help him in the task for which he had arrived there. Oblivious to the identity of the hack driver as Lutkins himself, he presumed the hospitality offered to him as the general attitude of the country folk. He was so impressed by the simplicity and forthcoming behavior of Bill that he decided that he would settle at New Mullion.
Question 14. Who was Oliver Lutkins? How did he try to fool the young lawyer?
Answer: 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 a hack driver . Oliver Lutkins pretended to help him as a hack driver of the village. He took him all around the town but they were unable to find Oliver Lutkins.
Question 15. Why was the lawyer not happy with his job?
Answer:The lawyers was not happy with the job because he was made to deliver summons, instead of preparing legal briefs. He didn’t like to visit the dirty and shadowy corners of the city. He also feared of being beaten up by the witnesses.
Founder of Englishfry.com, a captivating and knowledge-driven blog & Founder of Android app/website Studyfunnel.com, an online Mock Test Series Portal. With a wealth of experience spanning over 16+ years, he has excelled as an Ex-Asst.Professor, Teacher, Amazon published author, Website Developer, Graphic Designer,Blogger,Poet, and Creative academic content writer publisher of 4 academic books. His tryst in Literature helped him realize his love for writing and telling stories. A tech-savvy language nerd by day and, a passionate writer by night, he now translates his experiences into tales of wisdom served with a side of humor.His widely recognized profound insights ,captivating writing style of weaving words make him contribute to prestigious publications and a sought-after authority in the field that transport readers to extraordinary worlds.
