Chapter 2, The Car We Had to Push Summary and Analysis

It takes up to six people to start the aging family car. It is beyond cranking; it must be pushed up to speed and the clutch then engaged. Father has never liked the REO and is sure that it will some day explode. To exploit this fear, younger brother Roy one day packages kitchen utensils under the car to release during a drive, to simulate catastrophe. Mother and grandmother believe gasoline, oil, and water interchangeable and fear that the Victrola (record player) will explode. Telephones are dangerous during storms, and all sockets must be filled with bulbs and switched off to prevent deadly electrical "drippage."

When the REO one day is parked too far from the curb, the streetcar snags it and drags it to its destruction. The family's...