Assembly Line Summary

Throughout human history, there have been many people who could not resist the jaws of greed. Even today, many wealthy businessmen just want to make more and more money, even if it affects other people. Assembly Line is a short story about a businessman's trip to the Republic of Mexico. This businessman, named Mr. Winthrop, intended to profiteer off of a poor Indian that he met on his travels. In this essay, I will be exposing one of the themes this short story displays.

The theme I devised was: When people engage in commerce, they often become greedy. For example, "Each basket cost him between twenty and thirty hours of constant work...the price he asked for each basket was fifty centavos. It seldom happened, however, that a buyer paid outright

the full fifty centavos asked."(75) Despite the Indian selling his beautiful, hand-crafted baskets for a fair price, his customers still haggled harshly. The author's description of the baskets made them seem like high-quality works of art, yet the customers overlook this and want to get the lowest price possible. It makes you question how much respect people have towards art. In addition, "'Fifty centavitos, patroncito, my good little lordy, four reales,' the Indian answered politely. 'All right, sold,' Mr.Winthrop blurted out in a tone and with a wide gesture as if he had bought a whole railroad...He had expected to hear a price of three or even four pesos. The moment he realized that he had judged the value six times too high, he saw right away what great business possibilities this miserable Indian village might offer...Mr. Winthrop bought sixteen baskets, which was all the Indian had in stock." Right away we can see that Mr. Winthrop is scheming to make a profit off of the Indian's baskets when he realized how unbelievably cheap they were. He wasn't just going to profit off of one, he bought the Indian's entire stock to make as much money as possible. This

demonstrates how inconsiderate someone can be when they see a business opportunity.

Furthermore, "The confectioner examined the baskets and found them extraordinarily well suited for a certain line in his business. Never before had there been anything like them for originality, prettiness, and good taste. He, however, avoided most carefully showing any sign of enthusiasm, for which there would be time enough once he knew the price and whether he could get a whole load exclusively." Upon noticing the baskets' magnificence, the confectioner found them to be perfect containers for his prized candies. However, he refrained from showing his true reaction to the product. He knows that Mr. Winthrop will most likely price them higher if he figures out that there is a high demand for the baskets. We can see that the confectioner is trying his best to find the lowest bidding point despite the sheer excellence of the product. Later in the story, "Ten thousand he ordered. Well, well, there we got a clean-cut profit of fifteen thousands four hundred and forty genuine dollars. Sweet smackers. Fifteen grand right into papa's pocket. Come to think of it, that Republic isn't so backward after all." At this point, Mr. Winthrop is calculating how much profit he's going to make by taking advantage of the Indian's baskets. When he notices he can make thousands of dollars in profit, he begins to show a bit of an ego by calling himself, "papa", and not acknowledging how much he is cheating the

Indian. As a final point, "He refused to give up the more than fifteen thousand dollars which at the moment seemed to slip through his fingers like nothing. Being really desperate now, he talked and bargained with the Indian for almost two full hours, trying to make him understand how rich he, the Indian, would become if he would take this greatest opportunity of his life." When someone is greedy, they often become stubborn and distraught when their future wealth or existing

wealth is threatened. Mr. Winthrop's future wealth is jeopardized when the Indian refused to make the price lower than fifteen pesos each. It's also very ironic that Mr. Winthrop shows how rich the Indian would be if he accepted the price of fifty centavos each, yet Mr. Winthrop is taking most of the money away just by reselling for profit. As you can see, there are several places in the story that reinforce my proposed theme.

The main idea in this essay was about presenting a theme that this story portrays. Whilst doing that, I have also shown you how unbearably greedy Mr. Winthrop is in comparison to the polite and selfless Indian. Even today, most people can be afflicted by greed when given the right circumstances; it's unavoidable. It manifests quite a bit in job outsourcing, where wealthy corporations hire people in different countries to be an assembly line worker.