The hack driver appears to be humble, co-operative and friendly but as a matter of
fact he is not. Explain this fact in context of the story ‘The Hack Driver’ that appearance
can be deceptive.
Answers
Answer:
The story ‘The Hack Driver’ is the story of a hack driver called Oliver Lutkins. He lived at New Mullion. He was an important witness in a court case. The law firm wrote many letters to him but he did not appear before the court. At last, the firm sent a young lawyer to New Mullion to issue summons to Lutkins. The junior assistant clerk did not recognise Lutkins. Lutkins met him at the station. He took the assistant clerk all over the town in search of Lutkins although he himself was Lutkins. He could not serve the summons to Lutkins. He had to return back to the city. But the owner of the legal firm sent him back to New Mullion. He could serve the summons to Lutkins this time`The Hack Driver’ is the story of a very cunning manipulator Bill (Oliver Lutkins). It also shows that appearances are often deceptive. Once, the narrator, a junior clerk in a law firm, had to go to New Mullion to serve a summon to Oliver Lutkins. There he met Bill (Oliver Lutkins), the hack driver. When the narrator asked about Oliver Lutkins, Bill took him to Fritz who replied that Oliver had been there a little while ago. Bill, who was Oliver Lutkins himself, made a plan to befool the narrator. In a very friendly but subtle way, Bill manipulated the tour, taking the lawyer around the village. He arranged meetings with Fritz, Gustaf’s shop owner, a barber etc. Then Bill took him to Oliver Lutkins’ mother who was a terrible, huge woman who threatened to beat them. At last, he returned disappointed. He couldn’t trace Oliver Lutkins. His boss rebuked him badly and asked him to go back to New Mullion with a person who knew Lutkins. When they reached there, he found Bill and Lutkins’ mother together. The man recognised Lutkins. He told that Bill no one but Lutkins himself.
It is absolutely true that appearances can be so deceptive, as it proved true in the context of the Hack Driver. The hack driver appeared to be humble, co-operative and friendly but as a matter of fact he was not. Lutkins was a very clever man. He kept the secret about his identity hidden by not letting the lawyer talk to any person in New Mullion. Though he drove him to so many places and persons, but he did not let him talk to any one of them. For example when he took him to Fritz’s shop, he himself went into the shop while the lawyer kept sitting in the hack.
Similarly, he did not let the lawyer talk to any other person he took him to. However, the second visit brought the truth in front of his eyes. He came to know that Bill himself was Lutkins who had made him a laughing stock of the entire town. This must have hurt him and taught him the bitter lesson of being mentally alert --- and not a gullible simpleton.