The Volvo

The Volvo is the Garp family’s car, but it is never merely a means of transport. A loose gearshift knob turns routine driving into an irritation, while the car’s exposed shift shaft becomes part of a collision that leaves Duncan seriously injured and Helen hurt. Its recurring faults and risks connect domestic inconvenience to the family’s larger exposure to danger.

A Troublesome Household Car

The Volvo’s gearshift knob has been a source of procrastination for both Garp and Helen. Helen would rather order a replacement and have it fitted while she waited than leave the car at the garage for a day. Garp, however, taped the knob precariously back onto the shaft after she tossed it to him. It seemed to fall off whenever Helen was driving, though she used the car more often than he did.

One morning, Helen drove with the bare gearshift exposed. The shaft hurt her hand when she changed gears, and her wrist bled slightly against her suit. She carried the detached knob across the parking lot to her office so that she could read its identifying numbers and call the garage. Annoyed by this small mechanical chore, she considered throwing the knob away or mailing it to Garp. Its removable, numbered part made the car’s maintenance problem follow her into the workday.

The Car as a Source of Risk

The Volvo’s faults did not end with its gearshift knob. During a drive with Duncan and Walt, the exposed end of the shift shaft struck Garp’s hand when he downshifted sharply. He pointed out to Duncan that the uncovered shaft could become dangerous if he had to stop suddenly; Duncan answered by asking why Garp did not have it repaired. The exchange turns a maintenance issue into a warning about the children’s safety, but the warning itself does not remove the hazard.

The car’s winter equipment had also become unreliable. By March, its windshield was coated in ice, and the scrapers and broken snow brushes Garp thought might be in the trunk were worn out or lost. He chose not to clear the windshield, telling Duncan that he could see because he lived there. The remark makes familiarity stand in for visibility: the Volvo carries the family through conditions in which Garp’s confidence does not make the road any safer.

Collision and Its Aftermath

The Volvo’s exposed shift shaft became a central physical hazard in the collision with a three-ton Buick. Although the Volvo was moving no faster than an estimated twenty-five to thirty-five miles per hour, the Buick barely yielded, and the impact threw the children forward inside the car. Duncan was flung between the bucket seats; the shift shaft struck him, destroying his right eye, while his right hand was caught in the seat-belt release and three fingers were broken. Garp reached toward him, but too late to prevent the injuries. The car thus turns an ordinary family journey, already marked by an unrepaired defect, into a lasting rupture in the family’s life.

Driving as Vigilance and Exposure

The Volvo’s place in the family’s life extends beyond the damage caused by its faulty shift. Garp’s daily routines show how closely he connects cars with the safety of children: he runs to stay fit enough to chase speeding motorists in his neighborhood, catches them, and asks them not to drive fast where children live. Usually, he says, they learn. Yet the same vehicle that carries his family remains subject to ordinary failures and traffic dangers that vigilance cannot control.

The collision makes that contrast concrete. Garp approached his driveway at about forty miles per hour, then coasted the Volvo uphill after switching off its engine and lights. The children crowded between the bucket seats, excited by the silent ride through the dark. The account later establishes that the Volvo itself was moving no faster than an estimated twenty-five to thirty-five miles per hour when the three-ton Buick struck it. The children were thrown forward, and Duncan’s injuries followed in part from the exposed shift shaft. A car that Garp had warned could become dangerous in a sudden stop was now caught in a collision whose force far exceeded what its speed seemed to promise.

The vehicle’s recurring mechanical and environmental hazards also provide a pattern that continues after the family’s crash. Much later, while running past a farm, Garp remembers that a dirty-white Saab had slowed when it first passed him and that its driver had appeared to line him up in the rearview mirror. That memory alerts him when the Saab later approaches silently with its engine off, coasting toward him on the roadside; he escapes by vaulting a stone wall and electric fence. The Saab is a different car, but the episode echoes the Volvo’s role in the novel: vehicles are not neutral scenery but sources of sudden, consequential risk, and survival may depend on noticing details before danger becomes unavoidable.