55 pages • 1 hour read
Russell RobertsThe Invisible Heart: An Economic Romance
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
It’s A Wonderful Life
Frank Capra’s 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life is referenced four times in the novel. Initially, the film poster serves as a romantic and colorful contrast to the economist portraits in Sam’s classroom. When Laura asks Sam about it during their first conversation, he says, “That’s exactly where it belongs” (31), even though the movie is famously anti-capitalist. Sam explains later that the movie makes him cry, but also because its models of business are inaccurate: “George is the hero. But he’s probably a lousy businessman [...] because he doesn’t seem to realize that profit keeps a business alive […]. Potter is also a lousy businessman. He’s a vicious and selfish man who would repel customers and employees” (75). The last reference ties the destruction of Bedford Falls to small town America but offers an alternative view that is ultimately positive: “Well there aren’t many Bedford Falls left in America, but they weren’t destroyed by greedy bankers like Potter. They were destroyed by the George Baileys who escaped and found their dreams in bigger cities” (208). The move is a motif of the misunderstandings Sam works to correct and illuminate. While the dichotomy between Potter and Bailey is false, and the vision of the dead town as a tragedy is short-sighted, the movie still contains romance and human truth that inspire Sam to cry, and he loves that.
Cerberus
Although there are several references to The Odyssey via Tennyson’s Ulysses and the chapter title “Siren’s Song,” Cerberus is the only direct reference to appear both in the main plotline and the secondary television plotline. When Heather Hathaway is introduced as Charles’s receptionist: “She is known as Cerberus, after the three-headed dog in Greek mythology who guarded the entrance to hell” (85). The overt meaning of this is that Charles’s office is perceived by his employees to be hell. However, when Laura tells Sam about Ulysses, the only story he remembers from mythology is Cerberus: “Was there a Cerberus at the Happy Isles or only one in Hades […]. I guess a three-headed dog caught my imagination” (94). Importantly, Sam doesn’t associate Cerberus with evil or hell, just as a guardian and a three-headed dog. This symbolizes Sam’s position that a CEO, even one who seems as bad as Charles, is not inherently evil or hellish merely because he serves the interests of the company.
The Invisible Heart
Adam Smith’s use of the phrase “invisible hand” serves as the inspiration for the “invisible heart,” the titular symbol of the novel. The symbol has a double meaning. The first, as revealed by the two verbatim usages in the novel, is an economic interpretation of Smith’s idea: When individuals in a free market act in self-interest, regardless of their feelings or intent, the consequence is not just materially beneficial to others, but it also embodies compassion. The introduction of the term is in Sam’s discussion of popular culture representations of businessmen. He says the caricature of the villainous business owner doesn’t follow reality because: “monsters don’t often succeed in business. The sweeter competitor offering good service and low prices is a better bet. There’s an invisible heart at the core of the marketplace, serving the customer and doing it joyously” (76). The other meaning is reflected in the romance genre of the novel. Sam is more and more concerned as he develops feelings for Laura that she will see his political and economic views as heartless and therefore see him as heartless. When Andrew accuses him of being heartless, he says, “You know nothing of my heart” (119), indicating that the intentions of his heart are invisible, just as the heart or compassion of the market is invisible.
The second direct reference to the symbol comes from Sam’s description of his grandfather’s challenges in the Great Depression: “Capitalism involves struggle, but it has an invisible heart beating at its core that transforms people’s lives” (170). This second iteration expands the symbol from Smith’s concept of self-interest serving others as a natural consequence to arguing that capitalism even in the worst of times inspires innovation and improvement for future generations. The invisible heart affects individuals and generations, and Sam believes in capitalism because he has immense compassion for both his contemporaries and the future generations to come.
