In Steven Millhauser’s A Precursor of the Cinema, he is writing in a time that is trying to create a new machine to create being alone all day working on their artwork. Millhauser is showing the invention phase is trying to show that he is allowing things to be done more quickly, instead of requiring those multiple hours. In this piece, Millhauser wants to show that our world that everything wasn’t always on a screen and that everything used to be done the long way with people.
His father was a haberdasher who liked to spend Sundays in the country with oil paints and an easel. (180)
He also wanted to show that it was not always easy to create a new machine, especially in the times of not much on the technology side of things. He wanted to tell you that it is okay to make mistakes and do many trials on things, through their mishaps with the making of their machines.
“ Every great invention is preceded by a rich history of error. Those false paths, wrong turns, and dead ends, those branchings and veerings, those wild swerves and delirious wanderings-how can they fail to entice the attention of the historian, who sees in error itself a promise of revelation? (179)