呂赫若，人稱「台灣第一才子」，青銳之年便以處女作〈牛車〉刊於日本《文學評論》受到矚目。他擅長以冷峻客觀的角度，描寫「社會體制下無助者無可逃脫的命運」之主題。〈牛車〉明顯具有階級意識與政治意涵，主要描述時代轉型及社會變遷之時空中，農民的悲慘無告。當時，資本主義的興起與現代化已是必然的趨勢，下層階級遂成為歷史進程中無法逃脫的「芻狗」。台灣社會現代化的追求常常夾帶殖民性格，不經細察，難免會錯覺有關日本的就是現代化，殖民地的現代性充滿矛盾，但普羅小民無法洞悉其內情，只能愈認真愈掉落窮困網羅，以致萬劫不復。呂赫若就是要揭露現代殖民地社會中，低下階層無法翻身的悲哀。這種現代性並非台灣內部自然產生，而是在殖民政權脅迫下才有的，因此，現代化過程中，完全以殖民者利益出發，加上特殊政經策略與階級間的差異、迫害，下層階級如〈牛車〉中的楊添丁就成了最大犧牲者，而且連帶著，傳統的道德、價值觀、社會結構與家庭倫理也終因被壓迫的人們無以為生而崩解。呂赫若以冷酷又熾熱的慧眼和敏銳的筆觸尋索時代變動中屈辱農民的無奈，勾勒眾多農民在殖民現代性中被扭曲壓迫的渺小身影，其中應該也隱微帶著尋找殖民現代性下台灣人主體意識的期待吧！

Lyu He Ruo,who is skillful at using critical and objective perspective to interpret the subject“ The inescapable destiny of the helpless people under the social system”.〈Ox cart〉,for example,obviously contains social class and political consciousness, mainly describing the misery of farmers in the background of epoch and social changes.It is Lyu He Ruo’s intention to reveal the fact that people of lower classes are confined by their status in the contemporary colonial society.In the process of modernization, everything is based on the benefit of colonizers, and there is special political and economic strategies and also persecution caused by difference between classes. Thus, people lower classes,such as Yang Tian Ding in the novel, become victims.Furthermore,the traditional moral,values,social structure and family ethics finally collapse,because the poor are unable to sustain their lives in such indecent times.