Theodore Dreiser "American tragedy"
When we hear the phrase "classicalliterature, "the books written by the century in the XIX, and even earlier, come to mind immediately, but the classic is not subject to time: it is not only the age of the book that is important, but its importance. "The American tragedy" by Theodore Dreiser by right can be considered a classic of American literature.What to do if your parents are poor streetpreachers, and you are young, ambitious and strive for a better life? You can put up with your whole life regretting the lost opportunities, or you can try to break out into people. Clyde Griffiths chooses the second option.
Having arranged to work as a messenger in a hotel, he gets acquainted with a completely different world - a chic, luxurious, a world of money and entertainment. The first earnings, the first party, the first love ... And the first serious mistake, forcing Clyde to abandon everything and move to Chicago.
But Clyde is lucky: a year later he meets his uncle, the owner of the factoryin the city of Lycurgus. Clyde has a job, a home, a girl who works in the same factory as he, and most importantly thanks to Sondra Finchley, the daughter of a local manufacturer, he becomes a member of the local "golden youth" circle.
Clyde got well settled: on the one hand - sincerely fond of his RobertAlden, eagerly catching every word of it, on the other - also in love with him the rich man Sondra Finchley, his admission to the upper strata of society. He does not think to choose one of them - he is satisfied with the current situation. But exactly so long as Robert does not inform him that she is pregnant ...
Panicking and desperately clinging to their position in thehigher society, Clyde commits one mistake after another. As a result, Robert is dead, Clyde found himself in the dock on a murder charge, and those whom he considered friends, turned away from him. And, in spite of belated remorse, he has only one way - on an electric chair.
Why did Dreiser named his novel "American Tragedy"? What does he mean by tragedy? The death of Roberta? Or the collapse of Clyde's hopes and aspirations? How can the tragedy of one or even a few people be considered a tragedy of an American, a tragedy of a national scale?
Clyde Griffiths is just one example fromsets. How many more in America are such clay griffins, striving at all costs to overcome the social barrier and get out of the mud into the princes? Here it is, the true American tragedy - the gap between wealth and poverty, between ambitions and opportunities. Of course, not all of them will commit a crime like Clyde. But it is his example that makes us think about how American tragedy grows out of the American dream.
Quotations from the book
"He was one of many people who are born, live and die, without understanding anything in life, they appear, they wander at random and disappear in the darkness."
"- Happiness comes to those who know how to wait.
- Yes, of course, just look not to spend all your life in the waiting room ... "
"I was evil, I sinned, I lied." I broke the word. The vice was nestling in my heart. I was at one with those who did evil deeds. I was a hypocrite. I was cruel! I was plotting murder. And for what? For the sake of an empty, unrealizable dream. "
