The summary of "The American tragedy" by Theodore Dreiser. The plot, the protagonists, the screen version

The summary of the "American tragedy" is quite easy to retell, as the work is distinguished by a simple plot. Nevertheless, the depth of the author's observations on the life of contemporary society at the same time makes a retelling of this kind a difficult task. After all, in his work the writer raised difficult questions that remain relevant for our time, and therefore it is very important to identify at least some of them when analyzing the plot.

Author Biography

The summary of the "American tragedy" shows that the novel reflects events from the life of the writer. T. Dreiser was born in 1871 in Indiana, in a simple poor family. Because of the need, he was forced to work constantly to at least somehow make ends meet and feed his family. Complex life circumstances, constant need and did not give him the opportunity to get a full education. The future famous novelist (like the hero of the work in question) has tried many professions, and usually he did the black work. Nevertheless, he managed to study for a year at the university, where he seriously took a great interest in literature. In the 1890s he worked as a reporter in a number of newspapers, which in many ways determined his literary career. In 1900, he made his debut with the novel "Sister Kerry", which outlined the author's main creative principle: a harsh criticism of the modern American way of life. In the same vein, the famous "Trilogy of Desire" was written, in which he described the cultural and financial life of America.

First part

The work consists of three books, each of which is devoted to a certain stage of life of its main character Clyde Griffiths, a young, ambitious, ambitious, but indecisive and timid man who dreams to get out into people and get rich. The summary of the "American tragedy" should begin with a description of his life in his native city, to which he is unhappy. The young man dreamed of making a career by any means and for this he is ready for temporary inconveniences and modest work. So, at first he gets a job at a pharmacy, and then becomes a lower employee in one of the hotels.

Here he plunges headlong into a new life. He has friends, with whom the hero enjoys spending free time, having fun in nightclubs and restaurants. A young man earns well, gets involved with girls, in a word, allows himself everything that was banned at home and what he so dreamed of. The book "American Tragedy" quite accurately reproduces the puritanical way of life of his family, in many ways reminiscent of the conditions in which the writer himself grew up. However, the excessive enthusiasm for a new life ended in tragedy. During one of the next amusement walk, the car in which he was with his friends killed the girl to death, and this forced Clyde to seek another haven.

Working in the factory

The summary of the "American tragedy" reflects the features of the plot of the work itself: laconic narrative, simple language, detailed reproduction of the realities of contemporary society. The next book, perhaps, is the culmination of the work. Clyde moves to his uncle, who arranges for him to work in his factory. This wealthy entrepreneur was generally sympathetic to him, but his family looked down on the poor relative. Thus, the son of Samuel Griffiths the eldest in every way oppresses his cousin, unflatteringly about him responds, does not consider him capable of making a successful career. However, his uncle sympathizes with his nephew and makes him the head of the shop, where young girls work. One of them, Robert Alden, liked the protagonist, and the young people began to meet. However, the situation changed after Clyde found himself in the "golden youth" society due to his acquaintance with the daughter of one rich entrepreneur Sondra Finchley.

Secular Society

Perhaps no single work describes so thoroughly and truly life in the United States of the 1920s as the "American Tragedy." The novel is very detailed and at the same time effectively describes the representatives of the high society of that time. Sondra - the embodiment of a golden dream for the main character: she is rich, young, beautiful, spoiled. Being a proud and narcissistic girl, she at first decided to use Clyde in order to annoy one of her unlucky suitors, but gradually frivolous flirtation was replaced by a sincere feeling. Griffiths began spending a lot of time with her, and finally realized that he had every chance of marrying her and becoming a full member of that same high society society, to which he was so eager. But the situation was complicated due to the fact that his former lover was pregnant and demanded to marry her, threatening with publicity, which would deprive him of the chances of getting into people.

Fatal solution

An exact psychological sketch of the characters is distinguished by the "American tragedy". Theodore Dreiser uncomplicated and very accessible language conveyed the inner world of his hero, who did not immediately decide on the murder of his girlfriend. The author skillfully conveyed his mental vacillations, doubts, experiences, showing that the young man was not ready for such life tests. In fact, when the threat of disclosure loomed over him, he could not find any other way out than to kill his mother's mother. Thus, the writer showed how the dream of a prosperous life spoiled the moral appearance of this at first the most ordinary good man.

Effects

The description of the trial of the main character ends with the last part of the novel "American Tragedy." Theodore Dreiser reproduced the trial in detail, based on the chronicles and documents of his time, making his narrative very terrible and truthful. The reader will learn that Clyde after long hesitation did not dare to kill Robert, but an accidental newspaper article about how during a river walk of one young couple the boat turned upside down, causing the woman to die, and the man disappeared, nudged him at the thought in exactly the same way To do with a girl. On the lake, however, he could not decide completely and only accidentally pushed her into the water. However, Clyde was exactly to blame for the fact that he could not get out of the girl and allowed her to die. He expected that the circumstances of this case would remain a secret, but very ambitious and active local investigator Mason, seeking his appointment as district judge, very vigorously led the investigation and made sure that the young man was convicted and sentenced to death.

Characteristic of Clyde

The "American tragedy", the analysis of which is the subject of this review, is interesting with reliable and truthful images of the actors. The protagonist is ambitious in moderation and clearly overestimated his strength, dignity and capabilities. He could never satisfy the average position of an ordinary employee, he always wanted more, hence all his troubles. At the same time, it is quite obvious that a young man does not possess a sufficient degree of intelligence or ability to break through in his life at the expense of his personal merits and gifts. Clyde is the most ordinary American, he is smart, courteous, he has a pleasant appearance and attractive manners, but all this is clearly not enough for a successful career. A young man does not have a strong will-power character that would help him in trials, on the contrary, at a critical moment he falls into punk and is lost. So, the novel "American Tragedy", whose main character was a victim of his own ambitious aspirations, showed the reverse side of the so-called golden dream of generations of that time.

Other characters

The rest of the actors also turned out to be very truthful and trustworthy, as the author himself often came across life with representatives of the most diverse classes and professions, which was reflected in his work. He brought out typical images of wealthy prosperous manufacturers and entrepreneurs, representatives of the "golden youth", ordinary workers and poor employees. The novel "The American Tragedy", whose reviews are generally very positive, reproduced in art form a picture of the society of the second decade of the 20th century. The latter circumstance users mark as an undoubted merit of the work, but at the same time they stipulate that there is not a single hero in it that could be called undoubtedly positive, which one could experience and sympathize with. Many people call this the lack of a novel.

Films

The work "American Tragedy", the adaptation of which is a notable phenomenon in the cinema, with the apparent simplicity of the plot is a complex social and psychological drama that, unfortunately, was not always taken into account by the filmmakers. The first film was filmed in 1931. The script was originally written by the domestic director S. Eisenstein, and his work satisfied Dreiser. However, later, for ideological reasons, the text was written by another author, but the author did not like the picture. The most famous film, based on the work, is called "The Place in the Sun" (1951), which received several Oscar awards. So, one of the most famous works and today is the "American tragedy". The novel is still relevant due to a careful analysis of human nature.