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An American Tragedy

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Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) is one of the giants of American letters. His novel "Sister Carrie," written in 1900, is a cathedral of naturalist literature. Almost as epic as his novels was the constant state of warfare that existed between Dreiser and publishers who consistently refused to publish his books because of the shocking themes the author wrote about. One of his biggest battles involved "An American Tragedy," a sprawling book based on a real murder case that occurred in New York at the beginning of the 20th century. Dreiser used the Chester Gillette/Grace Brown episode as the basis for a story that strongly criticized America's infatuation with materialism and social status. In the Gillette case, a young dandy with an eye for the ladies impregnated a young woman and then drowned her in a lake when her condition threatened to put an end to his social life. During the subsequent trial of Chester Gillette, all of America readily soaked up the sordid details of the case. Gillette, vehemently denying that he had anything to do with Grace Brown's murder despite his conviction on a first-degree murder charge, died in the electric chair at Auburn State Prison on March 30, 1908. Dreiser went to such lengths investigating the case for his book that he even took his wife out on the lake where Gillette committed his crime, apparently worrying his spouse that he might recreate the crime.

In "An American Tragedy," Chester Gillette becomes Clyde Griffiths, the son of itinerant evangelists who roam the country operating missions for the destitute. His parents often take Clyde and his siblings out on the streets of the city in order to sing hymns and hand out religious tracts. While in Kansas City, Clyde reaches the age of sixteen and decides to strike out on his own. Tired of the austere life led by his family, Clyde secures a job as a bellboy at a big hotel downtown. The money he earns and the friends he makes at the hotel quickly lead to Clyde's indoctrination into the fast life of fine clothes, fine food, and fast women. An unfortunate incident with a "borrowed" car leads to his hasty departure from Kansas City to points east.

After a few years of drifting from job to job under an assumed name, Clyde happens to run into a rich uncle at a hotel in Chicago. The uncle, moderately impressed with his nephew's appearance and attitude, offers the young man a job at his collar factory in Lycurgus, New York. Clyde jumps at the opportunity, picturing himself rising quickly at the factory into a world of wealth and privilege. The reality turns out to be quite the opposite. His uncle is indifferent to Clyde's presence, rarely inviting him out to the family estate and starting him at the lowest, dirtiest job in the factory. A cousin named Gilbert also proves troublesome to Clyde's aspirations. Gilbert sees his poor cousin as a real threat to his own position as heir apparent at the factory. Moreover, Gilbert and Clyde are astonishingly similar in appearance. Despite these obstacles, Clyde is optimistic that he will win over his cousin and uncle after a few months time. But he needs to move fast when he meets Sondra Finchley, the daughter of one of the richest families in Lycurgus. If only Clyde could woo this pretty girl and get a good position at the factory! All his dreams would come true!

Clyde's dreams nearly do reach fruition until he finds himself in a spectacularly scandalous position. For when Sondra finally decides to make a move for Clyde, she doesn't know about his involvement with a poor factory girl named Roberta Alden. The inevitable eventually happens: Clyde impregnates Roberta at a time when Sondra professes her love for him. Griffiths is in a real pickle now, for he must drop Roberta so he can position himself with Sondra. Clyde convinces Roberta to seek a way out of the pregnancy but various methods fail to work. All seems disaster until Clyde remembers an article in the paper about a drowning at a local lake, and an unthinkable plan begins to form.

The minute detail of Clyde's rise and eventual fall leaves no stone unturned. The chapters covering the defense and prosecution's questioning of Clyde during his murder trial cover some seventy pages. Sometimes the details are too much, such as a description of a car accident that takes up way too many pages. Dreiser's mania for detail may be the biggest failing of "An American Tragedy" because the reader quickly becomes impatient with the pace of the story as the narrative bogs down under a mass of minutiae. Moreover, the author's convoluted prose style leaves a lot to be desired. His language is often so dense that even H.L. Mencken commented on it in the introduction to the story.

BUT, and this is a big but, Dreiser's story is deeply affecting. It is well worth reading 850 pages to experience the mind blasting intensity of the story. This is truly a tragedy, as Clyde's crime ruins dozens of people's lives. And such a powerful conclusion! Clyde's march to the electric chair brought tears to my eyes, especially when his mother chucks all the religious chatter, grabs her son, and murmurs "my son, my baby." Then note how Dreiser brings the story full circle after the execution. That is what the author does with this story: he makes you feel for nearly every character in the narrative. Ultimately, "An American Tragedy" is a great book with a few niggling problems. You will be glad you read it, though.

Inspired by the sensational details from a famous 1906 murder case -- in which a young man named Chester Gillette killed his girlfriend Grace Brown for being 'inconveniently' pregnant -- Theodore Dreiser had all the elements to paint a great portrait of American society on its rise as an industrial power at the turn of the 20th century.

The social barriers between the poor and the (new) rich, the tugging materialism, and an underlying puritanism made up the social fabric around which Dreiser recreated Clyde Griffiths as Gillette and Roberta Alden as Brown. Driven by their human impulses and then trapped by social and moral prejudices, the outcome was a monumental tragedy of wasted young lives for both characters.

This novel is long (over 800 pages), and the writing style is torturous. It could probably be more appreciated for its social-historical value than as 'classic literature'. If you haven't read anything by Dreiser previously, you may want to try 'Sister Carrie' before tackling this one.

The film "A Simple Plan" could have easily been called "An American Tragedy," and the book "An American Tragedy" could have just as easily been called "A Simple Plan." The plan at the book's center seems so simple indeed. The novel's protagonist, Clyde Griffiths, impregnates a girl below his social station, and he's so terrified by the idea of being exposed and ruining his chances at a life as part of the social elite (and losing the local well-to-do beauty to whom he's hitched himself) that he actually finds himself driven to kill her as his only escape. But Clyde has a simple mind, and his efforts to claw his way out of a desperate situation that inexorably suffocates him is compelling fiction.

Theodore Dreiser has been called one of the worst great writers in the history of literature, and that claim is justified. He can hardly compose a sentence that doesn't drop like lead from the tongue. He's especially fond of the double negative, which can become pretty tedious in a 900+ page novel. And in retrospect, the amount of plot on display in his novel does not seem to warrant its length, but somehow, I was able to overcome these two factors and find myself engrossed in it anyway. It doesn't for one second become boring or slow. And it offers some especially candid and frank ideas about the nature of guilt and the culpability of those who take lives, whether they're working on the side of crime or the law. Most fascinating for me were the novel's final pages, when Clyde tries to turn to religion for solace when he's at his loneliest, but can't get around the notion that there's really nothing to turn to.

Dreiser pulls off quite a feat by making all of his characters sympathetic. I didn't want Clyde to get away scot-free with what he'd done, but my heart couldn't help but go out to him. Likewise, Roberta, the girl he wrongs, could have come across as shrewish in another author's hands (she does in the film version, "A Place in the Sun," if you're interested in a literature to film comparison) but she doesn't here. Even Sondra, who could have been so unlikeably spoiled, comes across as essentially a warm character.

1925 was the literary year for deconstructing the American Dream. Both "An American Tragedy" and "The Great Gatsby" came out that year, and while I have to admit that "Gatsby" is a better written book, "Tragedy" just has a visceral appeal for me, and it's the one I enjoyed more.

In An American Tragedy, Dreiser sets out to outline the pathos of an American Dream gone wrong. In Clyde Griffiths, you have Everyman, someone who strives to rise from poverty to riches, from anonymity to wealth. But to reach that goal, he resorts to falsehood,adultery and murder. The early part of this epic focuses on Clyde's childhood, his religious upbringing and his subsequent rebellion against the austere and joyless existence he is destined to live had he stayed in his parent's mission.

Working as a bell-boy in a hotel, Clyde comes under the influence of other wayward youths, which will play a big part in his having to leave Kansas. In Chicago, he meets his wealthy uncle, who offers him a job at his collar factory in Lycurgus, and it is there that Clyde meets and falls in love with Roberta, a worker under his charge. Again, fate deals Clyde a bad hand and he chances upon Sondra, a rich girl who catches his fancy and who, ultimately, leads to his demise. While the last part of this book can be tightened and shortened, Dreiser presents to the reader an excellent example of the power of great narrative. The ominous portents of Cylde's destruction is presented as his initial pursuit of Hortense, a less-wealthy version of Sondra. The irony of his first direct contact with Roberta on a boat on a lake, and her subsequent death in similar circumstances, cannot escape the reader. Clyde's inability to grasp his guilt even up to the end is a true reflection of human nature. Although Dreiser's sentence construction can, at times, be ponderous, the his descriptive and narrative powers more than make up for that. This 800-plus epic is well worth taking the time to read!

Theodore Dreiser captures the American spirit in his brilliant portrait of early 20th century commerce and society. His observations are as relevant in the early 21st century as they were one hundred years ago.

Clyde Griffiths is the hero and the anti-hero of the novel. Clyde grows up poor with parents who preach on the streets for a not very good living. He lives the American dream as he rises both economically and socially. He moves from the position of bellhop to factory manager through cunning, avarice, and hard work. He rises from social outcast to man about town using the same skills.

Eventually he is forced to choose between two loves: his pregnant poor mistress and the wealthy small town social whom he dreams of as his wife. How he extricates himself from this situation causes his downfall and eventual ruin.

Through Griffiths rise and fall, and further fall, Dreiser weaves the themes of the importance of money and social class in America. His character has no moral compass, no conscience. Ultimately this leads to his annihilation.

I highly recommend this book to those who love American literature. It is not a book for the fainthearted. You need to dedicate yourself to this book when you read it. But your efforts will be rewarded by the gifts of an American masterpiece.

An American Tragedy, by Theodore Drieser, puts a weak man in the way of temptation and then observes the consequences. Drieser creates suspense early and maintains it, so this book, while lengthy, is a fast read. I went to bed early at least a couple nights to read this book.

Clyde Griffiths is a young man "with a temperament that was as fluid and unstable as water." Raised in a poor family with narrow religious views, he quickly falls under the influence of an element with low morals and little education. He is offered an opportunity to redeem himself, but wastes it. At this point, the pace of the plot accelerates as he rushes toward destruction.

What is frightening in this book is what we have in common with the protagonist: Clyde wants power, and he wants to mate with the most desirable women available. Perhaps he is more foolish than most of us would be in pursuing these goals, but few men have not made some of the same mistakes that Clyde makes.

A subordinate theme in the book is the marked difference in opportunities available to the privileged few versus the many in the pre-Depression, pre-New Deal United States. A ruling caste, nourished by oligarchy, dominates the world that Clyde lives in, and those who are born outside of this elite group live circumscribed lives.

Another subordinate theme is the relationship between religion and morality. Drieser harshly portrays the weak who fall back on religion for support, but Clyde's mother, who is intensely religious, is portrayed in more positive terms. While she draws strength from her religion, she also brings her own strength. In the conclusion, we find that she has matured and acquired perspective as a result of the events portrayed in the novel.

(I have a minor complaint about the Signet Classic edition: the inner margins of this book are so narrow that you almost need to break the binding to see the text nearest the spine.)

Mainly want to make a couple points:
1. Totally agree that this is one of the great novels of all time.
2. The person who claims it is too long totally misses the point. First, you will not end up dragging yourself through this book, the reverse will happen. If you enter in good faith, you will be promptly nailed to this book, not thinking for a minute that any part of it is labored or boring. Secondly, the scope of this novel is very unique. Rather than the typical epic which uses time and history to spread things out and increase drama, this novel uses setting in a wonderful and tragic way, spinning together three frames, the urban, the suburban, and the wild. One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is the way the author is able to show the character's path, through transgression, without moralizing or being overly allegorical. Without giving it away, this book is one of fate driving to a climax of inaction, but guilt nonetheless.

It's ironic that the summary mentions that Dreiser is unclassifiable, because I've found that most people: a. have never read this book (even very well-read people) and b. have dismissed Dreiser in their mind as a bookish also-ran who played an archaic tune unaware of the newly emerged modern cacophany. While Gatsby still garners respect (hell it's thinner, even intellectuals are lazy), one wonders if it is because it tips its hat, with the eyes of TJ Eckleberg (seen across the Wasteland) and the Jazz references, to the new age. Nevermind all that. This is a truly unique epic that by turns reads like Greek tragedy and seems visionary in its depiction of human beings' falling out with nature, and the base nature of the fundamental criminal betrayal at the heart of it.

Trivia: this was based on a story Dreiser followed in the papers when he was young about an actual case that occurred in Courtland, NY. I saw a documentary about that case that was extremely disturbing; it seemed from the photographs and the handling of the case that the killer was insane, but the state (with no real notion of that in the law at the time ~1905?) electrocuted him nonetheless....

Summary: read this book!

In the summer of 1906 a young factory worker died of drowning in mid-state New York. Shortly thereafter her boyfriend (and the father of her unborn child) was arrested and placed on trial for murder -- the first of the 20th Century's many trials of the century. This pathetic story was exploited by Theodore Dreiser as the basis of his 1925 novel "An American Tragedy". Vastly popular throughout the decades, it has been made into a play, two movies, and now an opera at the Metropolitan. At 800 pages and without a scintilla of humor, "An American Tragedy" is not exactly an easy read, but it does present a realistic (and disapproving) look at the sadder aspects of American life. Poor but ambitious, Clyde Griffiths leaves his holy-roller family to get ahead in the big cities, but instead he gets into big trouble, fleeing from a big city after being involved in the hit-and-run killing of a child. While working as a bell hop, he meets his father's affluent brother, a clothing manufacturer from Lycurgus, NY. (Lycurgus was Dreiser's fictional version of Cortland, where the real tragedy took place.) Accepting a job in his uncle's factory, Clyde meets a co-worker, the shy farm girl Roberta, and eventually they become lovers. In the meantime Clyde has ingratiated himself with his cousins and their crowd, including the vivacious debutante Sondra, who at first finds Clyde amusing, then increasingly attractive. (Clyde, one of his buddies assures him, has "the goods".) Conflict occurs when Roberta becomes pregnant and, attempts at abortion failing, it is mandatory that Clyde marry her, meaning that all his dreams of Sondra and society are to end. Dreiser's attitude towards Clyde is almost clinical: he doesn't condemn his central character, but he doesn't solicit the reader's sympathy either. As it is, sympathy for Clyde is difficult, if only because he has such a dreary sense of values. His idea of success is living in a "swell" house, and the society he admires is hopelessly shallow. Sondra and her friends play tennis and cards, and that's just about it. Never once do they discuss political or artistic issues. It seems young bears can't utter a sentence without including "Gee"; and flappers, according to Dreiser, were addicted to baby-talk, an affectation that gets tiresome really fast. Dreiser had his own affectations, indulging in a dark detailed style (Funk & Wagnalls calls it "plodding") that indicates a relentlessly pessimistic outlook for his characters. This is partly due to his contempt for their capitalistic ambitions. (Dreiser was a card-carrying Communist, which may explain why he was one of the most popular American authors in the U.S.S.R.) But aside from that, Dreiser indulges in literary gimmicks that can be distracting. E.g., about the time of Roberta's death on the lake, Dreiser begins each sentence with the connective "and". Meant to be ominous, it's actually annoying. But for all its distractions, "An American Tragedy" is a powerful indictment of the great American illusion; and, as such, it's a fascinating piece of fiction.

Dreiser has crafted an immmense, complex novel based on the life of Clyde Griffiths, a man who commmitted a famous murder out of desperation in 1906. Born of a poor Mid-western Salvation Army family, Griffiths becomes romantically involved with a woman of his own class, only to fall in love with a socialite just beyond his grasp. A series of miscalculations evolves and Griffiths finds himself lost in his own web of tragedy and panic.

Occurring mostly in the resort of Big Moose Lake, N.Y. during the hey-day of Adirondacks, the mood and characters are all too believable and Dreiser paints a romantically painful picture of a man who cannot escape his roots and destiny.

Don't be beset by the voluminous writing. The structure, narration and characterization is perfect. Dreiser truly has created the perfect All American novel. If you can pace your reading to prevent getting ahead of yourself, you will notice the careful style Dreiser has created that turns a neat full circle by the end.

Made famous by the film, "A Place In The Sun" with Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and Elizabeth Taylor.

I was inspired to read Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy after recently seeing Woody Allen's film Match Point (2005); I was struck by the similarity of that film to George Stevens' 1951 film A Place in the Sun, and was humbled by the fact that I'd never read the Dreiser classic (though I'm an avid reader). So I started reading the novel...and couldn't put it down, I was entranced from first page to last.

Because I was so familiar with the story, I focused much of my attention on what was distinctly "American" about the tale and it soon became clear that this is an incisive examination of American society, as seen through the eyes of a naive, simple and easily dazzled young man. Clyde Griffiths is constantly seeking that American "dream," a mirage of wealth, social acceptability and sexual gratification. But those other forces in American society--class and religion--constantly serve to thwart and even confuse Clyde, leading inexorably to the tragedy of the murder and Clyde's own fate. It is a gripping, profoundly moving and often-times oppressive journey, but a richly rewarding one for the reader.

One other comment I would like to make concerns the character of Roberta; in A Place in the Sun and especially in Match Point, the female victim of the murder plot is portrayed as an initially appealing character who turns into a nagging shrew, so that her death, oddly, is seen as something of a relief. The great power of Dreiser is that he does not sink to such a level of castigating the character of Roberta--she remains, throughout, a complex but mostly sympathetic character; indeed, when the fateful boat trip finally comes to pass, one reads with dread and sorrow, and not a little bit of abject horror.

An American Tragedy is a must-read for any student of American literature and culture.