AZERBAIJAN UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE

Student's faculty: Philology

Student's specialty: Philology (English language and literature)
Student's name, surname, father's name: Mirzayeva Zemfira Seymur
Student’s group: B19-229a
Subject name: The genre of novel in XX century’s literature
Teacher of the subject: Fil.f.d.,dos. Aybeniz Ismayilova
Topic of individual work: An American Tragedy
 An American Tragedy
Theodore Dreiser's massive novel An American Tragedy was published in December 1925 in two
volumes. Coming in the middle of Dreiser's long career, it was the first novel to earn him fame and
wealth, though not the first to be controversial.
An American Tragedy is a detailed portrayal of the dark side of the American Dream—the story of what
can happen when an ordinary man's desire for wealth and status overwhelms his moral sense. Dreiser
built the novel around a real-life crime after spending years researching incidents in which men
murdered women with whom they had been romantically involved but who had become inconvenient
for one reason or another (often because of an unwanted pregnancy, as in the novel). Dreiser chose as
his starting point the case of Chester Gillette, who drowned his pregnant girlfriend in a New York lake
in 1906. Like the novel's Clyde Griffiths, Chester Gillette was electrocuted for his crime.
An American Tragedy is widely considered Dreiser's best novel and an important work of American
naturalism. Naturalism, which began in Europe and flowered in America, is a literary style that
explores the premise that individuals' fates are determined by a combination of hereditary and
environmental constraints that leave no room for free will or true individual choice. Some scholars and
critics consider An American Tragedy one of the greatest American novels of any style or period.
  Theodore Dreiser was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on August 27, 1871. He
was the twelfth of thirteen children of John, a German immigrant, and Sarah
Dreiser. The family was poor, quarrelsome, and prone to scandal. John
suffered permanent injury in an accident, which made it difficult for him to
provide for his family. The children, however, were never told about his
health problems and thought their father was simply a failure. In Dictionary

Author of Literary Biography, Philip L. Gerber writes that Dreiser's niece, Vera
Dreiser, described the household in which her uncle grew up as being
Biography characterized by "superstition, fanaticism, ignorance, poverty, constant
humiliation." In addition, the family was constantly on the move, and
Dreiser's formal education was spotty. The echoes of this chaos and
humiliation are clearly heard in Dreiser's fiction.
 Dreiser left home and moved to Chicago when he was fifteen. He filled in
the gaps in his education by reading, especially classic literature, and
survived by working at low-paying jobs in stores and restaurants. In 1889
and 1890, he attended Indiana University, but this was his last attempt at
formal education. He returned to Chicago and was able to get a job as a
reporter. Over the next few years, Dreiser wrote for newspapers in St. Louis,
Pittsburgh, and New York. He married Sara Osborne White in 1898; the
marriage ended in divorce in 1910.
 As a journalist, Dreiser observed two disparate elements of American
society: the few who were becoming fabulously wealthy, and the many who
spent their lives laboring in poverty. Just as American ideas of equality and
opportunity began to ring false for Dreiser, he discovered European writers
and philosophers who gave voice to his disillusionment. Among these were
novelists Emile Zola, Honoré de Balzac, Thomas Hardy, and Leo Tolstoy and
philosopher Herbert Spencer.
 Reading the works of these novelists showed Dreiser a new
form in which he, too, could express his views on society. His
first novel, Sister Carrie, published in 1900, drew on his
family experiences, including that of his sister, Emma, who,
like the novel's main character, ran away with a married
man. Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy, published in
1925, are Dreiser's most lasting and important works. Many
critics and scholars consider Dreiser the foremost author of
American naturalism, a literary movement that adopted
ideas popular in science at the time, especially the idea that
each human being's fate is wholly determined by heredity
and environment, leaving no room for individual will. An
American Tragedy is widely considered the signature novel
of American naturalism.
 In 1930, Dreiser was nominated for the Nobel Prize in
literature, but the award went to Sinclair Lewis, who praised
Dreiser in his acceptance speech. Dreiser married Helen
Patges Richardson on June 13, 1944. In 1945, the American
Academy of Arts and Letters presented him with its Award of
Merit. Dreiser died of a heart attack on December 28 of that
year in Los Angeles.
  An American Tragedy opens on a summer evening in Kansas City, Missouri,
in the early years of the twentieth century. Dreiser introduces twelve-year-
old Clyde Griffiths along with his family: his father, Asa, and mother, Elvira,
poor evangelists who run a mission in a shabby part of the city; and his two
sisters and one brother. From the beginning, Clyde is antagonistic toward

Plot
his parents' beliefs and activities. He is entranced by the material world
that his parents shun. As a teenager, Clyde gets a series of jobs in
increasingly glamorous settings—from streetcorner (as a newsboy) to
department store basement to drugstore to upscale hotel—that take him
farther and farther from his parents' dingy life. All the while, Clyde
daydreams about his rich Uncle Samuel who owns a factory in Lycurgus,
New York.
 In his bellhop job at the Hotel Green-Davidson, Clyde makes friends with
other young men whose desires match his own. Together they indulge in
alcohol, prostitutes, and other illicit pleasures. Clyde lies to his parents
about his activities.
 Clyde has a relationship with Hortense Briggs, a coarse girl who uses her
sexuality to manipulate Clyde. The two go on a car trip with friends. A
young man named Willard Sparser has stolen the car and, driving
recklessly, he hits and kills a pedestrian, flees the accident scene, and
finally crashes into a pile of lumber. Clyde runs away from the crashed car
to avoid sharing responsibility for these crimes.
 Book 2 opens three years later. Clyde is now living in Lycurgus. He fled to
Chicago after the car accident and, at his job at the Union League Club,
encountered his wealthy uncle, who was on a business trip. Samuel
Griffiths gave his nephew a job in his shirt factory.
 Clyde's cousin Gilbert resents him. Being the nephew of the factory owner
makes Clyde the social superior of the workers, but most of his relatives
see him as an inferior. Clyde is briefly attracted to a lascivious factory
worker named Rita Dickerman. When his uncle promotes him, though, he
shifts his sights higher. He meets and is infatuated with the wealthy and
beautiful Sondra Finchley; but she is out of his reach. Clyde then begins
an affair with Roberta Alden, a poor but pretty and sensitive factory
worker.
 Clyde soon loses interest in Roberta. Meanwhile, Sondra pretends that she
is attracted to Clyde, using him to punish Gilbert for acting cool toward
her. Clyde hopes to marry Sondra, and she develops some degree of real
interest in him. Roberta soon finds that she is pregnant and presses Clyde
to marry her.
 Desperate at the thought of losing his opportunity for wealth and status,
Clyde agrees to marry Roberta but instead plans to kill her. He takes her
out in a boat intending to capsize it and make Roberta's drowning look
like an accident. Things do not happen as Clyde has planned. He changes
his mind about killing Roberta, and when the boat overturns and hits
Roberta on the head, it really is an accident. Roberta comes to the surface
and cries out for help, but Clyde does not help her.
 Clyde flees the scene of Roberta's death, but circumstantial evidence,
including letters to Clyde from both Roberta and Sondra, leads to his
arrest for first-degree murder. Sondra leaves town, and her identity is
never publicly revealed. Samuel Griffiths hires attorneys for Clyde, and
they devise a complex defense strategy for a client whom they view as
extremely inept. Clyde lies to everyone, including his attorneys, about his
intentions and actions.
  Clyde Griffiths -The weak but rebellious central character who
aspires to wealth, luxury, and beauty — and is electrocuted for
murder.
 Elvira Griffiths -Clyde's mother, an evangelist who tries to save her
son from the electric chair.
 Asa Griffiths -Clyde's father, a poor evangelist, who is less effective
Characters than Elvira.
 Esta Griffiths -Clyde's older sister who runs away with an actor and
is left deserted and pregnant
 Oscar Hegglund A Green Davidson -bellhop who introduces Clyde
to worldly delights.
 Willard Sparser -Oscar Hegglund's friend, a show-off and driver of a
stolen car in which he, Clyde, and others have an accident.
 Samuel Griffiths -Clyde's rich uncle who gives Clyde a job in his
shirt and collar factory in Lycurgus, New York.
 Gilbert Griffiths -Clyde's reseniful cousin who helps manage the
factory in Lycurgus.
 Rita Diekerman -A sensuous Lycurgus girl who is attracted to Clyde.
 Roberta Alden -A pretty factory girl with whom Clyde has an affair,
whose pregnancy and demands of marriage compel Clyde to plot
murder and to let her drown.
 Sondra Finchley -Clyde's dream girl, a Lycurgus socialite; because
of Sondra, Clyde plots to murder Roberta.