Essay on An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

An American Tragedy is among the most read novels across the world. Written by Theodore Dreiser, the book is described as the authors central masterpiece. Fundamentally, it is divided into three books that comprise of stories of different thematic issues and setting. The first book foreshadows the events that take place in the second book, while the third one offers a comprehensive description of Clydes trial. Notably, the protagonist is Clyde Griffiths, who is portrayed as the son of street preachers who leads an impoverished life. In this sense, Clyde is brought up longing and desiring the material things he can never get but through his concerted efforts. On a wider note, the novel is a complete repudiation of the American Dream falsification, and the individuals idealisation. Dreiser elaborates the falsification of the American Dream, which holds that anyone can rise to a high position through struggle, hard work and perseverance. Clyde attempts all he can through high dedication but fails to attain what he desires in life. Dreiser describes him as a sympathetic figure in the novel, because he is a man who encounters insuperable challenges, as he intends him to be. Clyde lacks the freedom to transform his life, belief and dreams (191).

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To obtain first-hand information regarding this whole story and the incidents that accompany the sentencing and electrocution of Clyde, Dreiser narrates that he scrutinises the officials records in courts and newspapers. In the book, the literary naturalists describe Clyde as a helpless pawn in his heredity and environment, and a creature trapped in a network of causation and chances. While it is observed that Clyde experiences some of the happy moments, his life consist of a massive suffering. Due to his inability to think properly and a weak will, Clyde emerges as the protagonist-victim, not of a tragic but a pathetic plot. Through complying with the naturalistic-pathetic plot, futility and human frailty tremendously pervade An American Dream (Novel Guide 1).

In the process of collecting the news accounts concerning desperate young who attempted to distance themselves from finding relationships through violence, Dreiser succeeds to provide a full detail about Clyde. An American Dream depicts Clyde as an individual who had nearly tried all sorts of activities to attain material things. On a wider note, Dreiser narrates the Clyde is involved in a vehicle accident, runs to another city and secures a job in a company owned by his uncle. He also divides his love between a girl he meets at the enterprise and a socialite. He entices the pregnant lady whom he met at the factory to go to the lake, where she later drowns. Ultimately, he is tried, sentenced and electrocuted. As described in the book, Clyde engages to Lycurgus, a town in New York following a series of successful attempts to secure and protect his jobs. At this place, he hopes that his uncle will employ him in his cloth factory. Before long, he rises to become a supervisor within the stamping room, where he meets Roberta Alden. Clyde is attracted to her, and the interaction leads to a casual dating, where pregnancy becomes the result of the relationship. On the other hand, Clyde meets another girl, Sondra Finchley, who is portrayed as a lady from wealthy and a prestigious background. Clyde perceives himself as trapped, based on the fact that he is infatuated with Sondra but receives considerable pressures to marry Roberta. Notably, these two incidents are seen to influence his actions tremendously (Dreiser 203).

Notably, the report regarding the drowning incidents seems to bring the Dreisers story to an end. Shortly after discovering about womans body found in a drowning incident. At this time, Clyde realises a series of chain of the isolated lakes north of the resort. He plans to carry out an action, which he believes will bring favour to his life. It occurs to him that her girlfriend, Clyde is not good at swimming, and therefore might emerge as a solution to his predicament. As observed, he chooses a boat which he knows will quickly overturn and when Roberta attempts to move closer to him, he pushes her back making her lose control. While it is possible that he was able to rescue her, the voices from inside him kept on telling him that the fate would impact in his favour. Ultimately, he lets her sink and consequently heads to Sondra.

Dreiser has succeeded in elucidating the pathetic individual and the tragic civilisation, which significantly looms throughout the novel. In Kansas City, San Francisco and Denver, Griffiths is observed in a society with a reduced organic community. The class snobbery in which Clyde belongs is seen as a product of individualism and development. Throughout, various things such as the reduction of belief, rise of the secular ethics and personality disintegration are observed in Clyde. A fascinating thing about An American Dream is the arrangement of the books one hundred chapters, which have all been spread into three books. Through this, Dreisers fictional cosmos indifference towards puny and the severely struggling man provides a vivid revelation of the difference between weak, poor, ugly, rich and the beautiful. Observably, Dreiser offers a contrast between a photographic world the way it is, with the ideal world as it should be. Due to such bold contrast across all the one hundred chapters embedded in three books, various facts such as the uneasy mixtures of the scientific ideas and systematic ambiguity emerge. Viewers, due to these reasons may find it difficult whether to describe him as a naturalist or romantic. In reality, Dreisers descriptions of the subjects stimulate the arousal of attention the same way his documentaries do. From the aesthetic perspective, Dreiser full utilisation of the dramatic contrasts in the novel generates considerably interesting ironies, parallels, and the foreshadowing, all of which contributes to the togetherness of the book Dreiser.

Utilisation of several crudities and repetitions throughout the book makes Dreiser one of the greatest writers. Through the use of such literary techniques, the sensibilities of the readers become offended. For example, Clyde is observed to beat a hasty retreat, and this fulfils the concepts of crudity. This style can also be noted whereby Dreiser writes, Now transformation-wise played over his countenance. Further, the incorporation of the theme regarding the social influence of the society to individual emerges as a high strength of the writer.

Dreiser succeeds to crucially portray the American Dream as an illusion as one of the major thematic themes (Novel Guide 1). Notably, the idea behind the American Dream is that all the Americans have the opportunity to foster themselves socially and economically. It is being said that in America, the circumstances that surrounds an individual at birth do not in any way place limit in an individuals potentials. This notion means that people possess the capacity to rise as high as they may wish. However, in the novel, Dreiser goes past the idea well known and provides the message in a summed way that, an American Dream is lie and merely an illusion. Notably, he succeeds to create a microcosm of the America through an introduction of different characters who largely represents all the stratum of the society. Additionally, nearly all the points at the humanity spectrum can be seen through these characters. As observed, Clyde the everyman at the centre of the book, and is unable to transform him differently from what he was by the time he was born. He is not resourceful and lacks the constrictive thoughts. Fascinatingly, whenever he sees the material things and the pleasures, he demonstrates desire but he is not able to them through legal means. Through this, it is seen that wealthy people are not ready to accept him as an equal member of the society. The features of the American Dream as known are not achieved by Clyde in his attempt to attain what he is willing to achieve. Notably, Clyde demonstrates an obsession with having his limitations and other individuals prejudices barred him from getting it. Throughout the book, Clyde is not portrayed as a person who has a bad end based on the notion that he is bad. However, such portrayal occurs because he is an above average person who had great belief on the American Dream and attempted to make it happen but did not manage (Novel Guide 1).

Finally, the Dreisers novel elucidates a particular type of Protestant Christianity in a substantially negative manner as the novel begins. Notably, the religion eventually fades as a one of the major the major themes. However, it only reappears in the last three chapters in a more positive way. On broader note, Mr and Mrs Griffiths emerge as the representatives of the religion that the author of An American Tragedy is trying to talk about. Fundamentally, the strength of their Christianity is depicted as insufficient at all the possible levels. The values that they failed to impart on their son, Clyde, make him an individual who is perceived to be a failure in life. Clyde is seen as unable to struggle to accomplish what he wants to attain because of his Christianity. On the side, the belief that Griffiths have that God is Love is not fulfilled or validated in the novel. The family leads an impoverished life because of the Asas impracticality. His Christianity does not, in any way, make him lead a successful way (Novel Guide 1).

Through his book, Dreiser can be considered as one of the leading American practitioner of Naturalism. In An American Tragedy, he combines the social aspects of sex and violence in the lower classes with an aim of offering a revelation of his gatherings. He succeeds to explain that his collections are genuine regarding the modern Americas industrial urban life. Through this, it has always been referred as the worst-written great novel in the world.

Dreiser succeeds to crucially portray the American Dream as an illusion as one of the major thematic themes (Novel Guide 1). Notably, the idea behind the American Dream is that all the Americans have the opportunity to foster themselves socially and economically. It is being said that in America, the circumstances that surround an individual at birth do not in any way place limit in a persons potentials. This notion means that people possess the capacity to rise as high as they may wish. However, in the novel, Dreiser goes past the idea well known and provides the message in a summed way that, an American Dream is an illusion and merely an illusion. Notably, he succeeds to create a microcosm of the America through an introduction of different characters who primarily represents all the stratum of the society. Additionally, nearly all the points of the humanity spectrum can be seen in these figures. As observed, Clyde the everyman at the centre of the book, and is unable to transform him differently from what he was by the time he was born. He is not resourceful and lacks the constructive thoughts. Fascinatingly, whenever he sees the material things and the pleasures, he demonstrates the desire, but he is not able to them through legal means. Through this, it is considered that wealthy people are not ready to accept him as an equal member of the society. Clyde does not achieve the features of the American Dream as known, in his attempt to attain what he is willing to meet. Notably, Clyde demonstrates an obsession with having his limitations, and other individuals prejudices barred him from getting it. Throughout the book, Clyde is not portrayed as a person who has a bad end based on the notion that he is bad. However, such portrayal occurs because he is an above average person who had great belief on the American Dream and attempted to make it happen but did not manage.

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