"An American Tragedy" and the American Dream

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how the idea of the "American dream" has been evident across the nation for decades and how the positive side of the American dream involves the hard work, perseverance, and dedication people put into reaching their goal. The paper then looks at how, in contrast to this positive side of the American dream, one of the main themes in Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy", deals with the dark side of this dream. More specifically, the paper looks at how Dreiser outlines the dark and destructive pursuit of the American dream through the journey of his main character Clyde Griffiths.

From the Paper:

"As a child, Clyde does not grow up in prosperity. His parents find all comfort in God and never seek to better their fundamentalist lifestyle. As a result, Clyde and his siblings are deprived of a quality education and develop no practical life skills. Clyde "... appeared indeed to resent and even to suffer from the position in which he found himself. Plainly pagan life rather than religious life interested him, although as yet he was not fully aware of this" (3). He yearns for success when seeking a new job. "I'm working now down at Mr. Klinkle's store at 7th and Brooklyn, but it isn't anything like this one and I'd like to get something better if I could" (27). When given the opportunity to work at the Green-Davidson hotel as a bell-hop, he is for the first time entranced by luxury."

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• Analytical Essay # 58570 : "Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy"
• Comparison Essay # 91315 : "Death of a Salesman" and "The Glass Menagerie"

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