Abstract

A pioneer of naturalism in American literature, Theodore Dreiser equally deserves a place in American literature for his vigorous attack on the genteel tradition and his long and active interest in American social problem. Showing the readers an actual American society that is maintained with money worship, hedonism, individualism, his works make the readers so suffering and so astonished that some readers could hardly bear. In this paper, a brief introduction is given to Dreiser’s life and the critical story of An American Tragedy, and then the causes of Roberta’s tragedy are analyzed. Through analysis the real origin of the tragedy is exposed to be the evil capitalist social system, and Roberta’s tragedy is also the American females’ tragedy.

Key Words

Theodore Dreiser; tragedy; Roberta; Clyde; American Dream.

摘 要

美国自然主义作家西奥多•德莱塞，以其锋利的笔锋，向读者描绘了美国社会的种种问题，抨击了美国社会高雅面纱下围绕金钱而产生的种种丑恶现象。其作品以其史无前例的大胆写实为美国文学在现实主义协作的发展开辟了道路，也为作家在美国文学界乃至世界文学界赢得了极高的荣誉。本文通过介绍作者的生平，以及对《美国悲剧》这部小说中的人物萝贝塔的悲剧成因进行分析，说明在美国拜金主义，享乐主义和个人主义盛行的社会里，人在本能和社会环境的驱使下不免地要往上爬，追求物质上的满足，实现心中的梦。但在美国的社会环境下，结果往往是悲剧的。萝贝塔的悲剧，不仅是她个人的悲剧，也是美国众多女性的悲剧的写照。

关键词

西奥多•德莱塞; 悲剧; 萝贝塔; 克莱德; 美国梦。

Introduction

Dreiser, who is very famous for the principal American exponents of literary naturalism, is one of the most influential authors in American literary history during the 20th century. As a great naturalistic writer, Dreiser does not forget the basic principle of naturalism. It is easy to find that the man characters’ personality in American Tragedy is a sexual athlete and a man of elemental force who rises to a dominant position in business and society led by Roberta’s tragedy. It expresses the depth sympathy in his novels to Roberta and Clyde, which are drawing people’s attentions, so the novel is regarded as the greatest novel in American literary.

American Tragedy based on an actual case tells the story of a social tragedy, in which a tiny successful young man killed his lover, sentenced to death at last. The novel highly criticizes the America legal system and expresses the course of the tragedy. Among all the comments on the causes of the tragedy, Charles Walcutl A. Waltonlitz, specifically makes an analysis about the causes of the tragedy. His idea is unique and profound for us to study. American Dream makes many young people lose their direction even lives.

Most of the researches on American Tragedy are profound, and many theories have reasoned on the causes of Roberta’s tragedy that American Dream and American capitalist social system are the real origin of the tragedy.

Roberta’s death stimulates researchers to study the cause of tragedy. At the same time, the novel arouses people’s attention of feminism. In 18th century, feminism was not popular, and many women had no equal rights. Through analysis of Roberta's tragedy, we can get more knowledge of female in the society.

Ⅰ. The Author and the Novel

A． A Brief Introduction to Theodore Dreiser

Theodore Dreiser was born in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was the very first important American author of non- Englภish stock, although United States had already more than half population of later immigrant and their children. His father was a German immigrant, and was mostly unemployed mill worker. So, his childhood was marked with poverty. His father had previously been a cotton mill and was burned down. During the reconstruction, he was hit in the head with a beam. He never fully recovered and as a result he became deeply religious. Soon his business partners cheated him. The family was perennial poor forced frequently to move between small Indiana towns and Chicago in search of lower living costs in order to survive. His mother was a gentle and compassionate woman. She had Czech Mennonite background. Though the family’s experience of deprivation, he spoke and wrote of his mother with unswerving affection..

B. A Brief Introduction of an American Tragedy

An American Tragedy tells about a tragic story. The story was based on a popular murder case. In the story, Clyde was a less successful young man, driven by the desire for sex and money to murder his lover, and he did that in order to marry wealth. Finally, he was convicted and executed to death. Whatever of social and spirit, he was victim. From the book, Dreiser expressed a degree of critical and commercial success.

There are three books in the novel. In the first book, the author describes Clyde’s life in Kansas. He was born in a poor missionary family; Clyde Griffiths lived a poverty-stricken life since his childhood. He always had to sing hymn of praise in American street everyday with his family. As he grew up, he was more and more tired of and even hated singing hymn of praise in the street with his family, and he was so sensitive that he always felt that the auditors were looking down upon them. In a word, his poor family made him painful. So once he had grown old enough to make money, he threw away that lifestyle. Since at his sixteen, he firstly worked as an apprentice in a drugstore. Before long, he successfully found a better job in Green- Davidson Hotel, the greatest hotel in Kansas, where he worked as a bellboy and earned about $25 a week. In Green- Davidson, he was deeply impressed by the striking contrast between Rich and Poor, and he avidly wanted to rise into this American upper class that seemed to offer him the only hope of self-realizations.

As he earned and learnt more in Green- Davidson, he began to drink, play cards and go to brothel, and he made a very vain girl friend, Hortense. In order to curry favor with her to fulfill his desire and to parade his wealth to his friends, he cheated his family that he earned quite a little money, thus he could spend as much money as he could on Hortense and himself. What’s more, his sister was discarded by a man and was already pregnant. Even when his mother and his sister, Esta, were in need of his financial aid, he still refused to help them, and instead he left the fifty dollars to buy a fur coat of beaver for Hortense. Clyde, the poor young man, became more and more greedy and selfish and less kind in the surroundings of the plot Green- Davidson. Later, on the way back to work from a travel for fun, he and his friend ran over a girl with the car which one of his friends stole from his father’s employer. To evade the punishment, he fled to Chicago lonely.

Book Two is the key part of the novel, which narrates the process of how Clyde climbed up to the upper class and killed his pregnant lover, Roberta. After he fled to Chicago, he entered his uncle’s factory and begged Samuel Griffiths to give him a job in the Griffiths Collar Company of Lycurgus. Later he went to his uncle’s factory and soon he worked as the head of a department which had 25 girls. Then, Clyde appeared important and prosperous. Because his cousin hated him, frustration and embarrassment encountered frequently with a short space and time. His snobbish relatives soon forgot him. Anxious for promotion, and desirous of happiness imbued with zeal for self-satisfaction, he fell in love with a young and beautiful working girl, Roberta Alden, who was employed in his department. After a time of ogling and flirting, their relationship became intimate. As to marriage, he always dreamed to marry with a rich young beautiful girl to climb up upper status. So he never thought of marring Roberta. The kind girl did not know the thought. Clyde associated with Roberta in order to spend his space-time. His dream was to become a person of better status and entere☏d upper class. Under his blandishment, soon after he had sex with Roberta, and made her pregnant. Before long, he met a friend of his cousin, Sondra Finchley, by accident, and he was deeply attracted by her. Then, he made Sondra fell in love with him gradually. Thanks to Sondra’s help, Clyde frequently took part in all kinds of parties. It made him feel that was a beautiful way of life like his imagination, and soon he forget his girlfriend Roberta. Sondra was the daughter of the owner of the Finchley Electronic Company. Compared to Sondra, Roberta was just a poor working girl, a daughter of a poor farmer, and could not help him to join the luxurious party. So, from the beginning, Clyde was not going to marry Roberta, just wanted to make love with her although he really loved her. However, as to Sondra, he always dreamed to marry her, and then he could enjoy the luxurious life that Sondra had. He always dreamed that if he could marry Sondra, he would be the manager of the Finchley Electronic Company soon. In order to avoid marrying Roberta and fulfill his dream of marrying Sondra, Clyde planned to kill Roberta in the Grass Lake. But in the critical moment, he was hesitating. Dramatically, Roberta was drowned in an accident.

In Book Three, it narrates the process that Clyde’s murder case was judged and he was in prison and at last he was sentenced to death. It was the very state election time when the case happened. The Democracy and the Republicanism made use of the case as they like regardless of the exact fact to promote attention in order to get the trust of the votes and win the election. The Democracy that took charge of the administration at that time tried every means to testify Clyde’s crime; they even concocted false evidences to testify Clyde’s crimes as soon as possible to defraud trust of voters. While the Republicanism tried every way to exonerate for Clyde. In the ugly struggle, Clyde acted like a chessman, although he was the one directly involved. He even did not know what was going on earth. The ugly struggle between the too parties, and then, Clyde was sentenced to death more quickly. Thus, after over two years in prison, Clyde was made dead in an electric chair in the prison. His life was over at the age of 25.

Ⅱ. Analysis of Roberta's Tragedy

A. Roberta’s Destiny

Roberta Alden was a daughter of Titus Alden, a farmer-of near Blitz, which was a small town in Mimi co Country, some fifty miles north. The father of her father was also a farmer. Her father was also an unsuccessful person at forty-eight. He was still living in a very old and much in need of repair house which he inherited from his father. From her youth up she has seen little but poverty. Roberta was a contemptuous and damaging nobody. She was very beautiful and charming and because the education she was derived, she was good and kind. But Roberta had some vanity. It had worldliness and selfish motives in her love. At the same time, because of a warm, imaginative and sensuous temperament, she was filled with good dream of good fortune about future. She was always thinking of something better. With these good dreams, once she had grown old enough, she left her family for the city to look for good luck. With her friend’s help, she went to Griffiths Company where she met Clyde Griffiths. Once they met each other, they were deeply attracted by each other, and they fell in love with each other soon. Because Clyde always dressed nicely and he was quite handsome, and polite to the girl, the most important, he was the cousin of Griffith’s family, the rich owner of the factory. Months after, they fell in love with each other. Because she refused Clyde’s lure and threatening, Roberta had sex with Clyde. Clyde never thought of marrying Roberta for he thought he was superior to Roberta and her poor family. Later, by accident Clyde met Sondra again and he successfully made friends with her. Then with the help of her and her friends, Clyde gradually climbed up to the upper class society and became successful in the society. As his friendship with Sondra became loved-ship, he desired to marry Sondra through marriage. He dreamed to share the luxurious and comfortable life with her. He wanted to desire to desert Roberta so that he can marry Sondra. The desire was stronger and stronger. And then, he became apathy to Roberta. Roberta did not know why his attitude became so apathy and strange. Because she was in so much loving with him that she was afraid of losing him, she was very obedient to him and did not dare to complain anything. Later she did not want to tolerate, and believed that Clyde was no longer lover her, so she decided to leave him, and let him free. But at that time, she found that she was pregnant. Without any experiences and related knowledge, both of them were very worried and scared. They tried every way to get rid of the pregnancy. They took medicine, pleaded doctor for help, but efforts did not work for they had not enough money. Without any other way to solve the problem, Roberta pleaded Clyde to marry her, but Clyde wanted to marry Sondra for better and richer life. He protracted to agree again and again. Worrying of losing Sondra and his reputation in Lycurgus, he pretended to agree, but in his mind, he was planning to kill Roberta.

So, cheating her to have a marriage travel and elope with her, Clyde carried on his murder plan—they went to Grass Lake. Knowing nothing about Clyde’s plan, Roberta was happy to have the travel with Clyde; and she even wished that after they married, or after the baby was born, Clyde might love her and the baby again. Then, they could have a happy life together. When Clyde was struggling in his mind whether to kill her or not, his face looked pale and very bad. Kind Roberta took it as something wrong with him. Roberta was very foolish.

Without any intention but the camera was still unconsciously pushed her with so much vehemence as not only to strike her lips and nose and chin, but also to throw her back sidewise toward the left wale which caused the boat to careen to water. Serried by Roberta’s sharp screen, Clyde rose and reached half to assist or recapture her and to apologize for the unintended blow. They both were as instantly thrown into the water. Regarding it as a good way to get rid of Roberta for it seemed like an accident, Clyde ignored Roberta’s crying for help. He was just looking aside while Roberta was drowning.

Roberta’s tragedy could be ascribed to herself. She was very naive and easy to believe someone else. Roberta’s dream was established on the love that she could together with Clyde. She had not thinking independently. This was her defect. In her opinion, her feeling changed with Clyde. When Clyde was angry with her request of go to her home, she was afraid that Clyde hated her and no longer loved her. So, she obeyed Clyde's meaning, no longer requiring him. Roberta thought that Clyde was her god. Whatever Clyde wanted to do, she would do her best to satisfy him. And then, her personality caused her tragedy.

B. the Analysis of Roberta’s Tragedy on the External Causes

Roberta Herself Was Partly Blamed for Her Tragedy. It seems unfair for Roberta to be blamed for her tragedy, but she really should be. Although born in a poor farm family, Roberta was very charming and quite clever. She deserved to have better life. Since her childhood, she was dreaming to conquer a man to have a better life that was different from her farm life. With this good dream, she even could not insist on her refusal for Clyde’s pursuit. She had already lost something guided by the dream of bettering herself by marrying Clyde. She even dared not insist on her refusing for Clyde’s unreasonable requirement, even though she knew that she was in the way of danger and maybe even in the way of destruction. So, in her tragedy, she was partly blamed. In American society, the boundary between the poor and rich was very clear. It was impossible for the poor people to enter the upper class. Just because of her unrealistic dream, she was finally pregnant easily and lost her life. Roberta was even told that the man of the rich family was not keeping their words, but she could not resist Clyde’s sweet talk. In a word, she was very foolish. She should keep herself from having sex with Clyde and getting pregnant. Because of her vanity and unrealistic dream, the tragedy happened.

Clyde Griffiths Should Have Taken the Major responsibility for Roberta’s tragedy.☭ First, Clyde lured Roberta to have sex with him while he never thought of marrying her; just due to it Roberta became pregnant, which became the direct cause of the tragedy.

Second, because of his selfishness, when Roberta was pregnant, he refused to go with Roberta together to the doctor’s for help. At last, to disengage himself from Roberta, he even planned to kill her. Although he did not carry on his plan at the critical moment, he did not give a hand to Roberta in the accident when Roberta was in critical danger and needed help very much. It was his very coldness and selfishness that caused Roberta's tragedy. Clyde was in the interest of realizing his wealth and rank then dreamed to kill his lover. His mentality was distorted by the social desire. He should be sentenced to death.

C. The Original Causes of the Tragedy

Although Roberta herself and Clyde should be blamed for her tragedy, in the final analysis, the original causes of Roberta's tragedy are the evil capitalist social system. Why did both Roberta and Clyde have the unrealistic dream and even lose their lives for the dream? To find out the answer for these questions, we have to mention the prevalent culture and the American society.

Roberta’s tragedy was very great important significant. It showed in true history that American society ruined the youth people. As we know in American society at that time, the individualism, money worship and American Dream were very prevalent in America. The American Dream was based on the assumption that each person, no matter what his origins are, could succeed in life in the sole basic of his or her own skill and effort. It “describes an attitude of the hope and faith that looks forward to the fulfillment of the human wishes and desire”.

Including such feature as sobriety, diligence and equal rights self—government and liberty, the puritans` faith had cultivated so many famous figures in its history and promoted them to the quintessential point. It was the faith that facilitated the way of self-reliance. Fortified of these principles, them migrated to Philadelphia to begin their career first in the printing trade and eventually became a leading citizen there. There is a example, that is a story of his upward climb became an American folklore of success. Though a poor boy at the beginning, he made great success eventually. The rise of Franklin to a man of consequence became an inspiration to young men whoว aspired to great. An American Tragedy was a profound work of the criticism the American Dream. American Dream had come into being for a long time, at the beginning of American founding; many persons believed that every one could get chance of happiness in traditional class’s new country. Since Puritanism could help so many poor puritans to survive and succeed in practicing the doctrines. Puritans lay out; it would be inevitably admired and obeyed by people who wanted to be self-made, greatness and success. And self-made, great and successful should be the main idea of the American dream.

Coming into 20th century, the industry achieved very great success, and the goods were produced in mass. The content of American dream had a little changed. Although the dream of greatness, wealth and success had not changed yet, the desire of consuming as much as possible had taken place of the sobriety. The young generation paid more attention to the practice and the comfortable even luxurious material life, while more neglecting the traditional virtue and dogma than the generation of their parents did. The consuming culture and the hedonism prevailed over the whole American in the 20th century. In such surrounding, lead by these ideas, the young generation could not help pursuit money, rich material life and the sex.

The desire for money and success can be seen everywhere in American Tragedy. The most of guiltless tragedy person was Roberta; the most typical is Clyde Griffiths. To fulfill his desire for beautiful clothes, sex and material life, Clyde left his family to work in Green-Davidson, went to his uncle's factory, pursued Hotense, Roberta and Sondra. It was the tempt desire for Sondra and her wealth that made Clyde want to kill Roberta to avoid marrying her. It was the same to Roberta. Forced by the yearning for the wealth to improve her status, Roberta left her family for Lycurgus, New York, for good luck. The reason why she fell in love with Clyde at first sight and then had sex with him without marriage was complicated. She thought Clyde was the nephew of Samuel Griffiths; he might be rich and could bring her wealth and better status. From the context An American Tragedy, we can see this:

“And then one day shortly thereafter, Gilbert Griffiths walking through here and stopping to talk to Clyde, she was led to imagine by this that Clyde was really much more of a figure socially and financially than she had previously thought…

“Here comes mr.gilbert griffiths. His father owns this whole factory and when he dies, he will get it,they say. And he is his cousin.”

When she knew this, her first response is:

“Is he rich, too?”

When she knew that:

“He only came on here a little while ago to learn the business. Maybe he won`t work here much longer.”

“She was suddenly troubled by this last remark. She had not been thinking, or so she had been trying to tell herself, of Clyde in any romantic way, and yet thought that he might suddenly go at any moment, never to be seen by her any more, disturbed her now”

From above context, we can say that it is because of the very dreaming of bettering herself and improving her social status and increasing her wealth in the future. So Roberta allowed herself to fall in love with Clyde and had the intimate relationship with Clyde. And finally, it turned out to be a dream..

Money worship, hedonism, individualism and the desire for unrealistic delusion are filling the world. Living in such world, the youth could not get the right guidance and education, led by the Horatio Alger myth, the American youth are apt to destroy themselves. The false concept and culture in American society are the original causes of Roberta's tragedy.

D. The Analysis of Roberta's Tragedy on Feminism

An American Tragedy was succeeding in the history literature. The author even said that the novel’s success was not a tragedy, but it was the American Tragedy. The novel expressed strongly complains through Clyde's American Dream and the female’s tragedy. It revealed humble women’s tragedy. The feminism was a new word. In the 18c, feminism was grown up from the west. The feminism was based on the west bourgeois democratic and broke out larger scale. The feminism was a politics movement of the way of emancipating the women.

Robert had no enough braveness to accept her mistaken; she wanted to require Clyde to share the mistaken. Obviously, she was a tragic person. Feminism called on women to look for a new way of life, got release from the chain society. In American Tragedy, Roberta just was a lack self-confidence girl, her destiny decided her tragedy, and herself was blamed for her tragedy. She could not refuse the lure of sex and enjoyment, American Dream affected her, too. The life style of hedonism had entered every American mind.

Roberta often left her work to disport with Clyde. In her mind; she wanted thought the marriage to reach her goal. Feminism’s gist was self-confidence and impendent, through oneself effort to get success. In the novel, it emphasized Roberta's stupidity and irresolute individuality. After she was pregnant, she felt very afraid and had no any idea to solve the case. She never thought to give birth for her child and began new life, this was her tragedy. Novel describes that people thought was ruined in their sprit world, so that led the tragedy to happen.

Conclusion

Naturalism is the brief writing style that man is shaped of hereditary and environment force beyond his control. In particular, naturalism is the brief that man’s inner sense of willingness toward a good or toward an evil is an illusion merely. Thus, for the naturalist it makes no praise the action, they are only doing what comes naturally to them.

As a novelist, Theodore Dreiser was the sort of naturalist who felt an extraordinary need to explain things, to represent his characters motives and actions as cogent as possible. He offered many instances scientifically--based explanations of their determinism, and even corrected popular misconceptions as to the cause and significances of human endeavor. An American Tragedy tended to emphasize that female should be independent and could not reply on men. Women are not accessories, but dominate positions in the society. If a female is too weak in mind, she would become a tragedy in the society. Her tragedy destined to happen at that time.

In American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser portrayed his characters Clyde and Roberta. Whatever they like, in American capitalist, they did it what they were forced anything, just persuade what is insight in their mind. Their tragedy is not very special; it is Üthe American's common tragedy. As Roberta is just one of the typical instances of such female tragedy, we can find a lot of problems existing in the American females. Roberta's tragedy is also the American female's tragedy.

The novel shows the greatest attractive for over the world. Although there are many criticisms about Dreiser and his novel American Tragedy, it can not deny the fact that the celebrated influence spread not only American literature but also all over the world.

Bibliography

[1] Annette, Rubinstein. American Literature and Root and Flower[M].Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1980.

[2] Charles, Walcutt. Theodore Dreiser and the Divided Stream, in Modern American Fiction[M]. New York: The Viking Press, 1963.

[3] Donald, Pizer. American Realism and Naturalism[M].Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press, 2003.

[4] David, F. Trask. The end of the American Dream[S]. New York: Fitzgerald’s the Great Gatsby Press, 1900.

[6] Theodore, Dreiser. An American Tragedy[M] Xinjiang :YiLi People`s Press, 2001.

[7] Tang Soo Ping. Notes on the Great Gatsby [J] Beijing: Longman York Press, 1980.

[8] 德莱塞著, 潘庆铃译.美国悲剧[N].上海:上海译文出版社，1994.

[9] 韩春英,德莱塞与〈美国悲剧[J]. 周口师范学院报. 济南: 周口师范,1998.

[14] 屈平. 美国梦与〈美国悲剧〉-----评〈美国悲剧[T]. 广西师范督学图书馆优秀博硕论文. 广西师范大学，1997.

---