100 must-read books for college students

Chapter 85 has been hailed as America's greatest novel

Chapter 84 is hailed as the greatest American novel: "An American Tragedy"

The novel "An American Tragedy" is hailed as "the greatest American novel", and its main value lies in "it is an American tragedy".
". We should use the perspective of historical materialism, from the American social system and the resulting gap between rich and poor, money worship

To understand the profound social content of this novel from the aspects of moral depravity and so on, and to analyze the typical significance of the image of Clyde.novel

Create typical characters in a typical environment with the characteristics of the times, with vivid images, meticulous psychological analysis, twists and turns of the plot, details

True, reflecting the realism characteristics of Dreiser's creation.

Adhering to realism, "An American Tragedy"

Theodore Dreiser (1871～1945) was an important representative of American realist literature in the first half of the 20th century, describing American life

The great writer who opened up a new way for the development of American realism literature. America in the 19s was "rich and poor
one of the countries with the deepest ditch.” Dreiser saw that the American reality was
"Cruel and unjust" and "happiness is nothing but an illusion" are not like the popular tender realism literature at that time
It's as beautiful as described.He exposed the gap between the rich and the poor and spoke out for the poor.He believes that the writer's responsibility is to truly reflect life,
"As the truth is, so shall it be propagated."

The novel "An American Tragedy" published in 1925 is another masterpiece that profoundly exposes the American way of life.
highest achievement.After it was published, it caused a sensation in the American literary world and established Dreiser's important position in the history of American literature.

"An American Tragedy" is mainly based on a murder case in Herkimer County, New York in 1906.

The story is that the young Chester Gerrett tricked his pregnant mistress Grace Brown into Lake Elk to drown her in order to climb up.

.The murder case was quickly detected and the murderer was sentenced to electrocution.Such cases were quite common at the time and caught Dreiser's attention.

He conducted interviews on the Chester case, carefully studied relevant materials and interrogation records, and studied a large number of similar cases,
After generalization and refining, but based on the Chester case as the main plot basis, it began to be created in 1922.The original title of the novel is "Fantasy"

, which was changed to "An American Tragedy" when it was published, focusing on the exposure of the American social system and way of life.

An American Tragedy consists of three parts.The main character, Clyde Griffiths, is the son of a poor missionary, who has been random since childhood.
Mother preached on the street, and was scorned and ridiculed by people.He pursued pleasure. At the age of 16, he worked as a waiter in the most luxurious Greene Davidson Hotel in Kansas City. He came into contact with the lifestyle of the rich and made loose friends, so he started drinking and making girlfriends.

, Go to a brothel.Forced to flee Kansas City after a car accident during an outing, he resumed sex at the United Club in Chicago.

As a result, he met his uncle Samuel Griffiths who came to work.Samuel was a millionaire in Lycurguth, New York, "Griffey
He hired Clyde. After Clyde became the foreman of the printing workshop, he and the female worker in the factory, Luo
Berta Alden has an affair.Soon, he was favored by Miss Sandra Finchley, a big bourgeoisie.clyde for peace
Sandra gets married and is determined to ditch the pregnant Roberta.Abortion was ineffective, so she became murderous, and set up to trick her into drowning in Big Elk Lake

Her evil plan, but she didn't have the courage to do it when the boat got into the lake. Later, Roberta died because the boat capsized and fell into the water.Clyde was full of loopholes in committing the crime
The case was quickly detected.At this time, on the eve of the Republican and Democratic elections in Kadalaki County, the current district attorney,

Republican Mason is preparing to run for judge, and this case can be used as capital for his campaign. Clyde's defense lawyer Belknap is a member of the Democratic Party.

Democrat, Mason's opponent in the election.After a lengthy prosecution, trial, defense, and testimony, the court sentenced him to the crime of intentional homicide.
Ryder to death.

An American Tragedy exposes American society extensively and profoundly by writing about Clyde's depravity and destruction, with a strong
sociopolitical significance.The novel truly shows the disparity between rich and poor in American society and the American way of life.In Kansas City, Asa Griffiths lived in a board house and preached in the streets, struggling with poverty and humiliation; in and out of the magnificent Davidson Hotel
The rich people in the hotel eat, drink and play all day long, living a luxurious and decadent life.The same goes for other cities.Lycurgus' "The Line Between Rich and Poor"

It is clearly divided, as if it has been scraped with a knife, or there is a high wall in between".

It is spacious and elegant, and the house is very particular, and even built a villa in the lake area.They often hold banquets, dance, ride horses, swim in the lake, and hunt

.However, the house of the poor female worker Roberta Alden has a collapsed roof, unpainted walls, dilapidated, and a miserable appearance.

scene.The poor work all day long to barely make ends meet.The tragedy of poor girls being teased and abandoned is not uncommon.this kind

The disparity between rich and poor is a product of the capitalist system, which breeds social corruption and crime.The death row described in the third part of the novel,

It is a true reflection of this society.

"An American Tragedy" also vividly reveals the hypocrisy and darkness of American society's religion, politics, morality, and judicial system.pass
The tragic experience of the priest Asa Griffiths and his family strongly illustrates the deceitfulness of religion, and God cannot lift people out of poverty.

sleepy, and cannot defend the soul of man.In this Jin Yuan Empire, the ruler of society is not God, but money.poverty is seen

Doing is "shame", money has everything.Government officials, parliamentarians, newspapers, courts, etc. all serve the rich, labor
The legitimate rights and interests of the people are not guaranteed.Clyde's sister, Hester, was toyed with and abandoned, and had no choice but to endure misfortune because she had no money to appeal.
and humiliation.Attorney Belknap seduced women in his youth, easily got rid of the pregnant girl for $1000, and
There was no social condemnation or legal sanction for this.Clyde committed suicide because he was infatuated with Sandra, but Finchley's family has money
Powerful, his legal counsel, the former chairman of the Republican Party, informed the court that Sandra's name must not be released, and that the letter she wrote to Clyde
The love letter is absolutely confidential.Although Republican Mason and Democrat Belknap were arguing and arguing in court,
But both parties replaced Sandra's name with Miss XX, carefully protecting the reputation and status of the big bourgeoisie.it's all right
The exposure of the crimes of the American monopoly bourgeoisie is commendable.

The protagonist, Clyde Griffiths, is the victim and victim of this disparity between rich and poor society and the American way of life.he was
A kind, innocent, naive teenager, alert, sensitive, full of fantasy, weak personality, easily affected by the environment.In the United States

In China's money worship society, he was ridiculed and ridiculed for being poor. As a result, he felt disgusted and humiliated by poverty, and fantasized about happiness.
Fu, longing for pleasure.The happiness depicted in the novel is centered on the individual and based on money.his desire in the environment

gradually formed and developed under the influence.The process of his pursuit is the process of degradation and destruction.The greatest influence on Clyde's character development,

First up is the Davidson Grand Hotel.This is the epitome of the world of the rich and the American way of life. Many young people are exposed to this kind of life here.

Go astray after living in luxury.Clyde is just one of them.During his time as a waiter at the Davidson Hotel, he traveled to and from

The stark contrast between the rich and the poor between the family and the hotel intensified his desire for pleasure and wealth. "From then on, his
The world view is completely changed." He drifted in the sea of ​​evil desires and became a decadent bourgeois way of life and self-interested

Prisoned by the righteous philosophy of life, he worshiped money, began to live a dissolute life, and degenerated into a selfish, hypocritical, pleasure-seeking young man.

year.

The social status and material facilities of the United Club of Chicago were higher than those of the Davidson Hotel, where Clyde met the
Politicians, big capitalists and celebrities from the country and from all over the world, his desire has a new development, the fantasy can be

A certain big man takes a fancy to, gets an important position, and "rises into a world that he has never experienced before."

Clyde came to Lycurgus with this fantasy, but the insurmountable gap between rich and poor lay before him.High society does not allow him to touch

side.In the peculiar situation where the rich and the poor meet, he endures loneliness, waiting for his uncle and cousin to be promoted and reused.Every
When he sees the lingering scene of young men and women, "it will always arouse the turmoil of the suppressed and resisting sexual power in his nature."
". He couldn't restrain his lust, so he secretly had an affair with the female worker Roberta, but he didn't plan to marry her. Sandra respected him very much.

Green, so that he has the opportunity to enter the long-awaited social world, taste the sweetness of the upper class lifestyle, and pursue "money, beauty and
The desire for "social status" is stronger. In his mind, "Sandra is a woman of luxury life and supreme social status."
"Typical", getting Sandra can reach the sky in one step. Since then, the obsession with Sandra, especially Sandra's proposal to elope with him

Marriage made him dizzy with fever, his egoism expanded viciously, and he finally embarked on the road of crime.

Dreiser is both revealing and sympathetic to Clyde.He described Clyde's situation and inner conflicts in detail, and wrote him as a
A "never mature soul", "poisoned by mental restlessness and the pursuit of vanity".Circumstances create his desires.he
Under the domination of desire, I can't help myself, like a solitary boat attracted by a magnetic reef, it finally hit a rock and sank in the vast sea of ​​desire.gram
Ryder's tragedy of depravity under social corrosion has universal significance in the United States.In the American society with great disparity between rich and poor, ordinary

Americans are poisoned by the bourgeois philosophy of life and the American way of life. They fantasize about happiness and believe in bourgeois
Spreading the myth that everyone can get rich, unscrupulous pursuit of money and material enjoyment, resulting in spiritual emptiness, moral
Fallen, Clyde's tragic fate also befell them.In real life, many young people are depraved and destroyed like this

, "The frequency of its occurrence has reached an alarming level."Dreiser believes that this is not only a tragedy of American youth, but also a breeding

The tragedy of depraved and criminal American society itself is "the real, American tragedy." The book "An American Tragedy"

A powerful indictment of the dark social system.

Great novel artistic innovation

The novel "An American Tragedy" is Dreiser's masterpiece.As soon as it was published, it aroused great repercussions and was considered the "American

Greatest novel."

"An American Tragedy" has a unique achievement in art.Dreiser conceived this work following the principle that environment determines character, shaping

Create a typical character in the typical American society.In terms of shaping typical images, Dreiser is good at using psychoanalysis methods,

Combining the social background and Freud's theory organically, it describes the psychological state of the characters in a specific situation in depth and meticulously.
state, revealing the social root of his tragedy profoundly from the psychological phenomenon, and making the characters more real, full and rich.

artistic charm.

When the American writer Sinclair Lewis accepted the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1930, he commented on Dreiser:

"Breaking through the Victorian and Howellsian traditions of timidity and elegance in the field of American fiction, opening the way to
A world of faithfulness, daring, and passion for life."

(End of this chapter)