american tragedy

Chapter 36

Chapter 26
Mrs. Braley helped Clyde to find a house in Thorpe Street.Although this street is not far from the street where my uncle lives, it is quite different in style.He originally thought that he was a relative of his uncle after all, but the current situation made him suspicious. This room was surrounded by some brown, gray, and brown houses, which were smoky and embarrassing.It was almost the flowering season in May, but the branches were shrouded in smoke and dust.When he and Mrs. Braley went in, they saw a lot of ordinary young men and women and old maids like Braley coming home from the factories across the river.A vulgar woman greeted him and Mrs. Braley at the door.The woman showed them a room on the second floor, which was not too small and well furnished."Four dollars a week without board; seven and a half dollars a week with board," said Mrs. Braley.The price was more reasonable than other places, so he decided to stay.After thanking Mrs. Braley, he sat down to supper with the shop and factory workers.After dinner, he wandered into the city center and saw a large number of strange workers.This situation is absolutely invisible during the day.Among these people were Americans, Poles, Hungarians, French, British.Most of them were dull-minded, like the ones he'd seen in the basement.But on some streets and in some shops, especially not far from Wakekey Avenue, you can also see some neatly dressed young men and women of a little elegance, probably employees of some companies on the other side of the river.

Clyde walked up and down, and around ten o'clock, people suddenly disappeared as if they had made an appointment, and the crowded street immediately seemed empty.Clyde always liked to compare Chicago and Kansas City to this. (What would Rattler think if he came here and saw his and his uncle's factories and villas?) Probably because it was a small place, and he liked it a lot.The lively local life is concentrated in neat and bright Lycurgos.Hotels, post offices, beautiful churches, old cemeteries, car showrooms.There is a newly built movie theater at the intersection of a small street. Young men and women are in groups of twos and threes, making fun of each other.Everything here has an air of youth, joy, and hope, which is the driving force behind all vitality in the world.When he returned to his lodgings in Thorpe Street, he came to the conclusion that he liked the place and would like to live there.Think about how beautiful Wickie Avenue is, how grand my uncle's factory is, how beautiful it is, and how beautiful it is in spring.

The words are divided into two parts, let's talk about that Gilbert Griffiths.His father is away, gone to New York. (Clyde didn't know about it, and Gilbert didn't want him to know.) Gilbert told his mother and sisters that he had seen Clyde, and that Clyde was, if not utterly stupid, at least Not exactly smart and funny.He came home at 05:30 that day, met Myra, and said to her, "Hey, our cousin from Chicago let the wind blow over!"

Myra hurriedly asked, "What's he like?" She had heard her father describe Clyde as a smart and gentlemanly person, and she was very interested in it.She knew so well what Lycurgus was like, what it was like to work in the factory, and what the prospects were for those who worked for her father, that she could not understand why Clyde had come here.

Gilbert replied: "I don't think he's ever been a big deal. He's not stupid, he's not ugly, but he has no training in business, by his own admission. He's like a hotel clerk." Level. He was also poorly dressed. He wore a light brown suit with a brown tie, a brown hat, and brown shoes. His tie was a bloody scarlet, and his pink striped shirt was three or four years old. He was eliminated before, and his workmanship is not good. I don't want to comment on him yet. We don't know how long he will stay when he just came. But if he wants to stay, he must pretend to be our relative. Otherwise, I'm going to get Dad to give him a break. I think he'll be a foreman or something in a while. But I don't know why he's here. Maybe Dad didn't make it clear to him. Here, it doesn't matter Anyone who wants to develop must be talented."

He stood with his back against a large fireplace.

"Mom mentioned his father one day. She said that Dad felt that he had never had a chance to get exercise. Whether he was going to be put in the factory or not, he had to help. She said she thought Dad felt that his grandfather had treated him badly. father."

Myra paused.Gilbert had heard his mother talk about it before, but now he pretended not to understand.

He said: "This is none of my business. Dad wants to keep him. Whether he can do it or not is his business. But he has always said that every department must pay attention to efficiency and cut off dead branches without mercy. Rotten leaves.

He said the same thing again when he saw his mother and Bella later.Mrs. Griffiths sighed that in Lycurgus people of their rank, their relations, and the same surname should behave with care.It wasn't wise for her husband to bring here someone who didn't qualify here, maybe worse.

But Bella didn't take it seriously.She didn't know Clyde, but she knew Gilbert's character.She knew that he always used his first impression to say that others were not good at anything, which was often not the case.

At supper, Gilbert made another sarcasm of Clyde, and Bella could bear it no longer, and said, "If Papa wants him, I think he'll be of help." Gilbert was very displeased. Glad to hear that.He thought he had power under his father, and he wanted to expand this power in every way, which his sister knew very well.

The next morning, when Clyde arrived at the factory, he found that his surname and appearance were similar to Gilbert's, which gave him a big advantage.When he came to the No. [-] gate, the gatekeeper was astonished:

"You are Mr. Clyde Griffiths. I know that you work under Kemena. Your sign is in that person's hands." He pointed to a fat old man.This old man is called "Old Jeff, and he is in charge of attendance. From 07:30 to [-]:[-] every day, he sends and receives signs at the other end of the house.

Clyde walked towards him and said, "My name is Clyde Griffiths, and I work downstairs with Mr. Kemena." The man was also surprised, and said, "Okay, okay, sir. It's you Here you go, Mr. Griffiths. Kemena told me about you yesterday. Your brand is No. 71, which is Mr. Duverney's old brand." Clyde went downstairs, and the old man turned to the gatekeeper. Say aloud, "This fellow looks so much like Mr. Gilbert? Mr. Griffiths! Exactly the same. Who is he? What's he got to do with Mr. Gilbert?"

The gatekeeper replied: "Don't ask me, I don't know, but it must be some relative of the gate. I wanted to take off my hat just now, but later I saw that it was not him."

He went into the sink and found that Mr. Kemena was still the same, respecting and suspicious of him.Kemmana, like Whigan, was unsure of Clyde's place in the company.Whigan had told Kamener that what Mr. Gilbert had said to him had made it difficult for him to know whether to be more lenient or stricter with him.Mr. Gilbert once said: "In terms of working hours and the nature of work, the treatment is the same as other employees." But when he introduced Clyde to him, he said: "This is my cousin, I want to learn from him." This industry." It seemed to mean that after a while, Clyde would be transferred from one department to another until he fully understood the whole production part.

For this reason, after Clyde left, Huigan whispered to Kemena and some others that now it seems that Clyde may be favored by the boss, so they "must be careful in their actions", at least , needs to be before figuring out where he stands here.Clyde also noticed this and was very proud.Whatever his cousin Gilbert thought or did, he thought, on that alone his uncle might want to help him and do him a favor.Because of this, when Mr. Kemena told him not to think that the work was hard and that he had nothing to do now, his attitude was somewhat reserved.It is precisely because of this that Kamena respects him even more.

"Just hang your coat and hat in the cupboard over there," he said mildly, even deliberately flattering. "After hanging up, you can choose one of the carts packed there and push it up to the upper floor, and bring some cloth down. They will tell you where to get it."

In the days that followed, Clyde found it both amused and chagrined.This very toiling world, and his own social position, sometimes confused him.For one thing, the people around him in the factory he didn't want to choose as friends--a far cry from the waiters, drivers, and clerks anywhere else.He could see very clearly now that they were all ordinary people intellectually and physically.They wear clothes that only the most ordinary working people would wear-only those who regard work and hard life as everything.Besides, they don't know what kind of person Clyde is, and they don't know how his coming here will affect the status of each of them. Therefore, their attitudes towards him are always very stupid and very suspicious. Heavy.

However, when people knew that Clyde was the nephew of the general manager of the company, they thought that he, probably, would not always be doing some trivial work here, and they became more kind.However, this aroused their inferiority complex, and they were jealous and suspicious of him.After all, Clyde is not theirs, and it is impossible to become theirs.Although he smiled at them and was very polite to them, he was not of the same class as them, at least they thought so.In their eyes he was part of a class of money and status, and every poor man knew what that meant.

As far as he is concerned, in the first few days, he always wondered why these people always pay attention to things that seem very boring and uninteresting.They seem to be buried one by one in the daily monotonous and tedious work.

As a result, his heart flew back to the happier occasion at first.Sometimes, he wishes he was in Chicago or Kansas City.He thought of Rattler, Hegglund, Higby, Lewis, Larry Doyle, Mr. Squires, Hortense, a bunch of carefree young people, and he was one of them. one.What were they doing? How was Hortense? She got the leather coat at last, maybe the clerk in the tobacco shop got it for her? Sometimes, just thinking about her , She will feel uncomfortable when she waits for him.Who was she with now? What happened to her after she left Kansas? What would she think now if she knew he had a rich relation? But he was in a position she despised.However, once she saw his uncle.His cousin, seeing this factory and their big house, maybe she will value him more.With who she is, she will be nice to him.Oh, if he ever met her again, he'd give her a little look and taunt her, which of course he'd do.

(End of this chapter)