NAME: Mrs. Giotis Period: 7 and 8
Title: An American Tragedy
Author: Theodore Dreiser Genre: Fiction
Character Analysis 1-4
1) What type of person do you think your main character is? Come up with at least two labels to help describe him/her. Use textual evidence from the novel to support your opinion.
Clyde Griffiths, the main character of Theodore Dreiser’s novel, An American Tragedy, is a dissatisfied and confused character.
The novel begins at the beginning of Clyde’s young life. The reader initially sees a poorly dressed Clyde with his equally disheveled mother, father, younger brother and sister, and older sister as they are moving throughout an “American city of perhaps 400,000 inhabitants” preaching the word of God to disinterested passersby and seeking payment for those words
(Dreiser 17). “All that could be truly said of him now was that there was no definite appeal in all this for him” (Dreiser 17). In fact, “he wished that they need not do this anymore, or at least that he need not be a part of it” (Dreiser 18). While his father and mother sing religious hymns and passionately quote scriptures, Clyde watches longingly the “handsome automobiles” and joyful couples moving about (Dreiser 18). He is troubled by all of this as it represents
“something different, better, more beautiful than his, or rather their life” (Dreiser 18). The confusion felt by Clyde stems certainly from the fact that the religious teachings, in which he plays a large role, are all “true and important, yet somehow not as significant or inviting as some of the things which life held” (Dreiser 20). He is a young man torn between two worlds.
2) What is the main character’s main conflict in the novel? Use textual evidence to support your conclusion.
Clyde’s main conflict deals specifically with his need to be anyone but the son of the street preachers. Unfortunately, “Clyde’s parents had proved impractical in the matter of the future of their children. They did not understand the importance or the essential necessity for some form of practical or professional training for each and every one of their young ones” (Dreiser
23). As a result, none of the children had any formal education and their futures are bleak.
Clyde struggles with this harsh truth on a daily basis. He does, however, have a glimmer of hope. “ . . . in a small city called Lycurgus, near Utica he understood-of an uncle, a brother of his father’s, who was plainly different from all this. That uncle-Samuel Griffiths by name-was rich” (Dreiser 26). This knowledge brings about a yearning in the heart of Clyde. This yearning, however, results in an unfortunate truth. “Clyde began to understand that his education, as well as his sister’s and brother’s, had been sadly neglected. And it would be rather hard for him to overcome this handicap, seeing that other boys and girls with more money and better homes were being trained for special kinds of work” (Dreiser 26). He asks himself time and time again, “How was one to get a start under such circumstances?” (Dreiser
26). This is quite a quandary in which he finds himself.

3) How did the main character’s beliefs guide his/her actions? Use textual support to back up your response.
Clyde Griffiths desperately longs for a life far, far away from his daily routine of sidewalk preaching, praying, and pandering. Upon realizing that he could have, and should have, a better life, he begins making every attempt to improve upon his station in life. He begins his journey of self-improvement by quitting his simple drug store job and taking a job as a bellboy in “the Great Hotel Green-Davidson” (Dreiser 50). This new position offers Clyde a new sense of self. He even begins earning a great deal of money, however, he keeps that fact to himself.
“For now, all at once, he saw economic independence ahead for himself, if not for his family, and he did not want to complicate it with any claims which a confession as to his real salary would most certainly inspire” (Dreiser 50). This deception only leads to more deception as time continues. Ultimately, Clyde does make it to his uncle in Lycurgus. His uncle is indeed a wealthy businessman who owns a successful collar factory. Though Clyde is offered a position in the factory, he is denied entry into his uncle’s wealthy, inner circle. By chance one day,
Clyde encounters a friend of his uncle’s and begins a relationship with her. When he is with her and her other well-to-do friends, he blatantly lies about his background. “He did not feel that he could admit the truth in connection with his family at all. So he announces that his father conducted a hotel in Denver-not so very large, but still a hotel” (Dreiser 354). Clyde is so intent on “making something of himself” that he does whatever it takes.
4) What important lesson(s) does the main character learn from this novel? Use specific examples from the text to support your answer.
Just moments before he is to be executed, Clyde Griffiths makes an attempt to come to terms with his impending death. He says to his mother, “ ‘Mama, you must believe that I die resigned and content. It won’t be hard. God has heard my prayers. He has given me strength and peace” (Dreiser 869). Yet moments later, he thinks to himself, “Had he?” (Dreiser 869).
Perhaps the lesson that he learns is not about understanding the error of his ways, but rather understanding that his mother needs to feel that he understands the error of his ways.
Dreiser’s novel is complex and Clyde is not an easy study. Lessons are lost on Clyde and Clyde is simply lost.
Theme
5) How does the main character change over the course of the novel? Use specific details from the novel to explain your response.
Clyde Griffiths remains true to himself throughout the entire novel. He loathes being a member of a family that “was always ‘hard up,’ never very well clothed, and deprived of many comforts and pleasures which seemed common enough to others” (Dreiser 17). He lies time and time again to others and even to himself. Even after being convicted of murdering his beautiful, albeit poor, girlfriend, Clyde, continues to lie to himself. As he sits alone, awaiting his execution, he wonders, “Was he really and truly guilty? Did he really and truly deserve to die for this?” (Dreiser 855). Clyde never does come to terms with his actions, and as a result, he leaves this world a man dissatisfied with and confused by his life.

6) What would the main character of the novel most likely do next if the novel were to continue? How do you know this? Use textual evidence to back up your opinion.
Because Clyde is convicted of murder and ultimately executed, his future is over. Clyde’s family and “friends,” however, have much with which to contend. The Griffiths of Lycurgus would most likely need to relocate and begin again creating a “name” for themselves.
Similarly, Sondra Finchley, the wealthy girl of Clyde’s dreams, must rid herself of anything that has to do with Clyde. Certainly, she cannot hope to “marry well” if her peers connect her to the convicted murderer. The family of the murdered girl must figure out a way to carry on without their beloved daughter. Finally, Clyde’s very own family must deal with the loss of their son.
Most likely, they would need to look carefully at the ruins of their son’s life and root through them to find answers and solutions.
7) Which character from the novel would you like to be friends with or get to know, and why? Use text support to defend your opinion and make a specific connection to your own life.
I would most want to get to know Uncle Samuel Griffiths’s older daughter, Myra Griffiths.
Upon meeting the entire Griffiths Family for the first time, it is Myra who extends Clyde the warmest greeting. She is also “thoughtful and studious” unlike her sister whose focus is always on which party she should attend next (Dreiser 166). Myra has a mind “that was rather above the world in which she found herself” (Dreiser 166). Ultimately, I always choose a smart person to befriend rather than a silly, overindulged person.
Textual Connection
8) Think about what this story says about people in general. In what ways does it remind you of people you have read about? Support your answer with evidence from the story.
In many ways, this is a story for all people, for anyone who has longed for a better, more significant, existence. An American Tragedy speaks of man’s desires, vanities, idiosyncrasies, and jealousies.
The character Clyde Griffiths, a man self-possessed and eager to be someone, could be likened to Gatsby, from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby. Where Clyde longs for the unattainable Sondra Finchley, Gatsby longs for the equally unattainable Daisy Fay Buchanan.
Clyde thinks to himself after his first true encounter with Sondra, “Ah, to know this perfect girl more intimately! To be looked upon by her with favor,--made, by reason of that favor, a part of that fine world to which she belonged” (Dreiser 338). Similarly, Gatsby also has fantasies of being in Daisy’s world. Both men create lives to impress the women of their dreams, but neither is ever true to himself. Finally, like Clyde, Gatsby’s passions consume him and ultimately, lead to his demise.