Character of Clyde in An American Tragedy
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The structure of An American Tragedy involves circular or repetitive scenes and images that drive home the trapped quality of Clyde Griffiths' life. There is no escape from the type of fate to which someone like him, with his background, and his experiences, is likely to be condemned. There are several types of repetitions in the novel. The first is the echo of previous scenes or events that recur when Clyde, sometimes consciously, refers to things he has seen or heard, in making decisions. In the early scene at the monthly dinner at Frissell's restaurant, for example, Hegglund regales the group with the story of the man who cleverly booked a suite for himself and his 'wife' and then, announcing that his wife had to return home, had his trunk moved into a smaller room. But the trunk is hers, not his, and "den he beats it, see, and leaves her and de trunk in de room" (58). The bellhops are universally impressed by this trick and full of retrospective suspicion of the man. Ratterer gives a very detailed description of him--from his clothing and accent down to the way he walked. The man was, Ratterer claims, pretending to be English in order to impress the hotel staff and, perhaps, the girl. The echo of this story comes back when Clyde leaves Roberta's bags in the hotel and tries to move on to his second reservation. This echo of a story that is several years old reveals the way Clyde thinks. Whether or not he remembers such things consciously he draws on the Green-Da
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ith the degree of the Aldens' grief. The physical reactions alone leave him stunned and he was clearly unprepared for any genuine outpouring from these people. He has come to see himself in terms of his public presentation just as, by the end of the trial he has assumed the mantle a hero naturally--because he envisions himself, in newspaper terms, as having earned it. "Was he not now a victor and an elected judge!" (740). The only edge that Mason truly seems to have had over Clyde is precisely that instinct for identifying true self-interest that Clyde lacked and their confrontation on opposing sides is, therefore, strongly ironic.
4. In An American Tragedy the automobile is one of the most constant symbols of class and opportunity. At the beginning and end of the book the Griffiths family stands on the sidewalk, in the midst of rushing traffic of which they are barely aware--signifying their utter isolation from the realities of the modern world and from the promise of 'getting ahead' and 'making it' the automobiles symbolize. In the end, though cars have played such a role in her son's downfall, Mrs. Griffiths remains as isolated from the world as ever; "the automobiles barked and snorted" but the Griffiths family "seemed
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3860
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page)
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