Fictitious and unreachable, the American Dream is sought out by many Americans who hope to prosper, become rich, and achieve a high spot in society. The American Dream was proven fatal in An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser, one of the best naturalistic authors of all time (Lipking). The desire for the American Dream begins with enforcement of society’s ideas upon an individual; that individual then strives to obtain whatever society has deemed socially acceptable, which leads to his or her demise. Theodore Dreiser grew up in a poor family and always fantasized about living the American Dream; that is, until he realized the true reality of it. Dreiser wanted so badly for America to see the viscious dream for what it was, so he wrote books
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Ever since Clyde was a young boy, he hated being poor and being judged because he was poor. When his parents would bring him and his siblings to a street corner to sing, Clyde would always think that he “should not be like this. Other boys did not have to do as he did” (p. 7). He started dreaming about being rich and having a spot in society; that’s all he wanted in order to be happy. As Clyde got older, he started getting jobs to make money to try and fulfil his American Dream. Finding a job to satisfy himself was difficult, considering he “felt himself above the type of labor which was purely manual” (p. 12). Finally he got a job at the Green Davidson Hotel, which just fed more to his dream: “The imaginative flights of Clyde in connection with all this-his dreams of what it might mean for him to be connected with so glorious an institution-can only be suggested. For his ideas of luxury were in the main so extreme and mistaken and gauche-mere wandering of a repressed and unsatisfied fancy, which as yet had had nothing but imaginings to feed it” (p. 31). The American Dream took control of Clyde’s mind so much so that he “lacked decidedly the mental clarity and inner directing application that in so many permits them to sort out from the facts and avenues of life the particular thing or things that make for their direct …show more content…
They began going out every night together, drinking and hooking up with girls. Upon returning from an outing they all took together with their girlfriends, they ran over a little girl. Clyde ran away to Chicago and found a new job at a hotel. He met his Uncle Samuel, who is, in Clyde’s eyes, living the American Dream. His uncle tells Clyde if he is ever looking for a job he could come to work for him at his shirt factory. About a month later, Clyde moves to Lycurgus to work for his uncle. Upon arriving in Lycurgus, Clyde begins to think about how “irritated and depressed [he is] by the poverty and social angularity and crudeness of it-all spelling but one thing, social misery to him” (p. 191). This causes him to strive even harder to become
Ever since Clyde was a young boy, he hated being poor and being judged because he was poor. When his parents would bring him and his siblings to a street corner to sing, Clyde would always think that he “should not be like this. Other boys did not have to do as he did” (p. 7). He started dreaming about being rich and having a spot in society; that’s all he wanted in order to be happy. As Clyde got older, he started getting jobs to make money to try and fulfil his American Dream. Finding a job to satisfy himself was difficult, considering he “felt himself above the type of labor which was purely manual” (p. 12). Finally he got a job at the Green Davidson Hotel, which just fed more to his dream: “The imaginative flights of Clyde in connection with all this-his dreams of what it might mean for him to be connected with so glorious an institution-can only be suggested. For his ideas of luxury were in the main so extreme and mistaken and gauche-mere wandering of a repressed and unsatisfied fancy, which as yet had had nothing but imaginings to feed it” (p. 31). The American Dream took control of Clyde’s mind so much so that he “lacked decidedly the mental clarity and inner directing application that in so many permits them to sort out from the facts and avenues of life the particular thing or things that make for their direct …show more content…
They began going out every night together, drinking and hooking up with girls. Upon returning from an outing they all took together with their girlfriends, they ran over a little girl. Clyde ran away to Chicago and found a new job at a hotel. He met his Uncle Samuel, who is, in Clyde’s eyes, living the American Dream. His uncle tells Clyde if he is ever looking for a job he could come to work for him at his shirt factory. About a month later, Clyde moves to Lycurgus to work for his uncle. Upon arriving in Lycurgus, Clyde begins to think about how “irritated and depressed [he is] by the poverty and social angularity and crudeness of it-all spelling but one thing, social misery to him” (p. 191). This causes him to strive even harder to become