Summer evening in mall the American city of Kansas City, the Griffiths family sings psalms. The eldest boy, twelve-year-old Clyde, is burdened by his position. His parents, Asa and Elvira Griffiths, live poorly. Asa's brother, Samuel, the owner of a collar and shirt factory, makes the boy jealous.

The grown-up Estha (Esther), Clyde’s older sister, runs away from home with the actor. Sixteen-year-old Clyde first works as an assistant to a soda water salesman in a drug store, after which he happily exchanges his unprestigious job for the position of a bellhop at the Green-Davidson Hotel. He hides it from his parents most salary and takes part in the obscene entertainment of other boys: he goes with them to Frissell’s restaurant, tastes wine there for the first time, then goes to a brothel, where he learns the physical side of love. One of his new friends, Reterer, introduces Clyde to his company, introduces him to his mother and younger sister Louise.

Clyde falls in love with Louise's friend, the flirt Hortense Briggs. He invites her to a restaurant, then takes her to the Libby Theater to see Le Corsair. The girl distantly accepts Clyde's advances. For four months she flirts with him, forcing him to spend money on herself.

Elvira Griffiths asks her son for financial assistance. Dissatisfied, Clyde begins giving her ten dollars a week instead of five. Over time, he realizes that his mother is hiding something from him. Clyde begins to follow her and finds Estha. The older sister is pregnant, unmarried and poor.

Hortensia begs Clyde for an expensive fur jacket. The young man has difficulty collecting money. His mother asks him for fifty dollars for Estha, but Clyde says that he has not yet given back the previous money, allegedly borrowed from friends.

At the end of January, Clyde and his friends go for a country walk. Hortense is infatuated with Sparser, a guy from a farm who “rented” someone else’s expensive car. Clyde quarrels with a girl and realizes that she will never love him. On the way back, the friends get stuck in a traffic jam. While rushing to work, they hit a little girl on the road, run away from the police and get into an accident. Hortense, frightened by the blood running down her face, runs away first. The rest scatter before the ambulance and police arrive. Only Sparser and one of the girls named Laura remain in the car.

Book two

Samuel Griffiths, who lives in Lycurgus, has two daughters - the eldest, ugly, twenty-six-year-old Myra and the lovely, lively seventeen-year-old Bella, liked by everyone without exception, and one son - twenty-three-year-old Gilbert. Clyde meets him in Chicago, three years after fleeing Kansas City, which he spends changing one job to another and living under the false name Harry Tenet.

Before meeting his uncle at the Union Club Hotel, the guy runs into Reterer. At the latter’s suggestion, Clyde gets a job as a delivery boy at the Great Northern, and then at the Union Club.

In Lycurgus, Clyde receives a cold reception from Gilbert. He sends his cousin to the very low paid job to the decalating shop. Clyde lives in Mrs. Cuppy's boring, cheap boarding house. His only friend, Walter Dillard, a frivolous young man who serves as a salesman in the men's dress department, introduces Clyde to Zella Schumann and Rita Dickerman. The girl immediately tries to take Clyde's turn, and he doesn't like it. The young man is saved from meeting Rita again by an invitation to Sunday dinner at his uncle’s, where he meets his cousins and Bella’s friends, Sondra Finchley and Bertina Cranston.

After working for several months in the decal shop, Clyde begins to lose hope of gaining a position in Lycurgus society, but one day his uncle comes into his basement and is amazed at how pathetic his nephew looks in a low position. Samuel instructs Gilbert to find a more decent place for Clyde. Whigham proposes to appoint the young man as a supervisor of the stamping work. Before his appointment, Gilbert instills in Clyde the idea of good behavior among the women working at the factory.

Having received a new position, Clyde moves to one of the best houses on Jefferson Avenue. Over time, the young man distinguishes among the workers three girls who are not too concerned about morality - Ruza Nikoforich, Marta Bordala and Flora Brandt, but he only dreams of them, afraid even to flirt. Clyde becomes truly interested in a new employee, Roberta Alden. A twenty-three-year-old farm girl gets a job in a factory in the hope of a high salary and... a husband who can be found in Lycurgus. She lives in the city with her friend Grace Marr. Clyde almost immediately attracts Roberta's attention.

One day on Lake Crum, Clyde, kayaking, meets Roberta admiring the water lilies. A few days after the unexpected meeting, he arranges a date with the girl, where he finds out that she loves him. After a secret meeting over the weekend, Roberta, caught in a lie, moves out of Grace Marr's relatives and rents a room in the south-east of Lycurgus from the family of upholsterer Gilpin.

For a month and a half, Clyde and Roberta have been meeting on the street. With the onset of cold weather, the young man offers to move the meeting to the girl’s room, but she refuses. Lovers quarrel. The next day, Roberta asks Clyde for forgiveness and becomes his mistress.

One evening, Sondra, mistaking Clyde for Gilbert, offers to give him a ride. Realizing her mistake and wanting to make up for the awkwardness, the girl actually does it. The young man seems nice to her, and to annoy Gilbert, she decides to introduce him to Lycurgusian society. “Golden Youth” is favorably received by Clyde. The young man receives numerous invitations and begins to visit Roberta less and less. Sondra admits to Clyde that she likes him.

Having learned from a newspaper article about Clyde's social successes, Roberta is upset, and Gilbert is furious. Samuel Gruffudd invites his nephews to dinner on the first day after Christmas.

Two weeks after New Year's Eve, Sondra invites Clyde home for hot chocolate. Young people kiss for the first time.

In mid-February, Roberta realizes that she is pregnant. Clyde buys medicine at a Schenectady pharmacy, but it doesn't help. On the advice of Orin Short, the owner of a small men's underwear store, the young man Robert turns to Dr. Glen, but he refuses to have an abortion. The girl demands that Clyde find her another doctor or get married.

Sondra and Clyde dream of a secret wedding. At the beginning of June, the young man takes Roberta to her parents. Painfully searching for a way out of this situation, Clyde accidentally comes across a newspaper article about a young couple who drowned on Pass Lake. All night the young man tries to get rid of thoughts of murder.

In mid-June, Clyde goes to Sondra on Twelfth Lake. Roberta writes desperate letters and insists on the wedding. Clyde and his friends visit lakes hidden in deep coniferous forests, and again think about the incident at Pass Lake.

On July 6th, Clyde meets Roberta on the Fonda platform. He takes the girl to nature. While riding a boat on the Great Bittern, Clyde does not dare to carry out his plan, but an accident comes to his aid: in a fit of anger, he hits Roberta in the face with a camera and, wanting to help her, accidentally overturns the boat. The girl is drowning and asks for help. Clyde deliberately does not save her.

Book three

Cataraqui County Investigator Freud Heit and his assistant, nineteen-year-old Earl Newcome, begin an investigation. They find a letter to her mother in the pocket of the murdered girl and receive testimonies from two hunters about meeting a young man in the forest. Prosecutor Orville Mason, who wants to advance politically, is happy to join the investigation. He informs Titus Alden, Roberta's father, about his daughter's death. The girl's mother tells Mason about Clyde Griffiths. In Roberta's suitcase, the prosecutor discovers a toilet set donated by Clyde with a card signed by him, and during a search of the young man's room, letters from the murdered woman.

At the Cranstons' dacha, Clyde pretends that everything is fine, but in his heart he is very worried about what happened and is afraid of being caught. He turns pale when he hears about the "drowned on Big Bittern Lake" couple and gets rid of his wet suit. Having learned from the newspapers about the search for the killer, at the first moment Clyde decides to confess to what he had done, to explain that he did not kill Roberta, but immediately realizes that this is impossible - he will lose Sondra and no one will believe him anyway. Together with the company, the young man leaves for Bear Lake for a week. Sheriff's Deputy Nicholas Kraut arrests Clyde, who is thinking about escaping in the wilderness. Mason tries to get a confession out of the young man. Fearing that the prosecutor will take him to Sondra's camp, Clyde admits that he was with Roberta at the lake, but says that she drowned by accident.

A rumor spreads around the area about a caught criminal. Locals gather to see the Clyde. Once in prison, the young man still maintains that he is innocent. The police find a photographic camera at the bottom of the lake. Burton Burley, convinced of Clyde's guilt, steals several of Roberta's hairs from the morgue and wraps them around the “murder weapon.”

American newspapers describe in detail what happened on Big Bittern Lake and publish excerpts from Roberta's letters. Finchley and Craxton escape from Lycurgus. Samuel Griffiths asks his lawyer Darragh Brookhart to look into his nephew's case. Brookhart's assistant, Ketchumen, hires Mason's political opponent, Alvin Belknap, as a lawyer for Clyde. I immediately like the last one young man, and he tells him everything. Belknap's companion, Reuben Jephson, can't quite figure out whether Clyde is guilty or not, but he comes up with an excellent exculpatory story for him.

Elvira Griffiths learns from Estha about the misfortune that happened to her son. She wants to come to Bridgeburgh, but Clyde asks her not to. Information appears in the newspapers about the young man’s family and his childhood.

For several months, lawyers have been training Clyde. The trial begins in mid-October. Jury selection takes five days. Mason reads the indictment. One hundred and twenty-seven witnesses are being interviewed until November. Mason is elected judge. Belknap portrays Clyde as a craven coward. Jephson interrogates the young man in accordance with a pre-prepared plan. Clyde answers questions with memorized phrases. He denies any malicious intent and adheres to the version that he wanted to tell Roberta about his love for another girl and, if she did not let him go, agree to fulfill his moral duty and marry her. The young man imagines the trip to Lugovoye and Lake Big Bittern as Roberta’s initiative. Mason begins interrogating Clyde. The prosecutor asks to bring the boat into the courtroom and invites the young man to show exactly how he hit Roberta with the camera. When Mason asks why Clyde didn’t save the girl, the latter begins to get nervous and the prosecutor realizes that this is his weak point.

Mason tries to piss Clyde off. He catches him on a carefully packed chest, not knowing the price of a boat rental on Big Bittern Lake, guidebooks from Lycurgus, bought, according to the young man, in Utica. The lawyers conclude that Clyde killed Roberta. The jury returns a guilty verdict. They believe Clyde committed the murder with "premeditation."

Theodore Dreiser

« American tragedy»

Kansas City, hot summer evening. Two adults and four children sing psalms and hand out religious pamphlets. The eldest boy clearly does not like what he is forced to do, but his parents are passionately devoted to the task of saving lost souls, which, however, brings them only moral satisfaction. Asa Griffiths, the father of the family, is very impractical, and the family can barely make ends meet.

Young Clyde Griffiths strives to escape from this dull world. He gets a job as an assistant to a soda seller at a pharmacy, and then as a delivery boy at the Green-Davidson Hotel. Working in a hotel does not require any special skills or abilities, but brings good tips, which allows Clyde not only to contribute to the family budget, but also to buy himself good clothes and save something.

His workmates quickly accept Clyde into their company, and he plunges headlong into a fun new existence. He meets a pretty saleswoman, Hortense Briggs, who, however, is prudent beyond her years and is not going to show favor to anyone solely for beautiful eyes. She really wants a fashionable jacket that costs one hundred and fifteen dollars, and Clyde finds it difficult to resist her desire.

Soon, Clyde and his company go on a joyride in a luxurious Packard. One of the young men, Sparser, took this car without permission from the garage of a rich man for whom his father works. On the way back to Kansas City, the weather begins to turn bad, snow begins to fall, and we have to drive very slowly. Clyde and his comrades are late for work at the hotel and therefore ask Sparser to speed up. He does so, but, having gaped, he knocks down a girl, and then, escaping from pursuit, he loses control. The driver and one of the girls remain unconscious in the wrecked car, everyone else runs away.

The next day the newspapers publish a report about the incident. The girl died, the arrested Sparser named the names of all the other participants in the picnic. Fearing arrest, Clyde and some of the other members of the company leave Kansas City. - For three years, Clyde lives away from home under an assumed name, does dirty, thankless work and receives pennies for it. But one day in Chicago he meets his friend Reterer, who was also in the Packard with him. Reterer gets him a job as a delivery boy at the Union Club. Twenty-year-old Clyde is quite happy with his new life, but one day Samuel Griffiths, his uncle, who lives in Lycurgus, New York, and owns a collar factory, appears at the club. The result of the meeting of relatives is Clyde's move to Lycurgus. His uncle promises him a place at the factory, although he does not promise mountains of gold. For Clyde, contacts with rich relatives seem more promising than work at the Union Club, although he makes good money.

Samuel's son Gilbert accepts without much joy cousin and, making sure that he does not have any useful knowledge and skills, assigns him to rather hard and low-paid work in a decatering workshop located in the basement. Clyde rents a room in a cheap boarding house and starts, as they say, from scratch, hoping, however, to succeed sooner or later.

A month passes. Clyde regularly does everything that is assigned to him. Griffiths Sr. asks his son what his opinion of Clyde is, but Gilbert, who was very wary of the appearance of a poor relative, is cool in his assessments. In his opinion, Clyde is unlikely to be able to advance - he has no education, he is not purposeful enough and is too soft. However, Samuel likes Clyde and is ready to give his nephew a chance to prove himself. Against Gilbert's wishes, Clyde is invited to the house for a family dinner. There he meets not only the family of his relative, but also charming representatives of the Lycurgus elite, young Bertina Cranston and Sondra Finchley, who quite liked the handsome and well-mannered young man.

Finally, at the insistence of his father, Gilbert finds a less difficult and more prestigious job for Clyde - he becomes an accountant. However, Gilbert warns him that he must “maintain decency in his relations with female workers” and any kind of liberties will be resolutely suppressed. Clyde is ready to religiously carry out all the instructions of his employers and, despite the attempts of some girls to start relationships with him, he remains deaf to their advances.

Soon, however, the factory receives an additional order for collars, and this, in turn, requires an increase in staff. Young Roberta Alden enters the factory, and Clyde finds it difficult to resist her charm. They begin to date, Clyde's advances become more and more persistent, and Roberta, brought up in strict rules, finds it more and more difficult to remember girlish prudence. Meanwhile, Clyde meets Sondra Finchley again, and this meeting dramatically changes his life. A wealthy heiress, a representative of the local financial aristocracy, Sondra shows genuine interest in the young man and invites him to an evening of dancing, where the golden youth of Lycurgus gather. Under the onslaught of new impressions, Roberta's modest charm begins to fade in Clyde's eyes. The girl feels that Clyde is no longer so attentive to her, she is afraid of losing his love, and one day she succumbs to temptation. Roberta and Clyde become lovers.

Sondra Finchley, however, does not disappear from his life. On the contrary, she introduces Clyde into her circle, and tempting prospects turn his head. This does not go unnoticed by Roberta, and she experiences severe pangs of jealousy. To top it all off, it turns out that she is pregnant. She admits this to Clyde, and he feverishly tries to find a way out of this situation. But the medications do not bring the desired result, and the doctor they find with such difficulty categorically refuses to perform an abortion.

The only way out is to get married, which Clyde is absolutely not happy with. After all, this means that he will have to give up the dreams of a brilliant future that his relationship with Sondra instilled in him. Roberta is desperate. She is ready to go to the extent of telling Clyde's uncle about what happened. This would mean the end of his career and the end of his romance with Sondra, but he shows indecision, hoping to come up with something. He promises Roberta either to find some kind of doctor or, if one is not found in two weeks, to marry her, even formally, and support her for some time until she is unable to work.

But then Clyde comes across a newspaper article telling about the tragedy on Pass Lake - a man and a woman took a boat for a ride, but the next day the boat was found overturned, and later the girl’s body was found, but the man could not be found. This story makes a strong impression on him, especially since he receives a letter from Roberta, who has gone to her parents: she does not intend to wait any longer and promises to return to Lycurgus and tell Griffiths Sr. everything. Clyde realizes that he is running out of time and he must make some decision.

Clyde invites Roberta to take a trip to Big Bittern Lake, promising to then marry her. So, it seems that a terrible decision has been made, but he himself does not believe that he will find the strength to carry out his plans. It's one thing to commit murder in your imagination, but quite another in reality.

So Clyde and Roberta go boating on a deserted lake. Clyde's gloomy, thoughtful appearance frightens Roberta; she carefully approaches him and asks what happened to him. But when she tries to touch him, he, unconscious, hits her with the camera and pushes her so that she loses her balance and falls. The boat capsizes and its side hits Roberta in the head. She begs Clyde to help her, not to let her drown, but he does nothing. What he had thought about more than once came true. He gets ashore alone, without Roberta.

But both the overturned boat and Roberta’s body are quickly found. Investigator Haight and Prosecutor Mason energetically take on the case and soon find Clyde. At first he locks himself out, but it is not difficult for an experienced prosecutor to drive him into a corner. Clyde has been arrested - now the court will decide his fate.

Samuel Griffiths, of course, is shocked by what happened, however, he hires good lawyers. They fight with all their might, but Mason knows his stuff. Long and intense trial ends with a death sentence. Wealthy relatives stop helping Clyde, and only his mother tries to do something for him.

Clyde is transferred to the Auburn prison, called the Death House. The mother's desperate attempts to find money to continue the fight for her son's life do not bring success. Society has lost interest in the convicted person, and nothing will now prevent the justice machine from bringing the case to the end.

Theodore Dreiser wrote a novel about the murder of a girl, Grace Brown, whose killer was her own boyfriend, Chester Gillette. The novel became very popular immediately after publication. The main character of the tragedy is a young guy, Clyde Griffiths. He was born into a family of preachers who were very strict with their children and raised them in religious faith.

At the age of 15, the eldest daughter Estha ran away from the family. She went to live with a visiting actor, who in the future leaves her with the child. Clyde himself finds work as a hotel bellhop, and begins to live in a world of wealth and money. He often turns to the bottle and visits prostitutes with friends. This is how Clyde met the vulgar and rude coquette Hortense Briggs, with whom he gradually falls in love. He spends all his money on her, but she does not reciprocate his feelings.

After a while, the hero goes on a trip with his new friends in someone else's car. And on the way back they knock down a girl who was running towards the intersection to death. The police begin to pursue them. Friends crash into bricks in an alley. Spencer (the driver) and another girl failed to escape, and he told the police about all his accomplices. Clyde is forced to leave Kansas City and goes into hiding. He did the dirty work for three years, after which he meets one of Reterer’s accomplices in Chicago. A friend helps him get a job as a delivery boy at the Union Club. But after some time, Clyde meets his uncle, with whom he later moves to live. He gives him a job at his factory and then the hero begins to manage the decatification workshop. There his fate brings him together with Roberta Alden. They fall in love. It becomes increasingly difficult for the girl to remain well-mannered and inviolable. His uncle's family treats him very cold-bloodedly.

And here fate brings him together with 17-year-old Sondra Finchley - the daughter of the second local manufacturer, the prominent Theodore Dreiser wrote a novel about the murder of the girl Grace Brown, whose killer was her own boyfriend, Chester Gillette. The novel became very popular immediately after publication.

The main character of the tragedy is a young guy, Clyde Griffiths. He was born into a family of preachers who were very strict with their children and raised them in religious faith. At the age of 15, the eldest daughter Estha ran away from the family. She went to live with a visiting actor, who in the future leaves her with the child. Clyde himself finds work as a hotel bellhop, and begins to live in a world of wealth and money. He often turns to the bottle and visits prostitutes with friends. This is how Clyde met the vulgar and rude coquette Hortense Briggs, with whom he gradually falls in love. He spends all his money on her, but she does not reciprocate his feelings.

After a while, the hero goes on a trip with his new friends in someone else's car. And on the way back they knock down a girl who was running towards the intersection to death. The police begin to pursue them. Friends crash into bricks in an alley. Spencer (the driver) and another girl failed to escape, and he told the police about all his accomplices. Clyde is forced to leave Kansas City and goes into hiding. He did the dirty work for three years, after which he meets one of Reterer’s accomplices in Chicago. A friend helps him get a job as a delivery boy at the Union Club. But after some time, Clyde meets his uncle, with whom he later moves to live. He gives him a job at his factory and then the hero begins to manage the decatification workshop. There he meets Roberta Alden. They fall in love. It becomes increasingly difficult for the girl to remain well-mannered and inviolable. His uncle's family treats him very cold-bloodedly.

And here fate brings him together with 17-year-old Sondra Finchley, the daughter of the second local manufacturer, who occupies a prominent status in society. At first, the girl introduced the young man to her rich acquaintances in order to anger Clyde’s relatives, and especially his cousin Gilbert. But Sondra falls in love with a guy and wants to marry him. The guy himself is not averse to it, because he wants to become rich. But then Clyde learns about Roberta Alden's pregnancy, who is very jealous of Sondra. He persuades the girl to have an abortion, but the doctor refuses her. Then Roberta makes Clyde promise to marry her. Meanwhile, Clyde becomes popular in Lycurgus society, and Sondra decides to tie the knot. She thinks that her dad will give him a place at the enterprise and then Clyde can become a member of high society.

Not knowing what to do, the hero finds an article in a newspaper, from which he decides to kill Roberta. He invites the girl to go on a boat ride, where he was unable to carry out his plans. But here Roberta tries to hug Clyde and he automatically pushes her away, hitting her with the camera. The boat capsized, hitting the girl on the head. Clyde saw that the girl needed help, but decided to just watch Roberta die. The girl and the boat drowned. But soon they are found. Investigator Haight and Prosecutor Mason took on the case. They track Clyde, expose him and arrest him. Now the court will decide his fate.

His uncle hires the best lawyers, but even they did not help the hero. He is sent to Auburn prison where he spends the rest of his life there.

The plot is based on the 1906 murder of his girlfriend Grace Brown by Chester Gillette and the similar case of Carlisle Harris. After its release, the novel was a great success among readers. The novel's publisher, Horace Livewright, produced a theatrical version of the novel in 1926.

Plot

The action begins in the city of Kansas City. Clyde Griffiths is the son of street preachers who strictly raise their children in the religious faith. However, from a young age, Clyde dreams of breaking out of a world where only poverty and the bitterness of a dull existence reign. The young man does not understand how the rich are better than the poor and why he is forced to live in poverty, while others have access to wealth, comfort and luxury. Clyde's ambitious desires are fueled by the fact that his uncle, who lives in the Eastern United States, is the owner of a large factory for the production of collars. Having abandoned his studies and decided to devote himself entirely to finding a job, Clyde gets a job as a bellboy at a hotel, where new friends introduce him to alcohol and visiting prostitutes. In the same hotel, Clyde unwittingly becomes an outside observer of the life of rich guests, and his desire for a beautiful and rich life only grows from this.

Thanks to new friends, Clyde meets a young saleswoman, Hortense Briggs, and soon realizes that he is in love with her, but the calculating and cunning Hortense uses this relationship, considering it only as friendship, for her own selfish purposes. Soon, an unexpected turn in Clyde's life makes him forget about his quiet existence. During a trip with his delivery boy friends, the driver of the car in which Clyde was with his friends hits a child and kills him. Clyde is forced to flee Kansas City and hide from the police.

In Chicago, he meets with his uncle, Samuel Griffiths, a factory owner who has not been in touch with Clyde's family for a long time. The uncle offers his nephew a job in the decalating shop at the factory to familiarize himself with production. Clyde moves to the city of Lycurgus in New York, where his uncle lives. Soon at the factory, Clyde, as a relative, is transferred to the stamping room, where Clyde meets Roberta Alden, an employee of the enterprise. Things get tight between them love relationship. Despite the fact that Roberta, brought up in strict rules, refuses to enter into a relationship with Clyde, he persists and the girl, fearing to lose the attention and affection of the young man, gives in and becomes his mistress.

The case brings Clyde together with 18-year-old Sondra Finchley, the daughter of another local manufacturer who occupies a prominent position in society. Sondra introduces him to the circle of the local “golden youth”. Her passion grows into love, and Sondra is thinking about getting married, despite the difference in social status.

Unexpectedly, Roberta Alden announces her pregnancy, and Clyde tries to persuade her to have a clandestine abortion. However, the doctors she turns to refuse. Roberta extracts a promise from the indecisive Clyde to marry her. Meanwhile, Clyde is well received in the high society of Lycurgus, and Sondra strengthens her decision to tie the knot. She expects her father to give Clyde a place at the enterprise. Thus, her future husband will become a full member of high society.

From a newspaper article, Clyde learns that a tragedy occurred on one of the lakes in Massachusetts: a boat containing a man and a young girl capsized while the couple was riding on the lake; The girl's body was found, but the body of her companion could not be found. After reading an article in the newspaper, Clyde gets the idea that In a similar way he can get rid of Roberta. The young man tries to drive away the haunting thought of committing a crime, but in the end he realizes that killing the girl is the only way to overcome the obstacle that stands in his way to wealth, luxury and a happy marriage with Sondra. Clyde carefully thinks through the entire plan to commit the crime, after which Clyde invites Roberta for a boat ride on the deserted Big Bittern Lake. However, at the moment when Clyde must carry out his insidious plan, he falls into stupor and tetanus, unable to kill the girl. Roberta wants to sit next to Clyde, but when she gets up in the boat, it tilts and loses its balance. Clyde hits Roberta with the tripod of the camera he is holding, but subsequently he cannot accurately answer the question of whether he did it intentionally or not. When both Clyde and Roberta end up in the water, the young man does not rush to help the girl and she dies. Clyde reaches shore safely and hurries to leave the crime scene, disguising his death as an accident.

After the murder of Roberta, Clyde is in a hurry to get into the company of Sondra Finchley and her friends, so he goes to the lake, where a group of young people from high society are relaxing. At this time, the police discover correspondence between Roberta and Clyde and get on his trail. The killer is arrested in front of his new friends. Samuel Griffiths decides to help his nephew and hires experienced lawyers, but Clyde is unable to be acquitted. The jury sentences Clyde to death penalty, the appeal of the court decision does not bring results. During the investigation and trial Clyde does not receive any news from Sondra Finchley and realizes that he is left alone and not a single person in the world will ever believe in his innocence. However, Clyde himself cannot figure out until the very end whether he really killed Roberta.

One day in February, Clyde Griffiths is executed in the electric chair.

Film adaptations

The film company Paramount Pictures purchased the film rights from Dreiser for 100 thousand dollars and ordered the script from Sergei Eisenstein. However, the studio subsequently abandoned Eisenstein’s script due to the anti-Soviet campaign against the director launched in Hollywood. Head of the Hollywood Technical Director's Institute Frank Peace ( Frank Pease) regarded the signing of the contract as an opportunity to conduct communist propaganda in the United States. New scenario written by the American author S. Hoffenstein, the film was directed by Josef von Sternberg. After the film's release in 1931, Dreiser, who liked Eisenstein's original script, unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against Paramount. In his opinion, the film studio distorted the meaning of the novel.

In 1951, director

Year of publication of the book: 1925

Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy was published in November 1925. The plot of the work is partly based on real events and quickly gained popularity among readers. Several feature films were made based on the book. The most famous film based on Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy is the 1951 film A Place in the Sun. And the last film adaptation was the domestic series “The Life That Never Was,” which was released in 2008.

The novel "American Tragedy" summary

It was a warm summer evening in Kansas City. Some were rushing home from work, others were strolling, enjoying the tranquility of the city. One family turned the corner onto one of the central streets. At the head, of course, was the head of the family named Asa Griffiths. His wife walked confidently next to him, leading her seven-year-old son by the hand. Three more children trailed behind them - two girls, fifteen and nine years old, and a twelve-year-old boy. The last one was named Clyde. He absolutely did not like what his parents had arranged, and his face betrayed his great reluctance to be in this place now. Meanwhile, Mrs Griffiths reminded everyone what they had come for - the family's goal was to distribute as many religious leaflets as possible. IN Lately they were so passionate about serving God that they turned it into their work, which, alas, did not generate income. The Griffiths could often be seen distributing various leaflets on the streets of the city. They encouraged passers-by to attend church, thereby saving their sinful souls.

And only twelve-year-old Clyde felt great embarrassment from the whole idea. He didn’t admit it to anyone, but he often felt ashamed of what his parents were doing - at school and in the yard, boys often teased young Griffiths. Even today, some passers-by noticed that the boy was experiencing great discomfort from such a situation. He did not want to take part in religious events - the boy dreamed of finding his life’s work, getting out into the world and making money. more money. From the early age Clyde was quick-witted and inquisitive. But he fundamentally did not like the “calling” of his parents. The only thing he thought was positive about his family tree was his wealthy Uncle Samuel, who lived in the East of the state.

At the age of fifteen, Clyde decided to find a job. Even then he understood that in life he needed to rely solely on himself. However, the young man did not want to engage in simple physical labor. He considered it beneath his dignity. All Clyde has been doing all this time is just talking about how unlucky he was to be born into a poor family and how difficult it will now be for him to achieve something in life.

If we download Dreiser’s novel “An American Tragedy,” we learn that one day, upon returning home, the Griffiths family noticed that Esther, Clyde’s older sister, did not show up for dinner. Several hours passed before Asa went out in search of his daughter. Which, however, turned out to be inconclusive. A few hours later, the Griffiths managed to find a note from Esther. It became clear from it that the girl ran away from her father’s house with some actor. The family decided to hide this news from everyone they knew and continue to live as if nothing had happened. But Clyde, inspired by his sister’s courageous act, decided to also start changing his life. He got a job at a pharmacy, where he helped a soda seller, and after some time became a delivery boy at one of the local hotels. The salary there was small, but the young man could earn good money, receiving generous tips.

Clyde was proud of himself. Thanks to his work, he was not only able to buy himself good new clothes, but also contributed to the general family budget. In addition, he also managed to save a certain amount for the future. His dreams became more and more bold, every day the young man made new acquaintances with interesting people and it seemed that now the whole world was open to him. Already in the first days of work, Clyde knew all the gossip about the guests - rich men and their attractive companions. The hotel staff treated the young man friendly, and he finally felt in his place. Colleagues often got together and had parties with loud music and alcohol. For some time, Clyde resisted this lifestyle, but when his friends invited him to dinner at Frissell's, he decided to agree. The young man was afraid of how his parents might react to him returning home late, but he didn’t want to leave early and upset the company. It was that evening that Clyde tried alcohol for the first time and spent the night with a girl.

Later he met a beautiful person named Greta. She interested the main character with her perkiness and cheerful disposition from the first minutes of communication. But then Greta’s friend Hortensia suddenly intervened in the conversation. She wanted to take the young man away from her friend at all costs, and by the end of the evening she succeeded. Clyde and Hortense agreed to meet the next day. The young man took his chosen one to a luxurious expensive restaurant, and then they went to the theater. All this time, the young man was proud that he was able to organize such a date. And with every second he became more and more interested in Hortense, while the girl seemed to have absolutely no interest in him. To gain her favor, Griffiths gave the girl everything she wanted: jewelry, perfume, beautiful expensive clothes. But this did not touch the heart of young Hortense.

One day, Clyde’s mother asked him to help her raise one hundred dollars. The young man was very surprised by such a request, because he knew that this was a lot of money for his family. He tried to find out why she needed such a sum, but Mrs. Griffiths did not want to answer. Having sold some jewelry to a pawnshop and borrowed some money from friends, the family managed to collect the required amount. Clyde was very interested in what his mother needed money for. One day he saw her entering one of the houses to look at a room for rent. In the evening, Clyde tries to find out who Mrs. Griffiths wants to rent a place to, but the woman still won’t admit it. Having followed his mother, the young man finds out that his sister Esther has settled in that house. The man with whom she ran away from home left her when he learned that the girl was pregnant. And her parents’ religiosity did not allow them to let her back into their home. Therefore, she is forced to hide in rented apartments, in which her mother helped her find.

Further in the novel “An American Tragedy” by Theodore Dreiser we can read how Clyde went for a ride in a car with his new friends. After a stormy evening and large quantity After drinking alcohol, young people understand that they need to get to the hotel as soon as possible. But then the weather changes suddenly, heavy snow begins to fall, and it’s impossible to drive faster. In a desperate attempt to get his friends to work on time, a driver named Sparser loses control and kills a little girl. Clyde and several other people manage to escape before the police arrive. Fearing punishment, young Griffiths decides to completely change his place of residence and job and leaves Kansas City.

No more than three years pass, during which Clyde works under an assumed name and lives a rather unremarkable life. One day he accidentally notices his old friend Reterer. He was also in that car several years ago and, like Clyde, fled the scene of the crime. Reterer says he can get his friend a job in a position he is familiar with - he will have to work as a delivery boy in one of the clubs. There, one evening, Clyde meets his distant relative - that same rich uncle who has his own factory. As in the book, this meeting radically changes the life of the main character. Samuel shows sincere kindness to his nephew and says that he can find him a place in his business. And although Clyde didn't want to give up his new job, he understood that close communication with his uncle would give him many connections with influential people.

The only one who was not happy about this idea was Samuel's son. From the very beginning, Gilbert saw in his cousin what his father did not want to notice - the desire to get rich by any means. Having no desire to contradict his father, he arranges Clyde for one of the most heavy work, which also does not bring in much income. However, young Griffiths grabs every opportunity. He does his job so flawlessly that within a couple of months Samuel is considering promoting him.

Gradually, from the novel “An American Tragedy” by Theodore Dreiser, it becomes known that Clyde begins to spend time in his uncle’s social circle. He is often invited to dinner parties, where he is introduced to other fairly wealthy relatives and friends. On one of these evenings, a young man meets the charming Sondra, who, by the way, is also very rich. The girl became interested in Clyde, but their communication did not last long.

Time passes and Gilbert, succumbing to his father’s persuasion, finds Griffiths a more prestigious job. He is transferred from a small basement room to an office. There he met a young and beautiful girl named Roberta. Their communication does not go beyond friendship for a long time, since any love affairs between employees are immediately punished by dismissal. But young people are drawn to each other. Clyde realizes that Roberta does not belong to the circle of people with whom he would like to communicate - she does not have huge savings or rich relatives. While Sondra, who belongs to the representatives of the “golden youth,” also shows sympathy for the young man.

It's not easy for Clyde, but he understands that he must make a final decision. The desire to spend time with wealthy people wins, and the young man chooses to connect his life with Sondra. But suddenly Roberta admits that she is pregnant with his child. Griffiths is at a loss. He doesn’t know what to do in this situation and doesn’t understand what to answer Roberta. Then he decides to offer the girl to get rid of the unborn child. Together they visit various doctors, whose actions, however, do not bring results.

Further in Dreiser’s work “American Tragedy” we can read that Clyde realizes that the only way out From the current situation is the wedding. But he himself is categorically against such an outcome. How main character In the novel, he understands that now either love or a career is at stake. Roberta is in despair. Love for the young man pushes her to blackmail - she tells Clyde that she will tell old man Samuel everything that happened if the wedding does not take place. Then Griffiths asks the girl to give him two weeks to find a doctor who will agree to perform an abortion. If this idea fails, he promises Roberta that he will marry her and help take care of the child.

The girl goes to her parents, and Clyde walks around the city in confusion, hoping to find a way out. Then a newspaper article catches his eye. It says that last weekend a terrible event happened - a boat capsized. There were two people in it - a man and a woman. A few days later, the woman was found lifeless at the bottom of the river, but her companion could not be found. A terrible and insidious plan is brewing in Clyde's head.

He invites Roberta to go with him to the lake. From the very beginning, the girl notices Clyde’s strange behavior, but his words that after the walk they will finally be able to get married reassure her. In a boat in the middle of the lake, a young man stuns Roberta with a blow and throws her into the water. He does not react in any way to all her cries for salvation. In the end, the girl stops resisting the elements and goes to the bottom.

However, not everything was so smooth in this idea. Local police quickly discovered Roberta was missing, tracked her location and found her body. And although the search for the killer took a little longer, investigators still managed to find Clyde. The young man already had many excuses in his arsenal that could serve as an alibi, but his guilt can be proven. Samuel is horrified. He didn't expect his nephew to be capable of something like this. Wanting to help the young man with all his might, he hires famous lawyers. After prolonged court hearings Griffiths is sentenced to death by electric chair. His parents are trying to the last to help, but their connections and funds are not enough for this.

His workmates quickly accept Clyde into their company, and he plunges headlong into a fun new existence. He meets a pretty saleswoman, Hortense Briggs, who, however, is prudent beyond her years and is not going to show favor to anyone solely for her beautiful eyes. She really wants a fashionable jacket that costs one hundred and fifteen dollars, and Clyde finds it difficult to resist her desire.

Samuel's son Gilbert, without much joy, accepts his cousin and, making sure that he does not have any useful knowledge and skills, assigns him to a rather difficult and low-paying job in a decaling workshop located in the basement. Clyde rents a room in a cheap boarding house and starts, as they say, from scratch, hoping, however, to succeed sooner or later.

Samuel Griffiths, of course, is shocked by what happened, however, he hires good lawyers. They fight with all their might, but Mason knows his stuff. A long and tense trial ends with a death sentence. Wealthy relatives stop helping Clyde, and only his mother tries to do something for him.