I read An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser.
Clyde Griffiths achieves independence from his street preaching parents when he secures a position at a hotel in Kansas City. There, his co-workers introduce him to a life of freedom and debauchery. He is involved in a fatal hit and run accident and flees to Chicago.
Clyde secures a job at another hotel and his rich uncle arrives as a guest. He introduces himself and asks for a job at his uncle's collar factory in Lycurgus, New York. His uncle has reservations, but because of a debt he feels he owes his brother, relents. Clyde is given an entry-level, labor-intensive position but intends to work his way up. His Lycurgus relatives want little to do with him socially though he is promoted to the head of a stamping department to protect their stature within the company. It is clear that Clyde should not socialize with the girls working for him but he desires the newly hired Roberta Alden. He pursues her and they begin a clandestine relationship.
A local girl named Sondra Finchley invites Clyde to social events to irritate his relatives. He is introduced to other socialites, invited to more parties and his spot in the Lycurgus social scene is cemented.
Sondra plans a trip to Twelfth Lake and Clyde desperately wants to go but he must stall Roberta because she is pregnant and demands he marry her immediately.
Sondra loves him and tells him that once she turns eighteen, later in the year, she will marry him. Clyde is elated and determined to escape his situation with Roberta. He develops a plan to lure her to Big Bittern Lake and fake a double drowning. Then, he will hike to Twelfth Lake and pretend he has just arrived. Clyde rents a boat and rows to a remote location but cannot summon the courage to drown Roberta. She sees the conflicted look on his face and moves toward him. Clyde, startled from his reverie, strikes her in the face. He rises to aid her but his movement overturns the boat. He recognizes his plan has come to fruition and swims toward the shore while Roberta drowns.
Roberta's body is found quickly and the bruises on her face indicate foul play. A letter addressed to her mother announcing her plan to marry Clyde is found in her pocket. The district attorney secures a warrant to search Clyde's home and finds scores of letters from Roberta and Sondra. The investigators arrive at Twelfth Lake a few days after the drowning and arrest Clyde.
At trial, the prosecution presents testimony which, combined with the letters found in his apartment, piece together Clyde and Roberta's relationship from beginning to end.
Clyde takes the stand as the only eye witness to Roberta Alden's death and testifies that he took her to the lake to tell her about his love for Sondra and beg her to release him from his responsibility. He struck her accidentally and the boat capsized. He saved himself and notified no one of the accident because he is a coward.
Clyde is convicted and sentenced to death. The appellate court denies retrial and the governor refuses to remit his punishment. He finds peace with his Creator before he is executed.
Clyde's nomadic parents, living in Denver now, continue to preach and sing hymns on the streets.
Dreiser conveys pathos for Clyde Griffiths despite his actions. He wishes to improve his position because he feels inferior to those who are, by birth, wealthier and better connected. His path toward the American dream is blocked by his untimely entanglement with Roberta and diverts toward tragedy.
