An American Tragedy · Chapter
I explained
The novel opens with a summer evening street scene in a mid-sized American city, where the Griffiths family—Asa, Elvira, and their four children—conduct an open-air religious service.
What happens
The novel opens with a summer evening street scene in a mid-sized American city, where the Griffiths family—Asa, Elvira, and their four children—conduct an open-air religious service. The father preaches and the mother leads hymns while the eldest daughter plays a small organ. Clyde, the twelve-year-old eldest son, feels deeply embarrassed and resentful at being forced to participate, longing for a more normal, prosperous life. The family then returns to their mission, the 'Door of Hope.'
Themes in this chapter
Social Class and Ambition
Clyde's shame and resentment at his family's lowly street preaching contrast with his longing for the comfortable, prosperous life he sees in passing cars and pedestrians.
Hypocrisy of Religion and Morality
The parents' fervent religious display is undercut by the children's visible discomfort and the audience's skeptical or pitying reactions.
Characters to notice
- Clyde Griffiths
The twelve-year-old eldest son, deeply embarrassed by the street preaching and determined to rebel against it.
- Asa Griffiths
The father, a short, stout, unimportant-looking man who carries the organ and preaches with weak conviction.
- Elvira Griffiths
The mother, a solid, vigorous woman with a hard, fighting faith who leads the hymns and supports the mission.
- Esta Griffiths
The fifteen-year-old eldest daughter who plays the organ and sings, enjoying the attention.
Key passages
“Clyde, the eldest boy, and the two younger children merely gazed at the ground, or occasionally at their father, with a feeling that possibly it was all true and important, yet somehow not as significant or inviting as some of the other things which life held.”
Clyde and his younger siblings looked down or at their father, sensing the preaching might be true but feeling it was far less appealing than the other opportunities life seemed to offer.
Highlights Clyde's early discontent and the family's religious routine.
“During all this time Clyde was saying to himself that he did not wish to do this any more, that he and his parents looked foolish and less than normal—'cheap' was the word he would have used if he could have brought himself to express his full measure of resentment at being compelled to participate in this way—and that he would not do it any more if he could help.”
Clyde silently resolved to stop taking part, feeling that the family appeared foolish and cheap, and he was determined to escape this humiliating duty.
Reveals Clyde's growing shame and desire for a different life.