An American Tragedy · Chapter
IV explained
Clyde Griffiths, now sixteen, becomes increasingly determined to improve his lot.
What happens
Clyde Griffiths, now sixteen, becomes increasingly determined to improve his lot. He works odd jobs, eventually securing a position as a soda fountain assistant. Despite his parents' disapproval of worldly entertainments, he secretly attends theaters. When his family plans to move to Denver, Clyde resists, seeking independence. He quits his job and, on a tip, applies for a bellhop position at the luxurious Green-Davidson Hotel, where he is awed by the opulence.
Themes in this chapter
Social Class and Ambition
Clyde's desire to escape his family's poverty and religious mission drives him to seek work at the luxurious Green-Davidson Hotel, symbolizing his ambition to climb the social ladder.
The American Dream
Clyde believes that through hard work and opportunity—like the bellhop job—he can achieve wealth and status, reflecting the aspirational myth of self-made success.
Hypocrisy of Religion and Morality
Clyde's parents condemn theater and movies as sinful, yet Clyde secretly attends them with his own money, highlighting the tension between religious strictures and worldly desires.
Characters to notice
- Clyde Griffiths
Clyde, now sixteen, is determined to escape his family's poverty and religious constraints. He works as a soda fountain assistant and secretly enjoys theater. He resists moving to Denver and seeks a better job at the Green-Davidson Hotel.
- Asa Griffiths
Clyde's father, a street preacher, opposes worldly amusements like theater and movies, which Clyde secretly attends.
- Elvira Griffiths
Clyde's mother, who consults with him about his job at the drug store and worries about his moral welfare, especially after Esta's disappearance.
- Esta Griffiths
Clyde's sister, who has run away; her fate makes his parents anxious about Clyde's independence.
- Thomas Ratterer
A young bellhop at the Green-Davidson Hotel, uniformed in maroon with brass buttons, whom Clyde sees at the bell stand.
Key passages
“The effect of this particular conclusion was to cause Clyde to think harder than ever about himself. And the principal result of his thinking was that he must do something for himself and soon.”
This realization made Clyde reflect more deeply on his situation, leading him to conclude that he needed to take immediate action to improve his life.
Clyde's growing self-awareness and determination to escape his circumstances.
“He felt himself rich and, in the face of the opposition of his parents, who were opposed to the theater and motion pictures also, as being not only worldly, but sinful, he could occasionally go to one or another of those—in the gallery—a form of diversion which he had to conceal from his parents.”
Despite his parents' belief that theaters and movies were sinful, Clyde felt wealthy enough with his earnings to secretly attend them, sitting in the gallery.
Clyde's rebellion against his parents' religious values and his desire for worldly entertainment.
“Nevertheless when his parents began to talk of moving to Denver, and suggested that he might secure work out there, never assuming for a moment that he would not want to go, he began to throw out hints to the effect that it might he better if he did not.”
When his parents planned a move to Denver and assumed he would join them, Clyde hinted that he preferred to stay in Kansas City.
Clyde's growing independence and reluctance to follow his family's path.
“Once through it, he beheld a lobby, the like of which, for all his years but because of the timorous poverty that had restrained him from exploring such a world, was more arresting, quite, than anything he had seen before.”
Entering the hotel lobby, Clyde was stunned by its lavishness, a world he had never explored due to his family's poverty.
Clyde's awe at the opulence of the Green-Davidson Hotel, contrasting with his humble background.
