An American Tragedy · Chapter
XXXVI explained
Clyde, desperate to find a doctor for Roberta, approaches Orrin Short, a haberdasher, under the pretense of helping a young workingman.
What happens
Clyde, desperate to find a doctor for Roberta, approaches Orrin Short, a haberdasher, under the pretense of helping a young workingman. After nervous hesitation, he asks for a doctor's name, and Short provides one, though he grows suspicious of Clyde's motives.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy of Religion and Morality
Clyde's deception and the secretive search for an abortionist highlight the gap between public morality and private actions.
Social Class and Ambition
Clyde's reliance on Short, a lower-status acquaintance, and his fear of exposure among the elite underscore class dynamics.
Characters to notice
- Clyde Griffiths
Nervously seeks help from Orrin Short to find a doctor for Roberta, fabricating a story about a workingman.
- Roberta Alden
Desperate and pregnant, waiting for Clyde to find a doctor.
- Orrin Short
Provides Clyde with a doctor's name but becomes suspicious of his true intentions.
Key passages
“Clyde now argued with himself, that he would know of at least one—or should. But in order to divert suspicion from himself he was going to add that of course he probably could get news of someone in his own set, only, the situation being so unusual (any reference to any such thing in his own world being likely to set his own group talking), he preferred to ask someone like Short, who as a favor would keep it quiet.”
Clyde reasoned that Short must know a doctor, but to avoid suspicion, he planned to claim he was asking for a factory worker, not himself.
Clyde's internal justification for approaching Short.
“Short, sensing his relief, was inclined to wonder whether there was a workingman, or whether it was not Clyde himself who was in this scrape.”
Short suspected Clyde might be the one in trouble, not a factory worker.
Short's growing suspicion of Clyde's story.