American Tragedy, An

American Tragedy, An, novel by Dreiser, published in 1925 and dramatized by Patrick Kearney in 1926. The plot is based on an actual New York murder case.

Clyde Griffiths, son of street evangelists in Kansas City, desires to escape his family's drab life and to win wealth and social position. Becoming a bellboy in a hotel, he plunges into the worldly society of his fellow employees, but this life ends as the result of an automobile accident for which he is legally culpable. Providentially he meets his wealthy relative Samuel Griffiths, who is attracted by the youth's engaging manner and employs him in his collar factory in New York state. Here Clyde enters into a liaison with Roberta Alden, a working girl, and almost simultaneously falls in love with Sondra Finchley, who seems to him to represent the dazzling “four hundred” of the small town. Roberta discloses that she is pregnant and demands that Clyde provide for her. In a frenzy he plans to murder her, and takes her to a deserted lake resort. They row out on the lake, where, though Clyde lacks the courage to complete his plan, the boat is overturned, possibly by accident. He swims away leaving Roberta to drown. After a lengthy trial, he is condemned to death.