An American Tragedy: Level 3 - Lower-Intermediate

On one level 'An American Tragedy' is the story of the corruption and destruction of one man, Clyde Griffiths, who forfeits his life in desperaste pursuit of success. On a deeper, more profound level, however, the novels represents a massive portrayal of the society whose values both shape Clyde's tawdy ambitions and seal his fate. Clyde Griffiths is a young man, from the poor branch of his family but with ambitions of making the big-time. A dramatic story, it was based on a real life murder trial of the 1920s, and the success of Dreiser's novel saw it made into a film in the 1950s -- "A Place in the Sun", which starred Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and Elizabeth Taylor.