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Otherwise, we are able to realize that tragedy of all inpiduals or the tragedy of the whole society must have been caused by both internal and external forces. Clyde is no exception. So this paper analyzes the tragic fate of Clyde from both the two sides, arousing people to be thought–provoking.
Ⅱ. The Internal Causes of Clyde’s Tragic Fate
This chapter mainly deals with the internal causes resulting in Clyde’s tragic fate. The complexity and contradictions of Clyde’s inner world was thoroughly expressed. Clyde’s tragedy largely resulted from his character flaws and his reckless desire for sex. Sensitivity、vanity、selfishness and weakness runs through all Clyde’s tragedy. In a word, he has strong desire but weak intelligence.
2.1 Clyde’s Character Flaws.
Clyde was born in a poor missionary family in Kansas. He had to sing hymn of praise in American streets with his father every day to earn their breed from hand to mouth, and he was often ridiculed by others. Other kids often called “Here comes the old Praise-the-Lord Griffiths.”(Theodore Dreiser 4) All of this gradually shaped his character of self–abasement and vanity. Owing to his vanity, Clyde couldn’t accept the fact that he was living in so poor a family with low social status. He always dreamed that he could have on the decent clothes, drove luxurious automobile and took beautiful girls to go for a drive. Because of his vanity, he admired and yearned for the way the rich lived and looked forward to becoming a member among them. Having realized that only with money could he satisfied his own vanity, he fled from the poor and boring family. When he worked in the famous Green–Davidson Hotel where money was uppermost, his value increasingly distorted. His vanity expanded. Equally, because of his vanity, he dared to be looked down upon by his colleague, so he joined in the bellboys’ group to indulge themselves in the vulgar entertainment. In order to support the material enjoyment which could bring him great sense of superiority, he became more and more selfish and indifferent. Clyde hold back the actual salary he earned from his mother, though he clearly knew that his mother was struggling to make a living. Let alone give a hand to his sister who was deserted and was even pregnant. While, he preferred to spend a substantial amount of money buying Hortense a coat so as to show the girl that he was rich enough to support her demand. Obviously, his vanity contributed to his degeneration of human nature. He had lost the basic conscience. It was right his vanity that buried the evil consequence for his tragic fate.
Besides, Clyde had strong desire but week intelligence. Character of this kind promoted his tragic fate. Clyde’s farther had a blind attitude towards life and he was a man of impractical ideas. He had neither courage nor insight , naturally, he didn’t realize the importance of practical knowledge and vocational training at all. What he concerned most was preaching in the streets. As a result, Clyde had acquired little education, and he was simple–minded, which was likely to become an obstacle for him to find a decent jib. But Clyde had a character for fame and bit off more than he could chew. His weak intelligence contradicted with his strong desire: He was lack of practical knowledge and skills but yearned for a big fortune without any efforts. His humble birth and vanity couldn’t make him face up to himself objectively. So Clyde could only lived in a mixture of poverty、vanity、suffering and self–deception. He was so vain that he didn’t want to accept the humble work. He looked into the papers and found that mostly skilled help was wanted, or boys to learn trade. Although he took them, he was not interested in them. Because he thought he should be well above the type of labor that was purely manual. He merely dreamed the impractical dreams and lost himself gradually.