On Decline Of Faith In Dreiser’s American Tragedy

This thesis attempts to analyze the decline of faith in Dreiser’s An American Tragedy by focusing on the life of Clyde, the cultural background of Dreiser’s time, and the existing beliefs reflected in this novel. It aims to ponder such questions as why and how the decline of faith not only resulted in Clyde’s tragedy but also served as an underlying force that eroded the American society at large.Apart from introduction and conclusion, this thesis consists of three chapters, all based on Clyde’s life experiences:his desire of escaping from his family before stepping into society; his corruption after stepping into society; and his arrest and execution.The Introduction mainly includes previous studies at home and abroad that have direct or indirect relations with the theme of the present paper. It also includes the definition of the word "faith" and the understanding about "faith" in the novel, the significance of the theme of faith in the novel, and appropriate methods to investigate into that very theme in An American Tragedy.Chapter One discusses the decline of faith represented by Clyde’s family and its effect on him before Clyde stepped into society. Religious faith for Clyde’s seemingly devout parents had degenerated into a means of subsistence and lost its original holiness nature; religious belief for Clyde’s sister Esta who was brought up in a circumstance full of heavy religious atmosphere was just a concept. She did not understand its true meaning and eloped with a man, eventually suffered his desertion and fell into a miserable condition; religious faith for the passersby who watched the mission work that Clyde’s family did was out of date. Apparently, the traditional religion had lost its original vitality. And Clyde in this period had not his own faith yet. To Clyde, while his family environment was boring and his parents’ impractical sermon work was useless, the outside world was more wonderful and more attractive.Chapter Two chiefly focuses on the decline of faith of the whole society and its influence upon Clyde after he went into society. Due to the traditional religious faith having lost its status and vital force, while America in the end of the19th century and the early20th century was in a transitional period from a producing-oriented society to a consuming-oriented one, and new belief had not been established yet, thus people’s material desires greatly inflated and their pursuit of pleasure prevailed under the impact of a consumer culture, and people in that era regarded pursuing money and wealth as their biggest dreams. Many moral excellences such as honesty, thrifty and self-control were replaced by money worship, consumerism and hedonism. In such a social context, Clyde also embarked on the road of money worship and walked into the abyss of depravity and crime.Chapter Three primarily expounds the decline of faith reflected in the novel during the period from Clyde’s imprisonment in jail to his execution. Religious faith in the eyes of the two lawyers who defended for Clyde was only a tool which could be used as a means to win public sympathy in order to achieve their own aims; religious belief for those organized and legitimate religious organizations was hypocritical. They refused to provide help for Clyde’s mother when she pleaded them for her son, because Clyde’s mother was a street preacher and the mission she and her husband run was unauthorized and hence it was nondescript, which was obviously contrary to the Christian doctrine of kindness and love; religious faith for Clyde in his imprisonment was still too shadowy, although he tried to accept the minister’s persuasion and began to confess his sin, when he would be carried out the electrocution, he still suspected whether there really existed a God that might be called master of the entire world. Obviously, religious faith had not been set up in Clyde’s heart.The Conclusion summarizes the main content of the present paper and points out that the decline of faith was not only the real reason for Clyde’s personal tragedy but also was the problem of the whole America at that time. A man without belief is a man whose fate eventually would be tragic. Likewise, a country without faith is one whose destiny is doomed to be a tragedy in the end. Therefore, only by rebuilding the tower of belief could people avoid tragedies in their next generation represented by a little boy named Russel, Clyde’s nephew as well as the son of Esta.