毕 业 设 计 论文 题 目： An Analysis of Clyde in An American Tragedy Acknowledgements There are a few people I wish to thank for the help and support they gave me while working on this study. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor Chen Ping, for her precious help and for her encouragement throughout the period I was writing this thesis.My next thanks go to all of the tutors of the course who offered me their help whenever I need it.Last but not least, a great “thank you” to my friends for their inspiration and emotional support without which I would not be able to complete my studies and write this paper.摘 要西奥多德莱塞, 毫无疑问是美国文学历史上最重要的作家之一。美国悲剧也被公认是他的代表作。尽管这是一部内容简单的长篇巨作,它却给德莱塞带来了颇丰的收入和很高的声誉。德莱塞在这部小说中选取了一个美国人所熟知的主题：一个年轻人对美国梦的追随。小说的主人公克莱德从一个幼稚单纯的少年堕落为虚荣、自私、无耻、狠心的杀人犯。克莱德的悲剧在那个时代的美国年轻人身上具有代表性。德莱塞选择这个主题不仅想告诫读者美国梦是一个幻想而且也暗示了德莱塞在个人追求过程中的失败。本文旨在探讨德莱塞性格变化及悲剧的原因。关 键 词：美国悲剧；克莱德；性格变化；原因ABSTRACTTheodore Dreiser is unquestionably one of the most important American writers in American literary history. An American Tragedy is generally regarded as Theodore Dresers masterpiece. Though it is a long novel with a simple plot, it attracted many readers and critics and brought Dreiser fame and commercial success with its publication.Theodore Dreiser chose a familiar American theme in this novel: A young inexperienced beginners pursuit of American Dream. Clyde degrades gradualy from a naive innocent boy to a sly, flattery, immoral, shameless, cruel and inhumane murderer. Clydes tragedy is a representative of American youth at that time. Dreiser chose this theme not simply to caution the readers that the American Dream was only an illusion but to suggest his failure in self-seeking. This essay attempts to analyze the reasons of Clydes tragedy.Key words: An American Tragedy; Clyde; character changes; reasonsContentsAcknowledgementsiAbstract in ChineseiiAbstract in Englishiii1. Introduction12. Character changes of Clyde22.1 Naivety and weakness of young Clyde22.2 Selfishness, hedonism of grown-up Clyde32.2.1 Selfishness of grown-up Clyde32.2.2 Hedonism of grown-up Clyde43.The reasons of Clydes character changes53.1 Personal reasons of Clydes character changes63.2 Family reasons of Clydes character changes73.3 Social reasons of Clydes character changes83.3.1 The cultural reasons of Clydes character changes83.3.2 The economic reasons of Clydes character changes93.3.3 The potical reasons of Clydes character changes104.Conclusion10Bibliography12 1 1. Introduction Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) was born at Terre Haute, Indianan, of a large, poor, religious, immigrant family. Dreiser spent his childhood in bitter poverty; lacking education, skill, and status. During 1886 and 1887, Dreiser went to an Indiana high school and then went to seek jobs instead of learning. Thanks to one of his high school teachers who sent him to Indiana University, but he left the university a few months later because the courses in the school he acquired did not relate to the life of ordinary people and he found out that there was nothing useful for him to make life. After that, Dreiser got the education he benefited all his lifetime from his directly personal experience. Finally, he made a living as a journalist in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, New York city. And there, Dreiser wrote many kinds of literary works, only writing novels showed his literary talent, as a novelist, he made a great contribution to American literary history. An American Tragedy was written in 1925, and soon it became a best seller and was regarded as a masterpiece of Theodore Dreiser by public. The book is about all the life of the hero, Clyde, the son of poor family, who wants to escape from the despair of poverty and be a member of upper class, finally he turns into a murder because of killing his own girl friend. At his 15, he leaves home and tries to find a good job to improve the current living condition. However he learns to live a hedonic life in the town and does not want to improve life by working. So he would like to find an easy way of getting rich, at the same time he knew Sondra Finchleys, a daughter of a rich family. Due to his thoughts, Clyde intends to marry Sondra, but his girl friend, Roberta from a poor family, is pregnant. Finally, Clydes desire of being rich defeats his conscience, he kills Roberta, as a result, he is found out to have connections with her death. So that he is arrested and finally sentenced to death. The whole book is based on a real affair, and in this paper I make an analysis of Clyde, it