AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY

A novel by Theodore Dreiser, published in 1925. It is based on the Chester Gillette-Grace Brown murder case of 1906. Anxious to escape his family’s dreary life, Clyde Griffiths gets a job in a factory belonging to his wealthy uncle, Samuel Griffiths. He falls in love with a very rich girl, Sondra Finchley, but also seduces Roberta, a young factory worker. When she becomes pregnant and demands that he marry her, Clyde takes her to a lake resort and murders her. The rest of the novel traces the investigation of the case, describing Clyde’s indictment, trial, conviction and execution in relentless detail.