Tarkington, Booth (1921). Alice Adams. 1922 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
Left with the thought of the fluidity of the American middle class. People work hard to a certain point, then it can come crashing down. The great opportunities presented by our economy sometimes can be cruel because people are able to prop themselves up artificially. Today we do this with credit and mortgages and all sorts of devices, some of which was different in 1920, but the truth remains in this book because the characters try to pretend to be what they are not (in Alice’s case) or they place social and financial gain above everything else (as in the ase of Alice’s mother), and the book shows that these tactics will not work when they go against the truer desires of life (such as Alice’s father).
The work sets up an interesting paradox: with our culture steeped in romanticism, we don’t believe in doing things against the true “spirit” of our desires, and yet in America so many of us go about reciting that we must sacrifice something to meet our goals and to look good in the eyes of others. The characters in this novel do not want to make that choice, they want both things simultaneously. The culture of the novel, which echoes American culture then and now, is that we are entitled to both.
The books ends on a “realistic” note: mother and daughter find their situation reduced, reality sets in. Alice seems to have learned to accept who she is; this is the most powerful part of the story for me, having been in that kind of revelation several times (and still not sure that I have really accepted myself and all the realities of my life). I relate to these characters because something in me continues ti endure with the American fantasy that I can achieve both the freedom of American ideals and the success in materialism/business/commerce/consumerism. Look at from the point of view of Alice Adams, Perhaps I am foolish and doomed to some miserable fate. But some sort of optimism from…somewhere.. nonetheless permeates the book and my life. Maybe it is just refusal to look at reality that defies the impending gloom and doom. Do the Alices or the Brians ever success in such a quest?
