his heredity and his environment, a creature caught in a web of causation and chance" (Bucco 7). Despite their occasional successes, all characters in An American Tragedy are failures; they live fragile, futile lives, and never become successful. For example, Sondra is the American Dream, but wealth, good looks, and a high social status do not guarantee her success or happiness -- her lover is electrocuted, and she is forced to move away. Hortense, Roberta, Ratter, and Rita are doomed from birth -- their poverty will prevent their success. Clyde, however, is the peak of naturalism. He spends a lifetime searching for happiness. On occasion, he feels whole, but he quickly feels empty again. His stupidity and weak morals, however, guarantee his failure. At the end of An American Tragedy, Clyde discovers that life would have been better had he followed his parents' moral and religious guidelines. However, he realizes that religion will not save his earthly life, nor will his death change the outcome of anyone else's miserable life; people ignore Clyde's failure and suffering, and continue chasing the American Dream. Destiny and social status, he reasons, will bar nearly everyone from living the Dream. An American Tragedy is a classic -- its moral is timeless....
