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"The Financier", an artistic analysis of the novel by Theodore Dreiser
The first novel in the series "The Trilogy of Desire" was published in 1912.
In it, Dreiser told about the initial, Philadelphia period of the life of a successful financier Frank Algernon Cowperwood and related business and moral problems.
The prototype of the main character was a famous American millionaire – Charles Tyzon Yerkes, who gave the "Financier" an external storyline: the beginning of business activity at the age of seventeen, the first job in a grain commission office/the position of an accountant in the firm "Henry Waterman and K.", the opening of a brokerage firm/accounting and bill business, work on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, cooperation with the city treasurer Joseph Merzer/in the novel – George Stener, bankruptcy as a result of the Great the Chicago fire, a conviction for theft, early release in seven months/in the novel – in thirteen, the acquisition of a new fortune in ten years/in the novel – in six months.
The artistic idea of the work is connected with the image of a new type of person for America – an honest, successful businessman, guided by the motto "My desires are first of all".
Frank Cowperwood is not a positive hero, but also not a villain.
Dreiser defines him as a "rational egoist", literary critics as a person with "zero morality".
The main character of the novel is distinguished by a sequence of judgments and actions both in business and in love.
In business, he is guided by reason, in relationships with women – by feeling.
The transition of love into a documentary category (divorce from Lililan and wedding with Eileen) it is automatically transferred by Cowperwood to the rational area and is solved by a simple logical conclusion expressed to his wife: "I no longer love you and I do not want to continue a relationship that does not satisfy me."
From the point of view of a person of the XXI century, such a position looks direct and honest.
At the beginning of the XX century, it was impossible due to the social moral principles developed over decades, which put the family above everything.
Frank, who understands that "life cannot be squeezed into any framework," refuses to obey the norm that is alien to him.
Eileen, who is in love with him, for whom "generally accepted religious views and concepts" have never been a deterrent, "gives herself up to the feeling and feeling of inner rightness in a relationship where" a man and a woman are suitable for each other "without any special emotional experiences.
Unlike the" hypocritical guardian of public morals " Lillian, who is afraid to reveal herself even alone with her husband, the brave and determined Eileen Butler immediately attracts Frank's attention with her vivacity and cheerfulness.
An impatient and vain girl in any environment, whether it is a family or a secular society, invariably becomes the center of everyone's attention and attraction.
She is the best that the world of women has to offer Cowperwood, and he is drawn to her, feeling a similar inner strength and character in Eileen.
Independent, bold, fervent, sly, suspicious, purposeful, calm, far – sighted, cautious, accurate this is the set of qualities that Dreiser gives his hero.
It is thanks to them that Frank Cowperwood becomes who he is - a born financier, an intelligent, observant person who knows how to draw the right conclusions.
Even as a child, reflecting on the tragedy unfolding in the market aquarium, where a lobster tears off pieces of the body from a live cuttlefish day after day and eventually eats it, Frank comes to the conclusion that "all living things exist at the expense of one another."
At the age of thirteen, Cowperwood realizes that he is ready to fight for his place in the sun, and declares to his family: "I donot want to be a boy.
I want to work."
Having started his financial activity at seventeen, by the age of thirty four, Frank has grown to the level of a large stockbroker and the owner of a controlling stake in one of the profitable horse drawn railway lines.
A young financier is ruined by an unforeseen accident – a catastrophic fire in Chicago, which caused a panic on the stock exchange, and his own carelessness in cashing a check against the background of the upcoming bankruptcy.
An intimate relationship with the daughter of one of the three prominent political figures in Philadelphia completes a chain of tragic accidents.
Frank fails, goes to prison, but does not lose either Eileen or his unique strength of spirit, which allowed him to overcome all the hardships of solitary confinement and earn a million dollars six months after his release.
The straightforward, moderately cynical and tough hero expresses an unusual point of view in" The Financier " on most of the serious problems characteristic of modern America.
He perceives the civil war between the industrial North and the slave owning South as an annoying hindrance that hinders the business development of the country and does not bring him anything personally.
Frank sympathizes with the plight of slaves, but not much, because he sees that "the situation of the vast majority of men and women is not much different from the situation of slaves."
"Life from his peculiar point of view had only two sides – strength and weakness" and it was equally bad for both slaves and people, "weak in spirit" and "weak in body".
Cowperwood perceives the US legislative framework as nothing more than " a fog formed from human quirks and mistakes."
Like the war, the law, according to Frank, does not help, but prevents a person from realizing his business and social daring.
It is no accident that the prison into which the hero falls is served through the metaphorical image of an octopus, whose seven"tentacle" buildings are spread around the central building and are just waiting to absorb the "cuttlefish"-Cowperwood.
In it, Dreiser describes in detail the appearance of each hero, architectural and interior features of buildings, the slightest subtleties of stock exchange work and American legal proceedings.
Along with the lengthy arguments in" The Financier " there are also bright, lively dialogues, and descriptions of the inner experiences of the characters, and a kind of lyrical component, expressed, for example, in the color characteristics of objects that Frank Cowperwood sees around him after the verdict – in "purple and purple shadows" lying on "a white veil of snow", in "a greenish gray house", in "cream lace curtains".
"The Financier", a summary of the novel by Theodore Dreiser
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"An American Tragedy", a summary of the novel by Theodore Dreiser
"Titan", a summary of the novel by Theodore Dreiser
"Stoic", a summary of the novel by Theodore Dreiser
"Sister Kerry", a summary of the novel by Theodore Dreiser
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"Titan", an artistic analysis of the novel by Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Dreiser, a brief biography
According to the work: "The Financier" According to the writer: Dreiser Theodore
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