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The tragedy of Cowperwood's Fate in Dreiser's "Trilogy of Desire"
june 20
The journalistic books "Tragic America" and "America is worth Saving" were the largest works written in the last period of Dreiser's work.
This, however, does not mean that the writer's work in the 30-40s was limited to journalistic performances.
He worked hard and hard on new stories and plays, completed work on the novels "Oplot" and "Stoic".
In the 30s, Dreiser wrote a work dedicated to the struggle of the masses - the script "Tobacco".
It's not just that Dreiser depicted episodes of the struggle of the working class from the forefront or sought to do so.
The changes in his creative method are particularly clearly revealed in the new solution of those topics that he had already addressed earlier - in the first two decades of his creative activity.
That is why the analysis of Dreiser's recent novels clearly shows the further evolution of the writer's creative method.
Both posthumously published novels were started and mostly written back in the 10s.
Dreiser began working on the novel" Oplot " back in 1913, when about two thirds of the book was written.
The writer began processing and completing the novel at the end of 1942 and finished it in May 1945.
"Oplot" is adjacent to the"Trilogy of Desire".
Having created in the first volumes of the trilogy the image of a titan of capitalist America, devoid of remorse and concepts of honesty, Dreiser in "Oplot" raises the question whether a capitalist can be an honest person.
And the image of Solon Barnes - a Pennsylvania Quaker who took the post of treasurer of the merchant and construction bank in Philadelphia gives a dialectical and clear answer.
This answer describes Dreiser's new ethical criteria based on a deep understanding of the laws of social development.
And if Dreiser's work on "Oplot" was not completed in the 10s, then, obviously, for the same reasons that the writer postponed the third volume of the" Trilogy of Desire": his philosophy of life at that time could not give an answer to the questions that worried him.
The personal virtues of Solon Barnes are not enough to resist the vices arising from the nature of capitalist society.
Unexpectedly for himself, Solon Barnes is convinced that, despite his own integrity, he cannot protect himself and his loved ones from the destructive effects of the vices of bourgeois America that he hates.
The prologue introduces us to the atmosphere of Quakerism, which is losing its patriarchal features in modern America.
The first book, which tells about Solon's childhood and youth and ends with a description of his fate, serves as an exposition of the novel.
The second book conveys the growing contradictions between Solon's patriarchal views and the entire way of life of modern America.
This contradiction culminates in the third book - the process of learning about life by Solon Barnes develops into his tragedy.
This is a tragedy of the human personality, which was crushed by the onset of monopolies, a tragedy from which one can neither hide in the patriarchal robes of the Society of Friends, nor be fenced off by faith in the"inner light".
The novel ends on a tragic note.
There are many things that bring "Oplot" closer to the "Trilogy of Desire", especially with its final volume - "Stoic", which Dreiser began to complete immediately after finishing "work on "Oplot", and above all the writer's desire for great philosophical generalizations.
The idea of the novel appeared a long time ago, at the same time a significant part of the materials was collected.
Clarifying all sorts of details for the final volume of the " Trilogy of Desire "was one of the main goals of the trip that Dreiser made in 1911 to Western Europe, where the scene of the"Stoic" was to mainly take place.
In 1914-1915, a significant part of the novel was written.
However, the writer failed to complete the novel at that time.
The fact is that in" Stoic " he wanted to sum up Cowperwood's path, draw conclusions and generalizations, but the sharp aggravation of Dreiser's contradictions during these years obviously prevented the end of the trilogy.
In the 20s, Dreiser returned to the "Stoic" again.
But it is not by chance that the writer began to complete the book after joining the Communist Party.
Dreiser never managed to complete the work on "Stoic".
Turning to the novel, it is necessary to remember about its incompleteness.
Following the idea of the "Trilogy of Desire" and developing its plot, Dreiser seeks to sum up Cowperwood's life path in "Stoic".
His hero is getting old and the same question is still before him: what has he achieved in life?
And this result turns out to be disappointing for Frank Algernon Cowperwood.
- This is clearly revealed in the last chapters of the novel, written, obviously, in 1945.
Cowperwood's life - a strong and energetic man was wasted aimlessly.
The idea of the inhumanity of serving capital is expressed in the novel by Dr. James, who told Cowperwood that "his grandiose financial activity is already a kind of disease in itself."
The United States is affected by this disease, and the great humanist writer called for the cure of his homeland from this grave ailment - capitalism.
The realistic symbolism of the last part of the trilogy differs significantly from the symbolism of the "Financier" and "Titan": from a healthy predator a tiger or a huge terrible lion, as it appears in "Titan",- Cowperwood turns into a person affected by a social illness.
Dreiser refuses to consider Cowperwood's fate in the spirit of Spencer's positivist philosophy, which is characteristic of the First two volumes.
There are no elements of that biologism in his present Cowperwood, which were evident in the "Financier" and "Titan".
The tragedy of the bourgeois world, which was clearly and expressively revealed in " Titan "and" Stoic", is perceived not as a universal property of human nature, which took place in the first volumes, but as a social disease of Cowperwood, as a social disease of the United States.
In the "Stoic" a great philosophical and socio political problem is solved - the transitory nature of power, power, power that gives money, capital, the transitory nature of capitalism.
From the height of the new worldview, Dreiser, inspired by socialist ideals, was able to see the fate of Cowperwood, or rather, the reasons for Cowperwood's defeat in a new light.
Dreiser has now revealed the old plan in a new way.
Cowperwood is doomed to defeat, but not because of the fatal positivist laws or the universal qualities of human nature, but because of the social essence of his activity, which kills an outstanding personality in himself.
It is precisely these extraordinary qualities, strength, and energy of Cowperwood that allow Dreiser to reveal so vividly in" Stoic " the symptoms of the social disease that spoiled and ruined him: the name of this disease is capitalism.
In the first chapters, written, obviously, much earlier, there is also a contradiction in the interpretation of the image of Cowperwood, some admiration for him.
New features are palpably manifested in the last chapters, especially in the image of Berenice.
When finishing work on "Stoic", Dreiser was going to publish "The Trilogy of Desire" as a single work.
He even thought about the need to make some amendments to the text of "Titan"in this regard.
And indeed, "Stoic", combining all the novels into a single whole, Gives the" Trilogy of Desire " completeness and most importantly - a new sound, corresponding to the new social ideals of one of the leading American writers.
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Portrait characteristics of the characters
Previous: The juxtaposition of life and death in the novel "For whom the Bell tolls"
The following: The works of Theodore Dreiser: "An American Tragedy"
Published: June 20, 2014
Category: School essays.
11th grade
Author: Assistant
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