STUDY QUESTIONS / MULTIPLE CHOICE QUIZ

1. Who committed the real-life crime upon which An American Tragedy is based?

a. Theodore Dreiser
b. Carl Grahm
c. Chester Gillette
d. Leopold & Loeb

2. What city is the setting for the first Book of the novel?

a. Denver
b. Lycurgus
c. Kansas City
d. St. Louis

3. What does Hortense Briggs ask Clyde to buy to her in exchange for her favorable attention?

a. Nothing - she just wants love
b. A fur coat
c. A new car
d. Free hotel rooms

4. What motivates Clyde to leave his first job as a bell hop?

a. Hortense's pregnancy
b. An auto accident that kills a young girl
c. The offer of a job at his uncle's collar factory
d. Bell hop work at a better hotel in Chicago

5. Where does Clyde first encounter his uncle Samuel?

a. At a hotel in Chicago where Clyde works
b. At the home of his parents, Asa and Elvira
c. At his uncle's factory in Lycurgus
d. On the streets of Denver

6. What is Clyde's first job at his uncle's collar factory?

a. Manager of the stamping department
b. Assistant to the vice-president
c. Manual labor in the shrinking department
d. Security guard at the front gate

7. Which member of Samuel Griffiths warms up to Clyde?

a. Cousin Gilbert
b. Aunt Elizabeth
c. Uncle Samuel
d. Cousin Myra

8. Why does Samuel insist that Clyde get a raise and promotion?

a. Clyde's similar appearance to Gilbert is too distressing in his first factory job
b. Clyde passed the examinations and was therefore entitled to both
c. Samuel admires the moral rectitude of his young nephew and wishes to reward him
d. None of the above

9. Who does Clyde encounter accidentally on a trip through upstate New York?

a. Roberta's sister Emily
b. Roberta
c. Roberta's father Titus
d. Sondra's brother Stuart

10. What is the name of the place where Roberta is murdered?

a. Big Bittern
b. Utica
c. Lycurgus Lake
d. Albany

11. What sets Reuben Jephson apart from the other lawyers in the trial?

a. His compassionate understanding of Clyde
b. A slyness and calculating amorality
c. A lower class upbringing similar to Clyde's
d. None of the above

12. Who pays for Elvira's trip to New York?

a. A Denver newspaper
b. A rich philanthropist who reads the news articles
c. Samuel Griffiths
d. Gilbert Griffiths

13. Which inmate befriends Clyde while he's in prison and gives him books to read?

a. Pasquale Cutrone
b. Orville Mason
c. Miller Nicholson
d. Reverend Duncan McMillan

14. What provokes new hope for Clyde not facing the death penalty?

a. A public outcry for justice
b. Elvira's newspaper columns
c. Rigged evidence with the camera
d. The election of a new governor.

15. Where are Asa and Elvira Griffiths at the end of the novel?

a. Kansas City
b. Upstate New York
c. San Francisco
d. Denver