Most of us hope to improve our lives, and many of us work hard to do so. But how do we define that improvement? What motivates us to move up? What are we willing to do to improve our lives?
Booth Tarkington addresses these questions in his 1921 novel "Alice Adams." Tarkington's title character is a 22-year-old woman living in a small town who feels the pain of not being accepted by her peers. Her schoolmates lived in large houses, traveled the world, owned fine things, went away to college, and returned to throw fancy parties. The financial situation of Alice's family prevented her from enjoying any of these luxuries.
At the story's start, Alice's father, Virgil - a clerk working for industrialist J.A. Lamb - is too ill to work. His wife scolds him for never rising above the middle class. When Virgil's health recovers, he decides to quit his job after decades of service to open a glue factory using a formula he developed at Lamb's plant.
Tarkington's story follows Alice as she woos Arthur Russell, a wealthy young man who recently moved to town. Desperate to hide her social status, she makes up stories about her family to Arthur.
The book is filled with flawed people: Alice's friends look down on her, and Alice's mother nags her husband incessantly. Even the best people in the novel fall short. Alice has a good heart but lies to her suitor; Lamb resorts to petty revenge when he feels he is wronged. Her brother rejects society's expectations, going so far as to befriend "darkies" (this novel takes place a century ago in the US South) but disgraces the family when he steals from his employer; and Arthur listens to the gossip about the Adams family, which influences his behavior toward her.
"Alice Adams" is the story of America's caste system. It examines social hierarchies and the pressures they inflict, especially on those who cannot afford to meet the expectations of their class. The system pushes everyone to behave badly. Although society has changed much in the last hundred years, peer pressure still exists, which remains stressful for many of us.