Alice Adams

ALICE ADAMS
by Booth Tarkington

 Award: Pulitzer Winner 1922

 Dates Read: November 24, 2006 & June 20, 2017

 Alice Adams comes from a modest family with limited means, yet her life's ambition is to become a part of wealthy society. She sets her sights on Arthur Russell, who Alice at first believes is engaged to her friend Mildred, and believes is only spending time with her out of pity. She tells endless lies to him to hide her family's humble background and presses him to not believe anything he might hear about her or her family from others in society.

 Meanwhile, her father, Virgil, in poor health and with a nagging and ambitious wife, is encouraged to start his own glue factory, yet the original recipe comes from his previous employer, Mr. Lamb. Virgil justifies this intellectual property theft by determining he made enough improvements to the recipe that it now rightfully belongs to him.

 All of these shenanigans come to a boil when Arthur finally hears Alice and her family discussed and what's mentioned rings true. After a disastrous dinner, Arthur gracefully exits never to be heard from again.

 As Virgil's glue factory begins to take shape and all his capital is pledged to this endeavor, his son, Walter, skips town owing a tremendous debt that will fall on Virgil's shoulders. Further, Mr. Lamb sets up his own glue factory across the street from Virgil just to spite him. Virgil quickly realizes that he is ruined.

 In an act of bewildering compassion, Mr. Lamb forgives the debt Walter owes him and buys Virgil's glue factory. The funds received are still not enough to support the family and they are forced to take in boarders while Alice enrolls at secretarial school.

 Yet another one of the "oldies" of this project that I loved. Alice is such a deeply flawed and determined character that I had equal parts compassion and contempt for. You can see the trap she sets for herself coming a mile away and yet, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Although she finally accepted a fate that she most likely knew was coming, you can't help but feel she might be better off in the end as a working girl, able to take more control of her own destiny.

Looking Back: The Magnificent Ambersons

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