Resumen
Resumen de Alice Adams
Para quién es
For readers who love character studies, social comedy and old American towns, and anyone who has ever felt out of place at a party.
De qué trata este libro
Alice Adams is a novel by Booth Tarkington, published in 1921 and awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the novel the next year. Tarkington was an Indiana writer who knew the Midwestern towns he wrote about, and he set this book in one of them, a growing city where money decides who is invited to what. He wrote it as a close, sharp portrait of one young woman and the family that holds her back.
Alice Adams is bright, charming and poor among the wealthy people she hopes to impress. She wants a place among the wealthy young set, and she is willing to pretend to get it. In about nine minutes you will hear how she tries, whom she meets, and what her pretending costs her and the people she loves. The book is funny at first, then tender, and then painful. Let us begin where Alice does, in a house that is a little too small for her hopes.
En este resumen
- 1A girl who wants more than she hasFree
- 2One dance that changes her hopes
- 3Pretending to be someone richer
- 4A mother's push and a father's wound
- 5What the story says about class and belonging
- 6How Tarkington tells it
Idea clave 1 de 6
A girl who wants more than she has
Alice Adams lives there with her mother, her father Virgil and her younger brother Walter. Their house is modest and the family has little money. The wealthy families of the town live in grander houses and give grander parties.
Alice has charm, quick wit and a strong wish to be admired. She has learned that in her town, being liked is not enough. You need money, a good address and a family people respect. She lacks the wealth and social standing of her friends, so she tries to make up the difference with manner, with talk and with small acts of show.
Tarkington lets us see how hard she works at this. She chooses her words with care. She holds herself like a girl who belongs. She laughs lightly about things that hurt her. Early on, a reader may smile at her, and then notice that the smile costs her something every time.
The book also makes clear that Alice is not simply vain. She is young, she is lonely for a wider life, and she has been told by everything around her that her place is below the people she admires. Her ambition is a kind of hope. The question the novel asks is what that hope will do when it meets the facts of her family's situation.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Alice Adams
- A charming young woman of modest means, Alice longs to join the wealthy circle represented by Mildred Palmer.
- Virgil Adams
- Alice's quiet father works for J. A. Lamb, while his wife urges him toward greater financial ambition.
- Mrs. Adams
- Alice's outspoken mother resents the family's limited means and presses Virgil to improve their position.
- Walter Adams
- Alice's restless younger brother worries his family and keeps company she would prefer not to explain.
- Arthur Russell
- A well-connected young man, Arthur meets Alice at a dance and begins visiting her.
- Mildred Palmer
- A wealthy young woman in the town's leading circle, Mildred represents the social ease Alice envies.
- J. A. Lamb
- A successful wholesale druggist, Lamb employs Virgil and has considerable influence over the Adams family's financial security.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 89,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 5 h 55 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 10 other languages
Questions about Alice Adams
What is Alice Adams about?
It is about a young woman in a Midwestern town who wants to belong to the wealthy set and pretends to be richer than her family is. The book follows what that pretending costs her and those she loves.
When was Alice Adams written and did it win a prize?
Booth Tarkington published it in 1921, and it won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel in 1922. It is fiction, but it draws on the real social life of Midwestern towns in the early twentieth century.
Who is Arthur Russell in Alice Adams?
Arthur Russell is a pleasant, serious young man of good family whom Alice meets at a dance. He begins to call on her, and his interest gives her hope of winning a place among the wealthy.
What is the main message of Alice Adams?
The book shows how class shapes ambition in a small town and how pretending to be someone else separates a person from her family. It treats Alice with sympathy while showing the price of her pride.
Is Alice Adams hard to read?
No. The language is plain, the scenes are short and the humor is gentle. The family drama is easy to follow.