Resumen
Resumen de Los magníficos Amberson
Para quién es
For readers who love family sagas, social history and a narrator with a dry sense of humor, and anyone curious about the early age of the automobile.
De qué trata este libro
The Magnificent Ambersons is a novel by Booth Tarkington, published in 1918. It won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel. Tarkington grew up in the American Midwest, and he wrote here about a city much like the ones he knew, where fortunes were made quickly and a new age of machines was pushing aside the old order.
The book follows the Amberson family, the richest and proudest in their town. It begins with the family at its height, with a great house, grand parties and a town that bows to them. Then it watches the ground shift under them. The center of the story is a spoiled young man named George Amberson Minafer, his lovely mother Isabel, and the man who once loved her, Eugene Morgan. You get a story of manners and money, and also of how a city changes, grows dirty and loud, and forgets those who thought they owned it. This is where the story begins, so let us start with the family and the town that watches them.
En este resumen
- 1The Ambersons rule a growing townFree
- 2Isabel chooses safety over love
- 3George grows up spoiled and sure of himself
- 4Eugene returns with a daughter and a machine
- 5The theme of pride against change
- 6How Tarkington tells the story
Idea clave 1 de 6
The Ambersons rule a growing town
The story opens in a Midwestern city in the years after the Civil War. The Ambersons are its leading family, and their wealth comes from the head of the clan, Major Amberson. The Major builds a huge mansion and lays out a fashionable new district of fine houses. Money seems to flow to him without end, and the town accepts that the Ambersons stand above everyone else.
Tarkington tells this part with a wry, almost teasing voice. He describes the fashions of the day, the manners, the horse carriages and the slow, comfortable life of a place that has not yet been touched by factories and noise. The Ambersons give balls and dinners, and being invited to them is a mark of rank. The narrator treats this world with affection, yet he lets you see how much of it rests on pride and habit.
The book also sets up a feeling that the town itself is a character. People talk, watch and judge. They admire the Ambersons and also resent them a little, and they keep a long memory for any fall that might come. That watching crowd stays in the background of the whole novel.
This opening matters because everything later is measured against it. The reader sees the old, settled order at its brightest. When the city begins to change, you know exactly what is at stake for the family, and you see why they find it so hard to adapt.
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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Questions about Los magníficos Amberson
What is The Magnificent Ambersons about?
It is about a wealthy Midwestern family, the Ambersons, and the town they dominate. As the city grows and new industries arrive, the family's pride and fortune face a test, centered on the spoiled George and his mother Isabel.
Who is George Amberson Minafer?
He is Isabel Amberson's only son and the grandson of Major Amberson. Raised with every comfort and little discipline, he is proud and headstrong, and many in town expect him to be humbled one day.
Why is the automobile important in the novel?
The automobile, built and championed by Eugene Morgan, stands for the coming age of machines and growth. It sets the changing city and its new wealth against the settled, horse and carriage world of the Ambersons.
When was The Magnificent Ambersons written, and is it a true story?
Booth Tarkington published it in 1918. It is a work of fiction, though it draws on the author's knowledge of Midwestern life and the way American towns changed in the decades around 1900.
Is The Magnificent Ambersons hard to read?
No. The language is clear and the narrator's tone is witty. The story of a proud family and a changing town is easy to follow.