First of all, the work profoundly reveals the ills of American society and the American way of life through Clete's tragedy. The son of a poor priest is not inherently evil. After entering society, he was exposed to the charm of Jin Yuan and was corrupted and poisoned by the American lifestyle of eating, drinking, having fun, being self-centered, and pursuing personal success. In order to make a fortune by marrying the daughter of a capitalist, he pushed his pregnant girlfriend Roberta into the lake and drowned. He became a murderer and was sent to the electric chair. The novel not only depicts Clete's depravity in detail, but also deeply analyzes the social roots of his tragic fate. It is the lifestyle that has corrupted and destroyed thousands of American youths, and Colette is just one of the victims. Colette's tragedy is not only the tragedy of American youth, but also the tragedy of decadent American society itself, so the author calls it an American tragedy.
In addition, through the description of the entire trial process of Colette, the work profoundly reveals the darkness and corruption of the American political system and judicial system. During the trial of the Clete case, both political parties in the United States were running for judges, and both the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party made full use of this case to gain political capital. * * * The party candidate prosecutor Mason conducted a harsh trial against Clete at the cost of perjury, and organized 127 people to testify in court to prove Clete's heinous crimes and defraud voters of their trust. The Democratic Party tried its best to defend Colette through its own defense lawyer, and even distorted the facts. It even encouraged Colette to make false oaths in court, lie and deny, and refuse to plead guilty, in order to prove that the trial of *** and the party was unfair, and then replace it.
On the surface, the trial of the case is complete and democratic, but in essence, it is nothing more than a conspiracy and scam to compete for power. Through this trial, the ugly nature of American democracy and fair laws has been exposed. In terms of artistic expression, the novel uses realism techniques to create a typical Colette in a broad social background and a real typical environment, making Colette synonymous with "a victim of the dream of making money". At the same time, appropriate use of psychological analysis and description such as subconsciousness is used to reveal the protagonist's deep psychological and spiritual world. In addition, the use of a large number of documents, real case letters, interrogation records and other materials enhances the authenticity of the novel.
American Tragedy is adapted from true events in 1906. This selection of events is consistent with Dreiser's objective creative attitude. The greatness of the writer is that he refined and processed this small incident into a "national tragedy" and a civilizational tragedy, criticizing the value system of money supremacy. This is somewhat similar to the fate of the protagonist in "Red and Black". So we say that American Tragedy is indeed a masterpiece of realism.