An American Tragedy

The night of the date comes. Hortense intentionally arrives late and claims to have been on another date earlier. She spends most of the date talking about herself and other boys whom she could date. She is unimpressed by the restaurant where they eat (the same one that the bellhops frequent). The restaurant has walls covered in mirrors; Hortense primps in them and orders food and drinks with no thought to cost. To Clyde, she is beautiful and bewitching.

Clyde thinks that he sees Esta in the street one day. Later, Elvira asks him for money, but she refuses to say why she needs it. She lies when he tells her that he thinks he saw Esta in the street. Days later he follows Elvira to a rooming house. After Elvira leaves, Clyde finds Esta there. She is pregnant. Her lover abandoned her in a hotel. She worked until it became clear that she was pregnant. The narrator observes that Esta’s predicament is the result of her psychology, class, and religious upbringing. Clyde tells his sister that things will get better, but his manner communicates that he thinks less of her now. He worries that Esta will make him look bad and eat up the money that he needs to become independent and woo Hortense.

The more Clyde thinks about Esta’s situation, the less sympathetic he feels. Hortense would never get herself in this kind of predicament. Hortense refuses to have sex with Clyde no matter how much money he spends on her. What she wants from Clyde is his attention and his money. Money becomes even more important when she sees a beaver fur coat in a shop window one day. She decides that she must have it. The shop owner has her try on the coat in front of a triple mirror. He implies that she can get the coat if she will have sex with him. She rejects his advances. The shop owner quotes her an inflated price and encourages her to get one of her lovers to pay for it. He will even allow her to buy it on an installment plan.

Hortense agrees to go on another date with Clyde. She makes sure that they walk by the store where the fur coat is on display and says how much she’d love to have it. She doesn’t plainly state or even let herself think that she is willing to exchange sex for the coat, but both she and Clyde know the truth. Clyde agrees to buy the coat by financing it weekly. He will even borrow from one of his work mates to do it since helping out his mother has depleted his disposable funds.

Hortense gives the shop owner the down payment. Clyde borrows $50 from friends to give to Hortense, but before he can do that, his mother reveals the truth about Esta and asks him to help her pay for the birth expenses. Clyde tells her that he went into debt to borrow the last time she asked for money. He says that he may be able to borrow more. He doesn’t mention the money in his pocket.

Clyde gives the money to Hortense. Clyde, Hortense, Ratterer, and Sparser (another bellhop) go on an excursion to a restaurant and lodge that are out of town. They ride in a car that belongs to the employer of Sparser’s father, so the car is technically stolen. At the lodge, Clyde grows angry when Hortense flirts with Sparser. Clyde assumes that she is no longer interested in him now that she has the $50. When he confronts Hortense, she snubs him, but apologizes when she remembers that she will need him to help pay off the remainder of the cost of the coat. Clyde knows that she is manipulating him, but he feels helpless.

Hortense momentarily disappears with Sparser. Clyde confronts her. She tells him that he is just angry because he believes that she owes him sex. Clyde shows a little courage by telling her that their dating may be over, but she manipulates him into continuing the relationship.

Sparser hits and kills a little girl as he speeds to get the bellhops and the car back to Kansas City. He crashes the car trying to escape the police. When Hortense discovers cuts on her face from the broken glass, she runs away instead of helping the others out of the car. Clyde is more concerned about her departure than his injured friends. Clyde hides when the police come near.