The Magnificent Ambersons
won the Pulitzer Prize in 1919 but isn’t much read today. That’s
a shame, because it still has something to say about wealth and status.
Protagonist George Amberson Minafer is the only grandchild of the most
prominent citizen in the turn-of-the-century Midwestern town of
Midland. Conceited and obnoxious, he derides the new-money families
whose wealth comes from enterprise. Being
things is better than doing
things, he believes, wanting to continue a life of idle privilege. He
fails to accept that the world is changing, and in his obtuseness loses
the girl he loves, the daughter of an automobile entrepreneur, because
she admires those who do things. In a very short time, George’s world
is turned upside down.
The Magnificent Ambersons
shows how quickly America was changed by industrialization, but it is
not just a period piece. Its theme of being done in by a sense of
entitlement is relevant in any age.
Midland was supposedly based on the Woodruff Place neighborhood of
Indianapolis, Booth Tarkington’s hometown.
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