“F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote of Booth Tarkington: "It is a pity that the man who writes better prose than any other living American was brought up in a generation that considered it a crime to tell the truth" (1922 review of “Gentle Julia”). I cannot fully critique Fitzgerald's assessment, however I find it interesting that the novel "Alice Adams" is all about telling the truth. At one point Alice Adams laments, "But why had it been her instinct to show him an Alice Adams who didn't exist? . . . What makes me tell such lies?" (p.64). The theme of this novel is about the desire of those lower in (white) society trying to be something they are not, in other words: social climbers. I found the deceit and need for social status to be cloying. However I also found it interesting that Tarkington did not vilify the rich (a theme which captivated Fitzgerald), nor did he sanctify the poor. Rather he ended his story on a note of reconciliation, and a sort of redemption. That powerful two-fold theme is probably what earned Tarkington his second Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1922 for “Alice Adams” (his first was for "The Magnificent Ambersons"). I readily concur with the Pulitzer being awarded for this novel. Yet I am still pondering F. Scott Fitzgerald’s indictment that Tarkington avoided telling the truth about society's darker side via his novels. At least one character (Walter) seemed to personify debauchery. However Walter's character and reprobation was not as fully developed as that of personal truth and contentment with life's station – which I found to be much more interesting!”
tapbirds wrote this review Saturday, February 11, 2012.
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