Georgie returns before his senior year, and concerns of his father’s health continues, though Georgie does not seem to notice any change (or care to, really). However, when his Aunt Fanny makes up a rumor about Lucy being engaged to his rival, Fred, he FREAKS OUT and immediately rushes to her house to confront her.  Lucy assures him that she is not interested in Fred at all, and Georgie on the spot asks her if they can be engaged. Though Lucy says no, Georgie gauges her emotional reaction to be “yes” and presses. They agree to settle it the day before he leaves for college.

As well as Georgie’s love life is, there is some super family drama. Turns out, Uncle Sydney and his wife Amelia (we were introduced to them at the party; they were the ones wanting to be ambassadors so they could travel Europe) could only be named ambassadors to South America, NOT Italy, so they’re asking the Major for their third of estate assigned to them in the Major’s will so they can move to Florence now. Uncle George and Isabel both oppose this, and it’s causing problems. Georgie goes to meet with his grandfather, and while there he overhears his aunt Amelia accuse Isabel of using Fanny’s fondness for Lucy’s father as a front for having an affair with Mr. Morgan (OH SNAP).

Georgie is shocked, and talks to his uncle George and Aunt Fanny about the accusation; Fanny, who is infatuated with Mr. Morgan, is completely devestated by the accusation and the possibility, but she assures Georgie that his mother has NOT been having an affair, and that no one in town is giving credence to that rumor. However, the Major, sick of familial strife, gives in and gives Sydney his third of the inheritance.

Georgie leaves for college, and Lucy says that she wants to be “almost engaged” to him. He leaves for college, and his mother takes his father on a trip away in an attempt to take his mind off his business troubles. While it seems to be working at first, Georgie then comes back to his dorm to find a telegram informing him of his father’s passing. Though Georgie at first is not all that upset, when he comes face to face with his father’s dead body, he is overcome with grief. Interestingly enough, the person taking the passing of Mr. Minafer the most is Fanny (I’ll speculate on this later), and she stays in a near-constant depression after his passing.

Part of this is because all of her money was also tied up in Minafer’s investment that had gone under, and so she (and Georgie’s Uncle George) found themselves flat broke, though at least not in debt. To alleviate Fanny’s financial troubles, Isabel gives her the entirety of Minafer’s life insurance payout (Uncle George, of course, has the Major to fall back on).

To close chapter 15, the Ambersons and the Morgans travel to the Northeast to attend Georgie’s collegiate graduation.

So, in these chapters, it seems to me that Tarkington is really starting to sow the seeds of Georgie’s downfall. Financially, his father lost everything, his mother gave up their father’s life insurance payout, and his grandfather’s funds have been severely drained (giving 1/3 of his estate to Sydney while paying for Uncle George, Isabel, and Georgie’s expenses). It can’t be too long now that Georgie is quickly going to have to adjust his free-spending lifestyle.

I’m also EXTREMELY interested in what is going to happen with the trio of Isabel, Fanny, and Mr. Morgan. While I don’t know if Amelia’s rumors of infidelity are true, there is definitely something going on between Isabel and Morgan; they were, at one point, young suitors, after all. They still have chemistry, as well. I think this is why Fanny is so incredibly upset at the passing of Minafer; she is madly in love with Morgan and sees him as her last-ditch hope at being happy, but she knows he has always had eyes for Isabel. Now, without a husband, Morgan can act on his feelings for Isabel, and vice-versa. I think, in her heart, Fanny knows that she has no chance with Morgan. Of course, if this DOES happen, that makes things VERY interesting for our young, almost-engaged couple Georgie and Lucy, who would become step-siblings. AWKWARD. In fact, I wonder if that may be why Lucy will only become “almost” engaged with George; she feels that her father will indeed eventually be with Georgie’s father, and wants to put his happiness ahead of her’s.  She is, after all, a contemplative person; she does not feel that happiness in her youth is all that important and instead chooses to look at what is to come. Maybe she thinks that she can find another love later on, while her father and Isabel are both in their later years, and this is their last shot for happiness? This is all pure conjecture, and with my past track record of conjecture on novels I’m reading, the opposite will probably happen, of course. But still, I’m really itching to see where this all goes.

Again, Tarkington chooses to remind us readers that Georgie is learning NOTHING as he goes through life, ending chapter fifteen with a lengthy passage saying that all Georgie got out of college was the ability to cram for tests, and had further solidified his idea that his life would require nothing more than him being a family gentleman for all eternity. Oh, Georgie. You’re so oblivious, and it’s going to be awesome to see your world crumble.

Anyway, I’m going to start blogging on a regular schedule, updating the site with new posts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of every week.  Since that was the schedule most of my classes were on in college, it’ll be pretty easy for me to keep up with, while also giving me enough structure to keep me motivated and on pace.  And, of course, to keep you all entertained! I’ll probably keep up the five chapters per post pace, at least for this book.  Now, let’s get on to the book!

Not a lot “happens” in these five chapters, per se, but we do learn some interesting things about the characters introduced at the ball. First of all, we learn that the “queer old duck” Georgie is so hell-bent on mocking throughout the night is not only Lucy Morgan’s father, but that he is the other, unnamed suitor of Georgie’s mother, Isabel – the one whom she rebuked after he got drunk and stepped on an orchestral instrument (woops). There is also an apparently romantic subplot between Lucy’s father and Georgie’s aunt, who are both widowed.

The day after the ball, Georgie and Lucy go on a sleigh ride, where they pass Lucy’s father driving Georgie’s mother and aunt in his new-fangled automobile.  Our brilliant protagonist spends so much time mocking the car, that he wrecks his sleigh, and has to be taken home in the contraption that he so despised. While riding home, Georgie asks Lucy to go with him tonight to another dance – a request she declines, because she has already agreed to go with Fred.  Fred is an enemy from Georgie’s childhood – the boy who Georgie ousted as the president of their “literary club” – and he is enraged, and decides to go to the dance and spend the whole night ignoring Lucy as much as humanly possible. Mature, Georgie.

However, Georgie can’t stick to his plan long, because whenever Lucy has a free dance she invites Georgie to dance with her – which he does, showing as little emotion and joy as possible. It seems Georgie and I do have one thing in common – we are horrible with girls. He does eventually, with some bluster, relent to dancing amicably with Lucy for the night.

The holidays pass, Georgie returns to school, and Lucy and her father move back in Georgie’s town so Mr. Morgan can open an automobile factory.  While Georgie is convinced Mr. Morgan is looking to use his family for an investment, when Major offers an investment Morgan turns it down, saying he has plenty of his own money. While Georgie is away, he and Lucy keep in touch via letter, and when he returns they renew their friendship.

So even though not a lot happens plot wise per se, there is some interesting stuff going on in these five chapters. It seems Lucy is meant as a sort of foil to Georgie, in that Tarkington sometimes uses her to kind of expose some of Georgie’s more ridiculous and boorish behaviors. Lucy has no qualms arguing with Georgie or pointing out the fact that he’s kind of an asshole. She criticizes his condescending attitude towards his father, pointing out that his constant focus on belittling others reflects more poorly on Georgie than those he’s insulting; she criticizes his close-minded attitudes and inability to adapt his opinions; and, in general, Lucy is a lot more thoughtful and prone to introspection that Georgie.  Of course, it’s usually lost on him; after spending almost a whole page talking about her father’s idealization of his youth, and why Lucy feels as if she is abnormal because she is always looking forward instead of back, all Goergie can say is: “You’re a funny girl… But your voice sounds pretty nice when you think and talk along together like that!” So, Georgie has no idea what the hell Lucy is talking about, but man her voice sure is purdy.

However, as Lucy and Georgie’s friendship (potential romance?) grows, Lucy seems to become less aware of Georgie’s downsides.  As Tarkington writes, “…the rare, sudden gentleness of arrogant people have infinitely more effect than the continual gentleness of gentle people.” So, in a way, Lucy is actually charmed by Georgie being a jerk, because that makes his sudden and sporadic moments of kindness, concern, and humanity that more appreciable. On my last blog post, an astute commenter by the name of jwrosenzweig (who has his own book blog, Following Pultizer; check it out!) said that one his biggest problems with this novel is that Tarkington is seemingly very sympathetic to Georgie (here’s a link to the actual comment). If Lucy, so far our only real critical voice against Georgie, continues to have her attitude evolve this way, I can definitely see myself getting exasperated with the novel.

However, I can’t help but think some seriously bad stuff is on its way to visit Georgie.  As I mentioned in my last blog post, the opening of the novel focuses all about change. In this section of the novel, Georgie is extremely critical and apprehensive of Mr. Morgan’s automobile, and his belief in them as a viable means of transportation in general. The car, to me, seems to be extremely symbolic of coming change; obviously, cars kind of work out to be a big deal as the 20th century marches on.  Georgie’s inability not only to adapt to change, but his outright rejection of any need for change or growth of any kind, is eventually going to be his downfall, I think.

Alright, a much shorter post than last time, but I WILL be back on Wednesday with the next five chapters.

First of all, thank you to everyone that passed on the blog through Twitter, Facebook, e-mails, etc. I have no illusions that I’ve hit the internet big-time, but it is an awesome feeling to know that people are looking at this!

Second, as you can tell, I switched the layout from that god-awful weird green and orange and brown mess that it was to something extremely simple and minimalistic. Hopefully this is just temporary while I poke around the internet learning about how to customize the blog’s appearance. Any tips you can leave in the comments would be greatly appreciated!

The next post on The Magnificent Ambersons will probably go up sometime tomorrow, as I should really work on job applications today. Thanks for reading everyone!

So I figure with each one of these posts, I will offer up a plot summary for those who are not reading the books (and to help me remember exactly what’s going on before I delve deeper into the book).  Then, I’ll go into whatever peaked my interest while reading, what I’ll be watching for as I continue reading, etc.  So, if for some reason you’re wanting to read these posts BEFORE you’ve read the corresponding sections of the novel, be aware that you’re setting yourself up for abundant spoilers.

The book opens with descriptions of the history of the fictional Midwestern town that the novel takes place in, in particular noting the evolution of fashion, architecture, and townsfolk as the town has grown over the ages from its founding days as a pioneer town to its current state.  However, no matter the changes, Tarkington stresses the fact that the average townfolk are very much like their ancestors in one key way: thriftiness. “In the minds of most . . . their thrift was next to their religion; to save, even for the sake of saving, was their earliest lesson and discipline.”

This stands in stark contrast with Major Amberson, who we are told in the very first sentence “‘made a fortune’ in 1873,” and was apparently not hesitant to spend it.  As soon as Major rolled into town, he was quick to buy up several hundred acres of land which he turned into an opulent expansion of the town, the most impressive feature of which was of course his extravagant mansion.

We are then told of the courtship of the Major’s daughter, Isabel, and how she eventually chooses to marry the sensible business-man Wilbur instead of the passionate, charming, and poetic unnamed suitor. It is prophesied by a townsperson that since Isabel will never love Wilbur, she will pour all that feeling into spoiling her child – our eventual protagonist, George.

And spoiled he is; George has the best clothes, his own pony, and pretty much the run of the town, picking fights and snubbing his nose at children and elders alike with no form of consequence or punishment from his mother. George bullies his way through life, flaunting his money and name to gain followers and henchman. Despite all the townsfolk wishing for George to get his “comeuppance,” his life flows smooth and he leaves for college.

We do not get to see first-hand any of George’s collegiate life; instead, we instead shift to a ball thrown in honor of George’s return home for Christmas during his sophomore year. There, he is forced to interact with relatives from his father’s side (who he apparently has much distaste for), but does meet the beautiful, young Lucy Morgan, who he is quickly enamored with and, such is his wont, bullies her into agreeing to spend the day after the ball with him riding in his sleigh. And thus ends chapter five!

What has really caught my eye so far has been the role of wealth in the novel. Obviously it’s going to play a big part in the book, since its protagonist comes from an extremely well-to-do family, but it seems that Tarkington is trying to make George a personification of wealth and all that comes with it. George wears the most opulent clothes, has his own pony and dog carts to travel around town with from a young age, and even gets two rooms in one of his grandfather’s buildings to turn into a clubhouse for he and his friends.

Through George’s actions and words, we are shown the true power of wealth.  For Tarkington, material wealth has the ability to seemingly outshine and overpower everything. At one point in the novel during George’s early childhood, George gets into a fight with the nephew of a Reverend.  When the Reverend comes out to break up the fight, George insults the holy-man and tells him to go to hell.  The mortified Reverend writes a letter to George’s mother informing her of her son’s violence and vulgarity,  but Isabel is unable to punish George and there comes to be no consequence for his action.  Now, this whole event takes up all of two or three pages, so I don’t want to give it undue importance; but we see a young George, the personification of material wealth, insult and degrade a man of the cloth, one who is full of spiritual wealth, and get off scott free – material wealth triumphs over spiritual wealth.

Later, we see wealth triumph over democracy. When Georgie is a teenager, he returns to his hometown after being away at his private boarding school to find he has been replaced as the President of the club he started with his friends. Despite the new President’s argument that he was elected fair and square, and that all those present supported him, he is quickly ousted when George promises to provide the club with their own billiards table. Then, years later at the ball, George informs Morgan that his Uncle George is in Congress.  We do not get told what his Uncle’s political leanings or platform are; instead, George merely says that “the family like to have someone there,” especially so they can approve another relative to be an ambassador to a foreign country to facilitate easy travel. Again, it’s very early in the book, and none of these events have had a massive effect on the characters, but it seems Tarkington wants us to take notice that money seems to make all things possible for George.

However, George himself is seemingly oblivious to the fact that the only reason people respect or tolerate him is his money and family name. George has a very inflated sense of confidence and self-worth, oblivious to the fact that he has done nothing for himself and that he has coasted by in life exploiting his name and money. He constantly brags about “the way I do things,” not realizing that any normal person would have no chance of getting away with a quarter of his antics. Tarkington comments on this inability for introspection, noting that after George was kicked out his private school for insolence he came away with “some rudiments of a liberal education and learned nothing whatever about himself.” He has no idea of how much of a condescending, pompous douche bag he is.

This is best illustrated at the close of chapter five, when George is talking to Lucy Morgan at the ball. He expresses distaste for his relatives, saying “Lawyers, bankers, politicians! What do they get out of life, I’d like to know! What do they ever know about real things?  What do they ever get?” Lucy is taken aback at this sudden bout of emotion and earnestness; could it be that the seemingly shallow George is deeper than she, or the readers, every thought?  Quietly she asks him what he wants to be in his life; what he thinks will allow him this deep understanding of life and quench his thirst for discovery.  He replies, “A yachtsman.”
/facepalm. George doesn’t want to be something grand, like an educator, or a leader, or a philosopher, or anything like that; he just wants to sail on a boat all day, being the same lazy asshole that he’s been his entire life.  He doesn’t even realize that those relatives he despises so much are the ones that have earned the money that would make his dream of lounging around on a boat all day possible.

George is basically the early 20th century version of Paris Hilton.  He is famous for being wealthy, for the reputation and fortune his family has built.  If this novel took place in 2009, George would probably end up on the front page of People on a regular basis and be the leading story on every episode of Entertainment Tonight.  Obviously, I despise George and everything he symbolizes, but he is written very well and I find myself wanting to read further to see him get his “just deserts” – just like the townspeople.

A few other things of note.  There’s a weird Oedipal complex moment at the ball where George seemingly realizes his mother is an attractive woman, and sees her as a woman instead of just his mother; I don’t know if this is a Freudian nod to his over-reliance on his mother as a child, or perhaps a hint that his mother is having an affair, or something else, but I’m interested to see what the point of that moment was, because I have a feeling Tarkington won’t leave a scene like that hanging as a loose string. There’s also a lot of friction between George and his non-Amberson family, including his unremarkable father; I’m interested to see those relationships get fleshed out and that friction explored. And, I want to see what’s going to happen to the Ambersons.  The opening chapter of the novel places a heavy emphasis on the changing of society throughout history, so I want to see how the changing times are going to catch up to the Ambersons and their fortune -especially oblivious little Georgie.

Overally, I’m really digging this book. Tarkington’s prose is tight, and I have yet to feel like he wastes words; every scene and moment so far seems to be building up to the fully realized ideas and themes that the novel hopes to present. If the books only get better from here going through the list, this project is going to be extremely enjoyable.

I know this is up early, and that not everyone is like me and has nothing but free time; even if you’re reading this weeks after it’s up, leave your comments below and we’ll talk shop.  Thanks for reading!

More musings and information on the book (Including how you can read along with your own copy FOR FREE!!!) after the jump!

Alright, so if you’re looking to get your hands on the book, since it is considered a modern classic it’ll be pretty easy.  Your local library should have a copy (the various Louisville branches all have several copies in circulation), you could order it off Amazon, or stop by at your favorite big chain bookstore or local bookstore. Me, personally, I went to my favorite store in the universe, Half Price Books, and got a paperback version in decent enough shape for three bucks

LOOK AT IT IN ALL IT’S CHEAP GLORY!

Personally, I doubt I will be getting any of the books I will be reading for this project from the library, unless I can’t find them somewhere for dirt cheap.  And, if you want to read along and comment wth me, neither should you.  Why, dear reader? Because you are not allowed to write in library books, and to get the most out of your reading, you NEED to write in your book as you go.  This is called annotating, and all it is is just you writing in the corners of the page, circling words, underlining passages, etc. etc. as you go. It’s basically just noting things you find interesting in the book as you go, and it makes discussing books a lot easier and intuitive. If you want to be FULL-ON CRAZY like I am, you can also stick tiny post-it notes to mark certain passages you find extremely interesting or important for even quicker reference.  Again, as I said in my introductory posts, these notes don’t have to groundbreaking pieces of literary criticism that will flip the academic world on its head; just write what you’re thinking and noticing as you go.  We’re not getting graded, I promise.

HOWEVER, I also promised a free option.  The Project Gutenberg website has a free E-book available for your reading pleasure.  Personally, I like the feeling of tactile pages, but if you can stare at a monitor long enough to read a 300+ page novel, go for it!

So, I’m really looking forward to reading this book.  Not just because the blog is already getting some attention (thanks for all the retweets my Twitter friends), but because the plot sounds extremely interesting to me.  An American dynasty collapsing because it cannot adjust to an evolving American society?  Count me in!  There should be a lot of interesting social commentary and musings on the nature of man and capitalism in this book, which is potentially a very interesting topic of conversation, especially considering the modern American schism between those who perceive a move towards a form of Socialism and embrace it and those who are touting the benefits of capitalism (and of course a third group of people who shake their heads and mumble about how both those groups are idiots and don’t really know what capitalism, socialism, Marxism, communism, etc. are at all and they’re just using stupid buzzwords to incite societal rage).

Alright everyone, deep breath.  Here we go.  Book number one of one-hundred. Alright, chums up, let’s do this.

EDIT:  A quick addendum to this post, as I have delved about five pages into the novel and happened upon a passage that our modern minds would find quite offensive.  As many of these novels (almost all of them) were written decades ago, you are quite often going to run into language that is offensive and logic that is quite ridiculous.  I should quickly point out that in reading these books and appreciating them, neither myself nor anyone who reads them are “okaying” the mindsets that many people had decades ago. To be specific here, the passage I am referring to is talking about “darkies” and their propensity to “gossip in shouts instead of whispers” in profane ways.  Obviously, that is EXTREMELY racist and offensive to our modern sensibilities; but, for the early 20th century, this is par for the course, and might actually be considered somewhat polite or intelligent.

So, again.  This project is not meant to deify or reinforce many of the backwards ideas found in these books.  So please, don’t call me a racist, that might turn off future employers. Just read the books, raise your eyebrows when you come to passages like that, and remind yourself that that’s just the way the world used to work.

So, I figured, why not read them all? Explanations for my madness in the tried and true internet format of an FAQ after the jump…

Q: Who are you?

A: My name is Andrew, I am 22 years old, and I currently live in my hometown of Louisville, KY in my parents’ basement because I am unemployed (it’s a great pick-up line with the ladies, BELIEVE ME).  I have lived most of my life here, and the four years I haven’t were spent going to a small school known as the University of Minnesota, Morris, up in the small rural town of Morris, MN.  While attending school I lived the best four years of my life and graduated with a BA in English, which is currently useless because I have no desire to be teacher. But, my English classes have taught me more about myself and the world around me than any other experience in my life, bar none, and I have no regrets for getting a degree in what I love. I am hoping eventually to get a career that takes advantage of my love of (and perceived talent for) the written word.

Q: Why are you doing this?

A: Several reasons. One of my neuroses has always been feeling like I am severely “under-read;” that is, that my breadth of literary knowledge is severely lacking compared to my peers. Hopefully, this project will finally not help me overcome my neurosis, but instead let me lord my superior knowledge over everyone else in an attempt to cover up my insecurities and imprint them upon others. Secondly, while in college I fell out of the habit of reading for pleasure or for my own means; instead, since I was always reading for class, I took up other hobbies to occupy my break time. I severely miss reading for myself, and hopefully this project will get my mind back into the mood for some literature instead of video games (not that’s there anything wrong with video games, of course!). Thirdly, since graduating, I have done very little “academic” thought. Being a firm believer of the “use it or lose it” theorem, I figure I need to start exercising my brain on a more regular basis or I may forget a lot of the jargon and catchphrases I throw at out parties to assure people that, yes, I do have a degree, and that your preconceived notions of man and society are in fact a hollow lie and that all our actions are meaningless. See, I use to know A LOT more fancy ways of saying that that make me sound like an English major!

Q: Are you really going to read all 100?

A: Well, that’s the plan. However, if on the way to the library to get a book I’m hit by a car and put in a coma/crippled/maimed/killed, I can’t really promise updates will come all that regularly.

Q: You said you’ve read 14 of the 100; which ones?

A: Not telling (though I already gave you one – The Sun Also Rises). And, honestly, it’s been a long, long time since I most recently read a book on that list; almost a year. Going back to these books will probably be similar to reading them for the first time for me, since I have a terrible memory when it comes to characters, plots, etc. So, even if I wanted to brag about which ones I have read, I wouldn’t remember enough of them without liberally copy-and-pasting from Wikipedia.

Q: I’m not an academic, or I have no knowledge of English theory, critical reading, etc., am I going to be lost on your blog?

A: I hope not.  I am by no means an elite academic or do I desire to be; my knowledge accrued in pursuit of my Bachelor’s is enough to help me be an attentive and (hopefully) intelligent reader, but I have no desire to make these blog posts so highfalutin that it will take someone attending a Crit Lit class to understand.  If a book sparks my interest I may go stumbling across the Internet for someone’s critical take on the novel, but I am aiming to inclusive, not exclusive with this project. The world would be a better place if people would seek self-betterment through education and the written word of their own accord, instead of some concept that in order to be a successful human being, you need a piece of paper; so, to that end, I want this to be an accessible project for everyone so that maybe you too will read along and want to debate with me in the comments section. One of the things I learned was that any sort of feeling or intuition on a novel, no matter how simple – even if it is just “I don’t like this character, he’s a total dick!” – can be the basis for some pretty insightful commentary if you’re willing to run with that intuition and dig deeper in a text.

Any more questions, comments, words of encouragements, former professors and classmates telling me I was never smart enough to graduate anyway so who the hell do I think am trying to read these great works of literature and taking a giant dump all over them with my ignorant insights on the internet, feel free to leave it all in the comments below. Now if you’ll excuse me, I am off to the library!