[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-143221-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-143221-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","an-american-tragedy-part-1-chapter-1","An American Tragedy - Part 1 - Chapter 1","","An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser opens with a detailed naturalist-style street scene: a small family, led by a plain mother and father, travels through an American city to sing hymns as a form of religious persistence. Part 1, Chapter 1 establishes the setting, the characters’ physical presence, and the tense contrast between their outward faith and the surrounding skepticism of everyday life, shaping a realist tone and forward momentum for the coming events.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/","Story & Novel",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/an-american-tragedy-part-1-chapter-1/143221/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/an-american-tragedy-part-1-chapter-1/143221.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Olivia Brown","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-23","2026-08-25",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",10,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What happens at the start of Part 1, Chapter 1?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"A small family walks through a busy American city and stops by an alley-like thoroughfare to sing hymns, setting up their organ, hymn book, and Bible.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How is the family portrayed in the opening scene?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The narration emphasizes their physical looks and determined yet limited circumstances—an unimportant-looking father, a forceful mother, and children who sing weakly or awkwardly.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What role does the surrounding city environment play?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The city’s traffic, buildings, and indifferent pedestrians create a backdrop of skepticism and apathy, highlighting the family’s public religious effort.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},143221,1787693754,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,87,91,95,100,105,110,115,120,123,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":122},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":125},"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":22,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":80,"read_time":144},16904993612988,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd","An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser  \nPublished: 1925  \nCategorie(s): Fiction, Literary  \nSource: [http://gutenberg.net.au](http://gutenberg.net.au)  \nAbout Dreiser:  \nTheodore Herman Albert Dreiser (August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American novelist and journalist. He pioneered the naturalist school and is known for portraying characters whose value lies not in their moral code, but in their persistence against all obstacles, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of choice and agency.  \nAlso available on Feedbooks Dreiser:  \n The Genius (1915)  \n Sister Carrie (1900)  \n Twelve Men (1919)  \n The Financier (1912)  \n Jennie Gerhardt (1911)  \n The Titan (1914)  \nCopyright: This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 .  \nNote: This book is brought to you by Feedbooks  \n[http://www.feedbooks.com](http://www.feedbooks.com)  \nStrictly for personal use, do not use this file for commercial purposes.  \nPart 1  \nCh t 1   \nap er  \nDusk—of a summer night.  \nAnd the tall walls of the commercial heart of an American city of perhaps 400,000 inhabitants—such walls as in time may linger as a mere fable.  \nAnd up the broad street, now comparatively hushed, a little band of six,—a man of about fifty, short, stout, with bushy hair protruding from under around black felt hat, a most unimportant-looking person, who carried a small portable organ such as is customarily used by street preachers and singers. And with him a woman perhaps five years his junior, taller, not so broad, but solid of frame and vigorous, very plain in face and dress, and yet not homely, leading with one hand a small boy of seven and in the other carrying a Bible and several hymn books. With these three, but walking independently behind, was a girl of fifteen, a boy of twelve and another girl of nine, all following obediently, but not too enthusiastically, in the wake of the others.  \nIt was hot, yet with a sweet languor about it all.  \nCrossing at right angles the great thoroughfare on which they walked, was a second canyon-like way, threaded by throngs and vehicles and various lines of cars which clanged their bells and made such progress as they might amid swiftly moving streams of traffic. Yet the little group seemed unconscious of anything save a set purpose to make its way between the contending lines of traffic and pedestrians which flowed by them.  \nHaving reached an intersection this side of the second principal thoroughfare—really just an alley between two tall structures—now quite bare of life of any kind, the man put down the organ, which the woman immediately opened, setting up a music rack upon which she placed a wide flat hymn book. Then handing the Bible to the man, she fell back in line with him, while the twelve-year-old boy put down a small camp-stool in front of the organ. The man—the father, as he chanced to be—looked about  \nhim with seeming wide-eyed assurance, and announced, without appearing to care whether he had any auditors or not:  \n\"We will first sing a hymn of praise, so that any who may wish to acknowledge the Lord may join us. Will you oblige, Hester?\"  \nAt this the eldest girl, who until now had attempted to appear as unconscious and unaffected as possible, bestowed her rather slim and as yet undeveloped figure upon the camp chair and turned the leaves of the hymn book, pumping the organ while her mother observed:  \n\"I should think it might be nice to sing twenty-seven tonight—'How Sweet the Balm of Jesus' Love.'\"  \nBy this time various homeward-bound individuals of diverse grades and walks of life, noticing the small group disposing itself in this fashion, hesitated for a moment to eye them askance or paused to ascertain the character of their work. This hesitancy, construed by the man apparently to constitute attention, however mobile, was seized upon by him and he began addressing them as though they were specifically here to hear him.  \n\"Let us all sing twenty-seven, ","cbCaindJEnNgI78f","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaindJEnNgI78f","pdf",4584053,869,"English","# Part 1\n## Chapter 1","[{\"question\":\"What happens at the start of Part 1, Chapter 1?\",\"answer\":\"A small family walks through a busy American city and stops by an alley-like thoroughfare to sing hymns, setting up their organ, hymn book, and Bible.\"},{\"question\":\"How is the family portrayed in the opening scene?\",\"answer\":\"The narration emphasizes their physical looks and determined yet limited circumstances—an unimportant-looking father, a forceful mother, and children who sing weakly or awkwardly.\"},{\"question\":\"What role does the surrounding city environment play?\",\"answer\":\"The city’s traffic, buildings, and indifferent pedestrians create a backdrop of skepticism and apathy, highlighting the family’s public religious effort.\"}]","An American Tragedy - Part 1 - Chapter 1 | PDF",1338]