An American Tragedy Group

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barrjaime1
barrjaime1

In T. Dreiser's book An American Tragedy, what is the name of the lake in which Clyde Griffiths drowns Roberta Alden?

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Posted by barrjaime1 on Wednesday November 28, 2007 at 10:47 PM and tagged with american tragedy, an american tragedy, characters, dreiser, james, lake bittern, setting.

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  1. linda-allen Teacher
    High School - 10th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    The name of the lake is Big Bittern, located in the Adirondacks. Clyde wants to marry Sondra Finchley, who is wealthy. But Roberta, who is pregnant with Clyde's baby, is in the way. He is unable to convince her to have an abortion, so after reading a newspaper article about an accidental drowning, he decides to kill Roberta and claim it was an accident. He invites her to spend the weekend at the lake; Roberta thinks he is going to ask her to marry him. They rent a boat and take it out on the lake and Roberta does drown. Ironically, her death really is an accident, but Clyde is charged with murder nevertheless.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/salem-lit/american-tragedy-an
    http://www.enotes.com/salem-lit/american-tragedy-an-03001...

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    Posted by linda-allen on Thursday November 29, 2007 at 1:23 PM