Booth Tarkington’s The Magnificent Ambersons is Worthy of University Study

A university is a place where students are taught to build upon the basic academic skills acquired in their previous schooling, and to learn to create original ideas. This ability to create original ideas gives students the chance to rise above any preconceived notions of the masses, instead of conforming to them. For example, in the subject of literature, students can find individuality in being able to, critically, analyze a literary work in contrast to most people who can only retell it as a story. Through such critical analysis, students can discover many original ideas that may help bring literature to life. In his prize-winning novel, The Magnificent Ambersons, Booth Tarkington presents a masterpiece of literary work, full of features which can be used in a university setting to teach students literary criticism such as characterization, irony, and theme.

First, the characterizations in The Magnificent Ambersons show Tarkington’s mastery in describing human characters. According to Robert DiYanni in Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, characterization is a “narrative description with explicit judgment”(55). For example, Tarkington’s story begins with Major Amberson. Major Amberson is the head of the family who has built a fortune around the time period of 1873 (3). The story of the Ambersons starts out based on this fortune that Major Amberson has made. Tarkington points out the fact that Major Amberson is the head of the family by naming him, Major. Where the term, major, holds a position of seniority and authority in the military, Major Amberson holds the same in his family. The use of this descriptive name allows the reader to make an explicit judgment on the status and the role of Maj...

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...e union of Lucy and Georgie.

In conclusion, Tarkington’s use of characterization, irony, and themes in The Magnificent Ambersons has brought this story to life. His techniques in making the characters come alive by using vivid characterization, his unexpected reversal of roles, and his universal themes have enlightened me in such a challenging manner that l am convinced they are worthy of serious study in a university setting.

Works Cited

DiYanni, Robert. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.

The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington. Dir. Alfonso Arau, Perf. Madeleine Stowe, Bruce Greenwood, Gretchen Mol and Jennifer Tilly. A&E Presentation, January 13, 2002. Class Film. NJIT. LIT 330-001. Fall Semester, 2002.

Tarkington, Booth. The Magnificent Ambersons. New York: Richard Press, 1980.