BOOKRAGS: 2011

BookRags Literature Study Guide

The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos

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The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.

The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.

The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.

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Plot Summary

The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos is the first part of the USA Trilogy. The book is about the lives of ordinary Americans living and trapped by the time period in which they live. These people live their lives and pass on or just disappear. Some meet and interact with one another while other don't.

The book is called a novel but there is no plot. It is a book about people and their lives over a period of about three decades. These are people like J. Ward Moorehouse who is a public relations man and Eleanor Stoddard who is an interior decorator and the book is a narrative of their lives. They all have one think in common: they are people who are dominated by institutions. They are trapped by history, as stated in the Forward, and are given by the Newsreels that are interspersed throughout the text. The Newsreels can be a variety of things like new clips, advertising slogans or the lyrics of songs from the time. Mixed in with this are the brief biographies of important people of the time. There is also the Camera Eye in which Dos Passos provides glimpses into his own life.

Their life stories begin when they are children and the reader watches them grow up and make their way in the world. Most come from humble beginnings in twentieth century America and are unhappy with where they grew up as soon as they can, the leave the area, looking for better opportunities. All of the characters travel for one reason or another and many of them end up in New York. Many of the men make their way around the country by hopping freight trains or hitchhiking and go from place to place, fining work where they can along the way. The women move in response to a job. The reader learns of the everyday problems they face and how they deal with those problems in the era in which they live.

The book is about on America of a different era. This is the time of the labor movement and the wobbly's, the time of clashes between workers and management. Throughout the book the characters are presenting their opinions about the issues and they don't always agree with one another. Some, like Mac, want to be involved in the labor movement. Other don't.

The novel is written in a way that makes it quite interesting reading. The Newsreel items and the brief bios tie in as well as The Camera Eye with what is happening in the lives of the characters and is an interesting way of describing the scene for the reader. The characters who live during this time do their best to survive and accomplish their goals. None of them starts out with money, although some, like Ward, marry money. Others, like Eleanor, achieve a lifestyle that far surpasses their childhood. They all struggle in various ways.

The book is enjoyable reading and the reader will be glad that he/she invested the time in reading the book. The unique style of John Dos Passos is what makes the book so enjoyable. The 42nd Parallel is the first part of the trilogy so some of the characters that are introduced in this book are further developed in other parts of the trilogy.

pgs. 1-21 Summary

The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos, is the first part of the USA Trilogy. The book is about the lives of ordinary Americans living in and trapped by the time period in which they live. These people live their lives and pass on or just disappear. Some meet an interact with one another while others don't.

The book begins with a Newsreel about the closing on Capital City's Century. Commanding General Miles is riding a horse which stumbles and falls on him. The General gets up and gets back on the horse. Other news clips follow, such as ex-President Harrison speaking at the Columbia Club banquet in Indianapolis at which a toast was made saying that the twentieth century would be dominated by America and American thought.

In The Camera Eye, Dos Passos talks about walking along a cobblestone path and being careful not to step on the grass. He his with his mother being followed by angry people and they duck into a postcard shop. His mother says they will be safe there because the angry people won't follow.

The character Mac is introduced. His real name is Fainy McCreary. As a child, he lives in a neighborhood of bullies where the safest place to play is in the backyard of a frame house that is home to four other families. During a strike at the Chadwick Mills, his father lost his job as a night watchman. His mother soon dies. After the funeral, his father and uncle tell him that they are moving to Chicago. They departed the next morning with Milly crying while they viewed the building and people they were familiar with for the last time. They board a train for Chicago.

The Camera Eye section is about a train trip Dos Passos remembers from his childhood. He and Lucy had to run to catch the train where Scott was waiting with the tickets. On the train, Mac listens to his father and uncle talking. His father couldn't pay the bills and his uncle tells him there are plenty of jobs in Chicago. When they arrive in Chicago, they ride a streetcar.

When Fainy finished his education, he went to work in his uncle's print shop off North Clark Street. Fainy's Uncle Tim had leftist learning and Mac would distribute handbills supporting the striking workers. One day Uncle Tim tells him he is going out of business and Fainy has to find a job. Fainy begins to look for a job.

There is a brief bio of Eugene Debs who was one of the early socialists and active in the labor movement.

pgs. 1-21 Analysis

The Newsreel sets the stage for what was happening in the world at the time Mac was a child. He was born in Middleton, Connecticut, along with his sister Milly. It was a tough neighborhood, and, being Irish, Mac had a problem with the local bullies, which was common for that time period. After their mother's death, the family moves to Chicago. They watch the familiar buildings and people for the last time, while riding to the train station. Like all children, they are afraid of leaving the known and the familiar for a strange place. Milly cries during the train ride, wanting to stop in her bed. The two men do their best to console the children.

Fainy grew up in Chicago and after he completed his schooling, he worked in Uncle Tim's print shop. Uncle Tim favored the political left and supported the labor movement and was eventually forced out of business. This meant that Fainy had to find a job and begins to look for employment. Like all young people his age, he thinks he has all of the experience he needs from working at the print shop. Even though Fainy still lives with his Aunt and Uncle, he is now on his own.

pgs. 22-41 Summary

Fainy receives a letter inviting him to a job interview, which he goes to. He interviews with Doc Bingham. Fainy mentions that the ad in the paper said the salary is fifteen dollars a week and Dr. Bingham says that is the minimum he will make. Fainy takes the job that is offered and walks to the tailor shop with Bingham, where he finds that Bingham is in debt. The tailor gives him two boxes. Fainy isn't sure what he is getting involved with, but it is a job and he needs words.

Bingham send Fainy to Mohawk House. He gives him a room number and tells him to pack up the suits in the boxes. If anyone asks, he is to say he is taking them to the cleaners. Fainy takes the packed boxes to the office. While waiting for Mannie Bingham, Fainy finds he is behind in the office rent and is being asked to leave. Bingham tells him that he and Fainy are leaving for a business trip to Michigan. Fainy says goodbye to his family and meets Bingham at the Illinois Central train station.

On the train, Fainy finds that Bingham is well versed in literature as he recites various versus. In the background other men are talking about the trust busting activities of the government and other political issues. After his recitation of verse, Bingham beings trying to sell books and pamphlets to the men in the car. He leaves Fainy to collect the money and distribute the books. When he finished, he went back to this seat by Bingham, and gave him the money.

They arrived in Saginaw, Michigan and stayed at the Commercial House. They rent a hours and wagon. Fainy drives while listening to Bingham's discourse. It is raining and they stop at a farm house where the woman allows them to put the horse and wagon in the barn. They sell some pamphlets to the women. The woman's husband enters, says they don't need any of the literature but that Fainy and Bingham can spend the night in the barn.

Later that night, the woman's son sneaks out to the barn to purchase a book about sex. They slept in the barn and departed the next morning. They lived in this manner for the next several weeks. After three weeks, Fainy asked Bingham about his salary. Bingham says he will pay him that night.

That night they stay at the house of Mrs. Kovach, whose husband was out of town for two days. Fainy fell asleep in the chair and awoke to a lot of noise. Mrs. Kovach's husband had returned unexpectedly, finding her with Bingham. Mr. Kovach is chasing Bingham with a shotgun. Fainy runs out of the house alone.

pgs. 22-41 Analysis

Fainy accepts a job with Doc Bingham. He finds that Bingham is in debt and being asked to vacate his office. He wonders what he is becoming involved in debt and being asked to vacate his office. He wonders what he is becoming involved in, but he is young and needs a job. He doesn't ask any questions of Bingham. The only question he asked about was the salary. The ad had had the salary was fifteen dollars a week. Bingham told him that that would be the minimum.

Fainy leaves for Michigan by train with Bingham. On the train, Bingham gives his sales pitch and leaves Fainy to sell the books. He gives the money to Bingham, but doesn't receive any. In Michigan, they travel in a rented horse and wagon, going from house to house selling books and sleeping in the barn. After three weeks he asks Bingham about his salary and is told he will give it to him that night.

They spend that night with Mrs. Kovach. Her husband was out of town and returned unexpected, finding her with Bingham. He chases them out of the house with a shotgun. At this point, Fainy isn't interested in anything but the money he is owed. He doesn't reward any of the spicy books that Bingham sells and has no comment about the ethics of selling the books to minors. He just does what he is told to do for the money that Bingham promised him.

pgs. 42-62 Summary

The Newsreel II talks about George Smith and his brother being hanged by a Kansas mob. There is also one about a demonstration against the assassin of the Czar, held at Smolensk. The Camera Eye talks of old Mr. Garnet coming to tea in Kew Gardens but he is more interested in playing the gramophone. They talk of Togo and other events of the war.

Other Newsreels being news of the war and strikes in Russia and America. The Czar gives a Constitution to the people of Russia.

Fainy reached the railroad station at Gaylord and fell asleep while waiting for the ticket agent. He is awakened by a young man named George Hall, known as Ike, and the two go to breakfast. Fainy tells him stories about Bingham. Both say that they are socialists. They talk about the possibility of socialist revolutions in Russia and Germany.

Ike shows Mac how to hop a freight. They hop the approaching train and arrive in Mackinaw city later that afternoon. At the wharf they are offered jobs doing odd jobs. They decide to take the work so they can earn money for the trip to Duluth. After a month, they departed for Duluth. They went to the house where Ike's mother lived and found a "For Sale" sign on it. Ike finds she moved to Buffalo to live with his brothers.

They jump into a boxcar planning on going to San Francisco. The two slept as the train traveled. The train stops somewhere and they discover that they are in Canada. They pay the man a few dollars and ride on to Winnipeg. Without money, the wandered around the city all night and the next morning, secured employment at a Canadian Pacific construction camp in Banff where they spend the summer working. In October, they went to Vancouver with money and new clothes. Mac wants to go to Seattle and find a job with a print shop. They buy tickets for a steamboat to Victoria and Seattle. On the boat, they meet Gladys and Olive, who live in Seattle.

The next day in Seattle, they rent rooms at the Y.M.C.A. They had plans to find jobs and go to school at night. They drank too much that night at Gladys and Olive's apartment and Mac was arrested when he left. The next morning he is released, but his money is missing. They have to leave the Y.M.C.A. and begin looking for work which they eventually find at a lumber camp on the Snake River. The conditions there were so bad that they only stayed for a few days. They traveled south, finding work where they could and sleeping in barns.

Ike finds he has a venereal disease. A doctor refuses to treat him but a bum tells him to drink tea made of cherry pits and stems for the cure. That night, Ike and the bum hop a freight. Mac falls and misses the train. He never sees Ike again. Mac spends that night at a ranch, where he works for a while. The rancher wouldn't let Mac marry his daughter.

pgs. 42-62 Analysis

Fainy meets Ike at the Gaylord train station. The two men become friends over breakfast. Both claim to be socialists and find that neither has read Marx. They discuss the possibility of a revolution in America. The two get a long and Mac decides to go to Duluth with Ike.

Mac leans a different kind of life with Ike, just as he did with Bingham. He was more or less sheltered in Chicago, living with his aunt and uncle. With Ike, he learns how to hop freight trains and sleep in box cars while traveling around working at various odd jobs. Mac is still very young. He is very inexperienced with women and is almost afraid of Gladys and Olive.

Mac sees Ike for the last time when he, Mac, falls while trying to hop a freight that Ike and the bums were already on. Now he is on his own. He goes on living in the only lifestyle he has known since he left Chicago. He spends the night at a ranch. After talking to the rancher in the morning, he is offered a job, which he takes. He remains there until the rancher asks him to leave, because he wants to marry Mona, the rancher's daughter. The rancher and his wife don't feel that Mac is good enough for their daughter and tell him to leave. They look at what he is at the time, not at what planes he has for the future. He promises Mona that he will come back for her when he has some money.

Traveling and working as Ike and Mac did was not an uncommon practice at the time. They did what many other men did.

pgs. 62-84 Summary

The Newsreel tells of Harriman and Teddy Roosevelt and explosions at a steel mill. The Camera Eye has Dos Passos remembering about skating on a pond next to a silver mill. He kept falling. The bio brief is about Luther Burbank, who believed in Darwin's natural selection and developed hybrid plants. The next Newsreel talks about problems in the Congo.

Mac was in Sacramento at Thanksgiving, working at a dried fruit warehouse. He went to San Francisco in January. He rented a room at the Y.M.C.A. When he went out, he locked this money in his suitcase, remembering his experience in Seattle. Mac obtains a job in a print shop owned by Bonello, who was an anarchist. He included Mac in his meetings and social outings. Her he met Maisie Spencer. Mac in in San Francisco during the big earthquake and it took him three days to find Maisie.

The print shop was destroyed by the earthquake and Mac went to work for the Bulletin in fall. At a lecture by Upton Sinclair, he met Fred Hoff. Mac joined his organization, the Industrial Workers of the World. He writ is a litter to Maisie telling her of his decision to go to Goldfield, Nevada to help run a newspaper. He tells her he will return to marry her.

The Camera Eye talks about work in a fertilizer factory while the brief bio is about Bill Haywood and how he became active in labor union and the Socialist Party. He eventually went to Russia instead of going to prison.

As soon as Mac arrives in Goldfield, he is questioned by a man looking for agitators. Walking around the town, he finds some union men. They take him to the Nevada Workman where he immediately begins to work on the typesetter's press. Free Hoff arrives and explains the tense situation to him. Mac sleep in a room with the others, over the presses.

Mac receives a letter from Maisie who is two months pregnant and wants them to marry and move to San Diego. A speech by Bill Heywood made Mac forget about Maisie until the next morning, when he tells Fred Hoff that he has to return to San Francisco to get married. Fred talks him into staying in Goldfield for another month. He didn't rad any of Maisie's continual flow of letters until Christmas night. He didn't really want to marry Maisie. He spends Christmas drinking with friends and talks about his situations with Maisie. Mac leaves for San Francisco a few days later.

pgs. 62-84 Analysis

Mac's interest in the labor movement becomes now evident. Uncle Tim had been a socialist and Mac had learned many of his views from him. His time working to Bonello, an anarchist, also stirred his interest in socialism and the labor movement. When he met Fred Hoff and was invited to work with him in Goldfield, Nevada he quits his job and walks out of Maisie who he had promised to marry.

Mac is indecisive with a wishy-washy personality. He wants to go to Goldfield but can't tell Maisie and stick to his guns. When he is in Goldfield he finds that she is pregnant. At first he feels he must immediately return to San Francisco to marry her but lets Fred Hoff talks him into staying on. After he decides that he really doesn't want to marry Maisie, he has an argument with Huff and leaves for San Francisco, wanting to be with Maisie. Mac doesn't know what he wants and basically has no conviction because of this. He reacts to situation and circumstances and goes whichever way the wind blows. After his argument with Huff, returning to Maisie became the most important thing, a Maisie who he had already decided he didn't want to marry.

Mac needs to find himself and decide what he wants to do with his life instead of just drifting from thing to thing and place to place. Part of his problem is that he is still young and seems to be on the fringes of everything he does or becomes involved with.

pgs. 85-103 Summary

The Newsreel discusses the trial of Prof. Ferrer who were due to be shot for his revolutionary activities. In The Camera Eye, Dos Passos the Penny packer girls singing at the Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania. He keeps asking who are the Molly Maquires.

Moe is waiting for a chance to hop a freight and meets a sick old man who asks from help in hopping a freight. He helps him into the train when it arrives. The next morning when the train stops, the man is dead. Mac continues on to San Francisco where he marries Maisie. They go on to San Diego, where Mac found work with ad printer, bought a bungalow and had a daughter named Rose. They had a second child the follower year and were heavily in debt.

One day while going to the theater, they saw a demonstration Mac left Maisie at the theater and want to a bar. He meets a man named McCreary and they set and talk about their families. He decides he wants to be more active in the movement and goes home, drunk, and quarrels with Maisie. The next day, Maisie's brother wants them to move to Los Angeles when he will put a house in Maisie's name. They move a month later and Mac can't find work. One day he meets and old friend, Ben Evans, in the park. Ben wants him to go to Mexico to learn about the revolutionary situation but Mac can't leave the children.

Mac finally finds work at The Times. When Uncle Tim dies, he sends money for the funeral which he took out of the kids accounts. Maisie found out and they quarreled and he leaves the house. He spends the next two weeks at Ben Evans' rooming house, quits his job and leaves for Yuma, Arizona and then to El Paso, Texas where he crossed into Mexico. He finds Ricardo Perez and they talk about the revolution. Perez takes him to the meeting place of the Anarchist Union of Industry and agriculture and introduces him to the comrades. After the meeting, they eat at the hours of one of the workers and then went to a dance hall. They leave Mac in a room with one of the women.

pgs. 85-103 Analysis

Mac marries Maisie and they move to San Diego. He has a job and a house with Maisie and their two children, and he is happy for a while. He can't talk about the labor movement or socialism with Maisie or even read any of the literature around her. This was the same problem they had before they were married.

One day on the way to the theater, they see a demonstration. Mac sits at the theater, thinking, and finally leaves Maisie at the theater. At a bar, he meets a man named McCreary and they talk as they think. Mac decides he will become more active in the movement, but ends up moving to Los Angeles into a house that Maisie's brother puts in Maisie's name. Mac find work but keeps his socialist views quiet. He reads the literature in the park where he meets Ben Evans from his Goldfield days. They talk of the revolution in Mexico and after he splits with Maisie, he goes to Juarez.

Mac basically repressed his views and interests during his years with Maisie. As soon as they split, he decided he was free to travel and work for the movement. He still had wanderlust in his blood. Maisie had allowed him no outlet for his interests during their marriage which is why he is so quick to leave for Juarez instead of staying in the Los Angeles area where his children were. Perhaps if she had shown some interest in the movement and had allowed him to talk about it, he might not have taken such a drastic step. However, Mac's wobbly beliefs and interests were not something that Maisie could handle.

pgs. 104-131 Summary

The Newsreel tells of various events, one of which is the governments defeat of the rebels in Mexico. The camera Eye is about a towboat captain in Virginia.

Janey grew up in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. with her brother Joe and sisters. Janey and her sisters were allowed to stay in school, but brother Joe was told to find a job after completing his first year of high school. He didn't spend much time at home after that, although he, his friend Alec, and Janey did go on some outings, like canoeing at Great Falls. Janey had a crush on Alec and would wait for Joe to come up to ask about him. She had one close friend, Alice Dick, and they planned to find jobs and move out of their parent's homes after high school

One day Joe tells her that Alec was killed in a motorbike accident and that he is joining the Navy. He has Janey tell their parents. That July, after graduation, Janey and Alice secured jobs as typists in the office of Mrs. Robinson.

The Camera Eyes tells of a Mr. Garfield reading from the Man Without a Country and how the man is put on frigates sailing to foreign lands. The Newsreel talks of the treatment of American prisoners involved in insurrectionist activities and of the Titanic disaster.

Janey's mother didn't understand why she has to work. Janey becomes interested in politics. She soon found a better paying position with patent attorneys Dreyfus and Carrol. Janey is now twenty-one. She receives postcards from Joe, but never answers her letters.

One Saturday night she has to work late. One of the lawyers, Jerry Burnham, take her to dinner and they talk. They remained in touch after he left the firm.

Janey's father is in Georgetown Hospital with cancer. He tells her that he is proud of Joe. One day, Jerry Burnham appears at the office and takes Janey to dinner. They drive around afterword and he kisses her and says he wants to marry her. When she won't let him have his way, he tells her he can get what he wants from any prostitute. He appears several weeks later to apologize and tells her he has a job as a war correspondent and was leaving Washington.

After her father's death in September she moves out of their mother's house. She read the newspapers but never received a latter from Jerry. Her brother Joe returns and she finds that he is a deserter from the Navy.

pgs. 104-131 Analysis

Janey is a girl from Georgetown. She is one of four children and has led a sheltered and proper life. This section deals with her growing up and coming of age in the Washington, D.C. area. She has a good job at a patent law firm and develops an interest in politics and world events, discussions of which were taboo in her parents home. As she reaches the age of twenty one, she learns to deal with men and whatever problems come her way. She becomes less afraid as she gains more experience, as most people do.

Janey doesn't seem to show much emotion. She seems to present a calm and even appearance to the world and keeps her fears and thoughts to herself. She seems to confide somewhat in her friend and roommate Alice Dicks. As she and Alice live on their own, they break away their sheltered Georgetown lives and begin to think of themselves as bachelor girls. Janey beings to want a career in business.

pgs. 131-150 Summary

The Newsreel tells of various political events like Roosevelt becoming the leader of a new party. There is also talk of the case of a man named Richardson who poisoned his fiance.

J. Ward Moorehouse grew up in Wilmington, Delaware. After graduating high school, he worked for a book distributing firms and traveled around Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware. He was one of their top salesmen Johnny had to quit college during his second year to help support the family when his father was injured and unemployed. The children had to help out by working and Johnny found a job at a real estate office. Johnny wanted to be a songwriter and he was taking music lessons. He began to write songs.

He continued to submit songs to the music publishers while he worked at the real estate office. They were always returned. The real estate office sends him to Ocean City, Maryland, on business. One the train he meets Annabelle Marie Strang who is from a wealthy family and on her way to meet her father in Ocean City. Even though they spend the time of the train talking to one another, they don't introduce themselves until they arrive in Ocean City.

Johnny is staying at the same hotel as the Strangs are at. When Johnny is in the dining room, Annabelle and her father come in and she introduces him to Dr. Strang.

The next morning, Johnny finds Colonel Wedgewood at the Ocean City Improvement and Realty Company and spends the morning there tending to his firm's business. He has lunch with the Colonel and misses his train to Wilmington. Later that afternoon, he accepted a job with the Colonel's firm for fifteen dollars a week and a furnished cottage. He notified his employer in Wilmington and his mother in writing. When Johnny is settling his bill at the hotel, Annabelle appears and introduces him to a Frenchman. He finds that Colonel Wedgewood is a good friend of Dr. Strang's.

Johnny spent much of his time at the office writing advertising for real estate in Ocean City. He was falling in love with Annabelle and spent his evenings at the Ocean House hotel and always found her with the Frenchman, who had some kind of title. Johnny discovered that the Frenchman's family won't let him marry Annabelle. He departed and Annabelle began taking evening walks with Johnny. One night, after a moonlight service, he asks if she'd marry someone like him. She says she might.

pgs. 131-150 Analysis

Johnny grew up in Wilmington, Delaware. He was the oldest of six children and the brightest. His family is not well to do. Johnny is a good salesman and eventually secures a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania. He has to leave college in his second year when his father has an accident. The father loses his job when he tries to see the company. It turns out that his accident was caused by his drinking. This incident made Johnny very bitter towards his father and alcohol.

Johnny goes to work for a real estate firm even though he really wants to be a song writer. When his employer sends him to Ocean City, Maryland on business, he accepts a position with a real estate company there and stays. Colonel Wedgewood offers him a better deal than the office in Wilmington gave him. The Ocean City job also gets him out of his parents home and out of Wilmington, where he didn't want to say.

His life is further complicated by Annabelle Marie Strang, whom he met on the train. She is from a wealthy family and trying to snag a member of the French nobility, but his family won't allow the match. Johnny is honest with her, telling her he has no money and has to help support his family. He is not interested in her money and tells her he has prospects. Annabelle seems more interested in money and position than Johnny is.

pgs. 151-172 Summary

Annabelle is worried about her father's real estate ventures and saw her father. In fall, Johnny has completed the advertising booklet and is obtaining printing estimates. It is more or less understood that Johnny and Annabelle are engaged. One night now the end of the season, Johnny is sitting in the Ocean House lobby and overhears the conversation of two bellhops and finds that Annabelle has been messing around with most of the men in the area.

Their engagement is soon announced and Annabelle soon tells him that she is pregnant. He says that they will have to stay away for a year after the wedding and he won't be to accept the position he was offered at the Philadelphia Newspaper. Annabelle says they can go to Europe for a year. They sailed for Europe the day after their wedding. One the crossing, Ward notices how much she drinks.

They spent a week in London, which Annabelle didn't like, and then went on to Paris, by which time Ward was less bitter.He told Annabelle that he planned to study French and find a job with an American company. Mr. Oppenheimer helped him secure a position with the Paris office of the New York Herald.

Annabelle has her pregnancy terminated without telling him. After her release from the hospital, she let for the south of France with Ward refusing to go with. Ward receives a letter from Colonel Wedgewood telling that the Ocean City real estate market was booming. He also enclosed a copy of the advertising booklet that Ward had written. He shows the book to Mr. Oppenheimer and Mr. McGill, who was involved in the Pittsburgh steel industry. McGill tells Ward to look him up if he is even in Pittsburgh.

Annabelle returns from Nice. Her father has financial problems because the real estate market in Ocean City collapsed and Wedgewood's company went bankrupt. They buy a new wardrobe and return to the United States and live at Dr. Strang's house in Philadelphia. Ward leaves for Pittsburgh.

The Camera Eye talks about Halley's Comet and the fact that one can't be confirmed if one hasn't been baptized. The Newsreel discusses the presidential succession in Mexico.

Eleanor Stoddard was born and raised in Chicago. She had an English Teacher who encouraged her to take art courses at the Art Institute. She moved out of the hours after her mother's death and tried to avoid her father but occasionally had to borrow money because her job at the lace shop didn't always cover her expenses.

One day Eleanor meets Eveline Hutchins while looking at paintings at the Art Institute. Eleanor misrepresents herself as the daughter of an artist who lives in Florence. Eveline wants Eleanor to come to dinner at her home and says she will contact her.

Eleanor enjoys the time she spends at the Hutchins' home and they liked her. At the lace shop, so money customers thought that Eleanor was French that her employer thought it was good for business and sent her to study French at Berlitz.

pgs. 151-172 Analysis

Johnny felt he had a good opportunity in Ocean City and in marrying Annabelle. He decides to marry her even after finding she has been missing round with many men. She also tells him that she is pregnant and now calls him Ward. It is difficult to discern Ward's motives at this point.

They marry and travel to Europe where they plan to remain for a year. Annabelle has her pregnancy terminated, without telling Ward beforehand. He is cool to her after that and stays in Paris working while she travels to Nice. At first Ward was happy in his life with Annabelle, but he made it clear that he would find a job and not live entirely off of her income. Ward admits that he is ambitious to succeed on his own.

Ward knew about Annabell's affairs with many men before they married. Perhaps he expected her to change after their marriage, but she didn't and this led to their breakup. He feels that their marriage was just a way for her to try to disguise her conduct.

Eleanor Stoddard is ashamed of her background and her family. When she introduces herself to Eveline, she says her father is an artist living in Florence and that she has relatives on the wealthy suburb of Lake Forest. This is not a way to establish a friendship yet she doesn't tell Eveline or the Hutchins family the truth. Building relationships on lies always leads to trouble and in some instances, Eleanor is trapped when she can't let them see that she lives at the Moody House. Her employer, Mrs. Lang, fosters a lie also in presenting Eleanor as French and sending her for French lessons.

pgs. 173-193 Summary

Eleanor's French teacher died and is replaced by a young man whom she immediately liked. They sit and talk and he tells her about how he came to Chicago. He is a painter named Maurice Millet. On Sunday, she arranges for him to meet Eveline and her friend Eric Enstrom at the Art Institute. They had dinner at Hutchins house and then went to visit the Shusters. Maurice did not like the Shusters.

Marice moves in with Eric when Eric rents a studio on North Clarke Street. They began having their parties there instead of at the Shusters. That summer, Eveline left for Europe with her family.

Eric helps Eleanor secure a job at Marshall Field. She worked out well and was making more money. A story circulated that she was a society girl who didn't have to work. She moved from Moody House to a residential hotel where she became friends with a Miss Eliza Perkins, who was said to be wealthy.

When Eveline returned from Europe, she and Eleanor had tea with Miss Perkins. Eric had been fired from his job at Marshall Field and Eleanor hadn't seen much of him and Maurice. After tea, the girls go to dinner at the Hutchins' home. Elanor didn't see Eveline much that winter but read about her in the society pages.

Miss Perkins dies Eleanor takes off from work the next day and has lunch with Eveline. She hopes that she is in Miss Perkins' will, but doesn't tell that to Eveline. After the funeral, Eleanor is invited to lunch by Mrs. Smith who is from Miss Perkins' bank and told that she is mentioned in the will. She receives a diamond broach. Eleanor went on working at Marshall Field for the next few years.

One day Eveline tells her that she has broken off her engagement and is going to find a job. Eveline wants them to open their own interior decorating business. They decide to do it. The next month she quits her job, even though she is offered a raise. They rented space in a Victorian house on Chicago Avenue for their office and show room. They would live in the apartment over their business. the girls lived the way they wanted to, but were in debit.

Eleanor spends a lot of time socializing with Tom Custis, a wealthy socialite. Eventually, Eveline went back to live with her parents. That spring, a friend of theirs, Freddy Sergent has a contract to do a play and wants Eveline and Eleanor to come to New York to do the scenery and costumes. The two women leave for New York that evening.

The Newsreel tells of the Mexican president saying he will resign when he dies. There is also talk of problems in the labor movement. The bio brief is about the death of Minor C. Keith and how he made his money. One of the companies he formed was United Fruit. The Camera Eye discusses the strike of streetcar men in Lawrence.

pgs. 173-193 Analysis

Eleanor shows that she is a bit of a money digger. Her job at Marshall Field pays more than the job at the lace shop, so she moves out of Moody House and into the Ivanhoe Hotel where she be friends Miss Eliza Perkins. Eleanor thinks that Miss Perkins is wealthy since the old woman takes her to the theater and to dinner at the best restaurants. When Eveline returns from Europe, she wants to know why Eleanor is spending her time with the old lady. Eleanor doesn't tell her that she hopes to be mentioned in her will. When the old lady dies, Eleanor receives no money, just a diamond broach.

Eleanor puts up with the situation at Marshall Field until Eveline suggests that they open their own interior decorating business. They do and find it isn't as easy as they thought. They do into debt. A friend of theirs receives a contract to do a play and offer them the job of designing the scenery and costumes. It is such a good opportunity that they leave for New York that evening.

Eleanor only sees her father when she needs money. She refuses to meet the woman he is going to marry and tells him that he lives to far away for her to visit. Apparently, he still reminds her of the stockyards.

pgs. 193 - 214 Summary

Ward lived as a lodger in the house of Mrs. Cook while he was in Pittsburgh. He often worked until three or four in the morning and had very little free time. He did contact Mr. McGill who promised him a job at the Chamber of Commerce Information Bureau which was being formed. Ward waited to hear but nothing happened. He accidentally meets McGill at a Kiwanis Convention and McGill tells him about a position in advertising. Ward says he is interested. They set up a meeting for the next day.

The new job gave Ward his own office and he moved into the Schenley. His life changes as he began to be introduced around socially. He worked with Oliver Taylor, a nephew of one of the directors, with whom he socialized. Ward also began to educate himself about the steel industry and begins to date Gertrude Staple when Oliver broke up with her. He purchased a red stutz roadster and the day after his divorce is final, asks Gertrude to marry him. She said her family wouldn't allow it.

A strike at Bessemer resulted in violence, press coverage and investigations. In a meeting with McGill, Ward proposed a new approach with an industry wide information bureau headed by himself. He got the job.

After the death of Gertrude's father, he begins to see her again and they marry six months later. Ward quit his job and they planned a one year honeymoon in Europe. Ward wanted to begin his own advertising agency and they were hoping Gertrude's mother would give them the money.

In the Camera Eye, Dos Passos talks about life in Virgina. The Newsreel tells of low wages for workers, and a Europe moving closer to war. There is a bio brief on Andrew Carnegie. The second The Camera Eye is about the and battles between the British and Germans.

Ward and Gertrude cut short their European trip because of the talk of war. He rented an office in New York to start his business. Edgar Robbins, whom he met in Europe , worked for him. He traveled to different places to promote the business.

pgs. 193 - 214 Analysis

Ward moved to Pittsburgh after leaving Annabelle. He has the job with the newspaper but he is very unhappy and depressed. Mr. McGill promised him a position and he is waiting for it to come through. He has no friends in the city and usually doesn't go out of his room on his day off. He really hated his job at the newspaper. McGill came through with a job in advertising at Bessemer and Ward's life changed.

Ward is ambitious but he is a hard worker. When he took the job at Bessemer, he spent a lot of time learning the steel industry. He wants the finer things in life but he is willing to work for them. He received the break he needed from McGill that pulled him out of the doldrums and let him provide himself.

Ward is unhappy in each position that he holds because there are always people over him. He decides that he wants to begin his own advertising company. After marrying Gertrude, they hope her mother with give them the money.

Moorehouse was definitely on the rebound when he first asked Gertrude to marry him the day after his divorce became final. He felt that he should be married and that he should have his own business. After marrying Gertrude, her mother gave him the money to begin his business.

pgs. 215-236 Summary

The Newsreel tells of a car accident and that it is healthier to allow babies to be naked. The Camera Eye discusses a trip on the Magdalena River and the horrors of the jungle.

Freddy meets Eleanor and Eveline in New York. He had arranged rooms for them at the Brevoort. They talk about the play which is due to open in Greenwich in a month. Freddy introduces them to his friends, including Benjamin Freelby, who was in charge of the production.

The work on scenery and costumes kept Eleanor and Eveline very busy. When opening night arrived, they watched the play from the back of the theater. They attended the party after the play. The play closed after two weeks and the two women never received all of the money that they had been promised. Eleanor stayed on in New York while Eveline returned to Chicago. Sally Emerson, whose house they had decorated, gave Eleanor the money to start her own business.

Eleanor received the job to decorate the house of J. Ward Moorehouse. Eleanor met with Ward many times in the course of decorating the house. They become friends and he becomes her financial adviser.

The Camera Eye talks of Quebec and of Chatauqua Lecturer and his wife quarreling at the Hotel Frontenac. Quebec is compared with Greece and Lecturer talks of how boys shouldn't go with bad girls.

Janey is still working at the office of Dreyfus and Carroll although Mr. Carroll is no longer with the firm Janey follows Mr. Carroll's political career. Janey was bothered by the pro-German atmosphere at the office and took a position with Smelley Richards, a real estate firm. That didn't last long. She looked for work but this was the time of the Depression and there weren't many jobs. A lead from Alice gets her a temporary job with a man staying at the Hotel Continental. The man was Mr. G.H. Barrow, who calls her from J. Ward Moorehouse's suite at the Shoreham and says she is needed these. She finished her work for Barrow the next day.

A woman at the Shoreham told her they needed someone to take dictation in one of the rooms and sent Janey. It was the room of J. Ward Moorehouse. His secretary had a broken hip and was in the hospital. Janey accepts Moorehouse's offer of a job. She will be traveling with him.

The bio brief is about Thomas Edison and his career and how he came to discover electricity, along with his many inventions.

pgs. 215-236 Analysis

Eveline and Eleanor work hard on the play but it fails after two weeks. Eleanor stays in New York and her Chicago client, Sally Emerson gives her the money do start her own decorating business. Eleanor is talented and a hard worker. She soon secures the job to decorate the hours of J. Ward Moorehouse.

Moorehouse and Gertrude have two children but Gertrude has been ill since the birth of the second. Ward, now called J.W. describes her as an invalid. He spends a lot of time with Eleanor and it is obvious that he is lonely.

The paths of the different characters continue to cross as Janey becomes the personal secretary of J. Ward Moorehouse. The time is now during the Depression and Mr. Dreyfus is an agent for German. Janey could not handle the pro-German sentiment in the office and quit. She took a job at a real estate office but that did not work out. She was unemployed and desperate but too proud to move back to her mother's house. Alice side stepped her own employer big sending Janey to the job with Barrow. Janey did the unexpected thing and asked a stenographer employee at the Shoreham Hotel if she knew of any positions. She sent her to take dictation for J. Ward Moorehouse whose secretary had an accident. Janey became Moorehouse's personal secretary.

pgs. 232-257 Summary

The Newsreel tells of bombing raids and U-boats as the war proceeds.

The rebels take Juarez while Mac is there. He goes to Mexico City to join Zapata. He goes to the American Bar when he arrives. The Americans are talking about the coming trouble. They say he might find work at the Mexican Herald, which he did. There is talk of the coming revolution at the printing plant.

Three months later, President Wilson orders United States troops out of Mexico. At this time, Mac is living in an apartment with Canada. He enjoys his discussion about socialism and European politics with Korski, a co-worker, and Ben Stowell, an oil promoter. It is Ben who introduces him to G.H. Barrow who is in Mexico writing articles. He is also making contact with legitimate Mexican arrives with the hope of joining them to the American Federation of Labor. They attend a meeting with Barrow and then show him around Mexico City.

Stowell makes a successful business deal and makes Mike the half owner of a bookstore. Concha helped him run the store. Ben's success continued and at Christmas he asked Concha to bring some of her girlfriends to a party he was having for Barrow and J. Ward Moorehouse. Moorehouse and Ben spent most of the time setting on the balcony discussing business.

One day Mac learns that Villa and Zapata area would enter the city by evening. There was a rumor that the government of Carranza had fled. Much went around trying to learn more about the situation. Concha and her mother want to flee to Vera Cruz. Mac decides to sell his book stock to a Syrian and take Concha to the United States and makes a deal with a Syrian. He buys train tickets and they leave for Vera Cruz. Mac buys himself a boat ticket to the United States. The next day he received a refund for the ticket.

The brief bio section is about Steinmetz, a mathematician who was born in Germany and emigrated to the United States. He did the work that led to the development of transformers.

pgs. 232-257 Analysis

Mac arrives in Mexico City and finds work in the printing department of the Mexican Herald. A Polish co-worker named Korski was a socialist in exile, and Mac enjoyed the discussions they had about socialism and European politics. He is living with a Mexican woman named Concha and is much happier than he was with Maisie. He eventually becomes the half-owner of a bookstore due to his dealing with Ben Stovewell.

The main character's path meet again, as Mac attends a party that Stovewell had for Barrow and J. Ward Moorehouse, who had Janey with him. He was trying to unofficially promote business with Mexico on behalf of his client.

Mac, who wanted to fight with Zapata, sold his share of the bookstore and fled when Zapata was about to enter the city. Mac still doesn't know that he wants out of life and is still wishy-washy. First he wants to take Concha to the United States, then decides to go alone and then gets a refund for his tickets, and regrets selling his bookstore. Mac is too quick to act and should take time to think things out before he acts.

pgs. 257-282 Summary

Janey and Moorehouse return to the United States in a private train car and work while they ride to Laredo. From Laredo, they traveled on to New York. The upper berth of her car was occupied by a man named Buck Saunders who was going to Washington, D.C. When the train arrived in New York, Janey helped direct the unloading of the files and then went to the office via taxi. She wonders where she will stay as she is shown to her desk.

A secretary, Gladys Compton, in assigned to help her get situated in New York and offers her the spare room at her parents' house. Gladys' parents like Janey and make her feel comfortable. She can have room and board for ten dollars a week for as long as she wants.

Janey liked her work and her boss. She found the various campaigns to be very interesting. When she returned to Georgetown in June for her sister's wedding, she found that she felt out of place. She was happy when she returned to New York.

In September, Janey moved into a house in Chelsea with Eliza Tingley and her brother. She was happy to be within walking distance of the office and included in all of the Tingley's social activities. When Alice mentioned moving to New York, Janey discouraged her.

One day Gertrude arrives and quarrels with Ward in his office. She is talking of divorcing because she thinks he is seeing Eleanor Stoddard. She arrives home that night to find that Joe had called. When he calls again, she sets an appointment for the next day instead of inviting him over that evening. He is waiting for her after work the next day and they go to a restaurant for dinner and then to the Hippodrome for a show.

When G.H. Barrow was in town, he took Janey to dinner and asked her to marry him. She said she'd think about it.

J. Ward continued to look nervous and worried. He and some associates opened a safe deposit box in her name along with a private account for a new corporation they were forming. She would be an officer but have no liability. Ward's wife is suing him for divorce.

The Camera Eye talks about revolutions and demonstrations. The Newsreel tells of a woman trapping her husband in a hotel with a girl and of Wilson instituting a draft.

Eleanor Stoddard is happy and spending a lot of time with Ward. The interior design business is now all hers since Eveline and her family have moved to Santa Fe. She has her own staff and a maid and is also in debt. Ward has told her about the divorce and the possibility of bankruptcy. Eleanor is also worried about finances, hoping that something would materialize from the investments she made through J.W.

War is declared by the time Eleanor sees Ward. He has offered his services to the government. Ward decides to take Eleanor to dinner with Gertrude. Eleanor assures her that there is nothing between her and Ward. Ward's offer to the government has been accepted and he leave for Washington in the morning.

pgs. 257-282 Analysis

Janey arrives in New York and goes straight to the office. She is slightly scared at being alone in such a big city and decides she will try to find a job for Alice and then they could room together. A co-worker offers her a room at their parents' house and by June, when Janey went to Georgetown for her sister's wedding, she found she had little in common with them and didn't suggest that Alice move to New York.

Janey changes when she lives in New York. She shares a house with the Tingley is and becomes a part of their social circle. She seems to turn her back on Alice and Joe. When Alice wants to come to New York to live, Janey tells her there are no jobs, yet Alice helped Janey when she was unemployed and needed help. When Joe is in town, she doesn't invite him to the house to meet her friends, and he has several comments on that. She feels that she has made the big time when Moorehouse and his associates make her an officer of a corporation with a safety deposit box and private account. She trusts Moorehouse so much that she doesn't even consult her own lawyer.

Gertrude threatens to divorce Ward over his relationship with Eleanor. Her mother is also demanding the money she invested in his firm. The divorce will mean the end of not only Ward's business, but also Eleanor's, since she made investments through him. The divorce talk ends with the beginning of the war and with Ward bringing Eleanor to dinner with Gertrude. Eleanor assures Gertrude that her relationship with Ward is totally innocent. Also, Ward is leaving for Washington, having offered his services to the government. Eleanor says she'll join the Red Cross and work as a nurse in France.

pgs. 283 - 304 Summary

The Newsreel proclaims that the United State is at war, and various other items related to the war. The Camera Eye talks about the braveness of the people. The brief bio is about Bob La Follette and his career.

Charley Anderson was from Fargo, North Dakota. After graduating eighth grade, he went to the Twin Cities to work with his brother for the summer. He worked at the garage owned by his sister-in-law's father, Vogel. He didn't have to read the Bible or attend church so he liked working at the garages. When he and some of his friends are stopped by the police, he has a quarrel with Vogel and went home to Fargo.

Charley was never happy in Fargo again and left for Minneapolis when he was seventeen and had graduated high school. He secured a job at the amusement park where he worked that summer. In fall, he and Ed Walters rented a room in St. Paul and he secured a job working as a machinist's assistant at the Northern Pacific. They dated the Svenson daughters from the amusement park. Charley became engaged to Emiscah at Christmas.

Charley is hospitalized with diphtheria. When he is released, he finds that Ed left without paying the bill at the rooming house. The land lady would let him stay for a week. He returns to work the next day and has dinner with his brother and his family.

After a date with Emiscah, she tells him that she is pregnant. It's not his baby but her father doesn't know that. She tells him the father is Ed. She tells her family that she and Charley will marry next month. A co-worker, Hendricks, obtains some pills that are supposed to terminate a pregnancy and gives them to Charley. Instead of taking them to Emiscah as he had planned, he spends the evening with Hendricks. They talk of leaving the Twin Cities area. Hendricks talks about working in the oil field.

Emiscah took the pills and didn't see Charley as much. He quit his night course and was looking for a job that would get him out of the Twin Cities area. He is fired from his job when he breaks a lathe.

pgs. 283 - 304 Analysis

Charley Anderson grows up in Fargo, North Dakota, and spent a summer working at a Minneapolis garage when he finished grade school. He learned a different way of life and was never happy in Fargo with his moth after that. As soon as he finished high school, he moved to Minneapolis and round a job. He was on his own without any mother nagging at him and he enjoyed it. He enrolled in night courses and worked as a machinist assistant at the Northern Pacific, after the season at the amusement park ended.

When he is in the hospital with diphtheria, his roommate, Ed, gets his girlfriend pregnant, or so she tells him. Her family expects him to marry her. She knows it isn't his baby but her father doesn't. He doesn't even stick up for himself with her family.

After the pregnancy is terminated, he no longer wants to stay in the area. He quits his night school course and losses his job. His co-worker, Hendricks, influenced him with too much talk about working in the oil field and how book learning never helped a man get ahead. After his experience with Ed Walters and Emsecha, he just wants out. He isn't interested in working to get ahead in Minneapolis.

pgs. 304 - 323 Summary

Charley goes to see his brother and decides to ride to Milwaukee with a truck driver, Fred, the next day. He is happy to be our of Minneapolis and the whole situation there. He couldn't find work in Milwaukee and met with Fred the following week when he was in Milwaukee again. They had a discussion about the labor movement. Fred lends Charley five dollars and Charley leaves for Chicago the next day.

He had the name of a man his brother knew and went to the service station to see him, but he was gone for the day. However, the boss gave Charley a job and he worked there for several works. When he was arrested at a wobbly meeting, he was fired from the station. He and his friend from the wobbly meeting, Monet Davis, leave town, traveling as for as Peoria together. There were no jobs in St. Louis but he was told there were jobs in Louisville, so he headed there. Charley rides with a truck driver and that leads to a job in Louisville for the summer.

In winter, Charley and his roommate, Grassi, went to New Orleans. Charley fixed up an old car and they drove, making repairs along the way. When they arrived in New Orleans, Charley sold the car. They see a newspaper that says war with Germany was imminent. Grassi wasn't happy since he fled Italy to escape being drafted. Grassi booked passage on a freighter for South America and departed the next day while Charley continued to look for a job. He decides to stay in New Orleans until after Mardi Gras.

By the end of Mardi Gras he was out of money. While trying to pawn Grassi's accordion, he meets Doc, or William H. Rogers, who pays fifty dollar for it. They meet again the next day on a steamer to New York. Doc is going to volunteered for the ambulance corps. They meet a man named Est.

When they reach New York, Doc and Charley stay at the Broadway Central Hotel. They both signed up for the ambulance corps. That night, they went out to see New York. They go bar hopping, talking about the war with different people. They meet Benny Compton, whose sister Gladys, works for J. Ward Moorehouse. Benny sees the war as a plot by the capitalists to defeat the workers.

Charley and Doc sail for France a week later.

pgs. 304 - 323 Analysis

Charley is young and doesn't know what he wants to do with himself. More than anything else, he wants to be away from the situation in Minneapolis and he doesn't really care where he goes. He begins to bum around the country, finding work where he can. He is now very cautious around women, after the situation he was in with Emsecah. In New Orleans, he meets Doc, who wants to enlist in the ambulance corps and go to France. Charley is planning on going to New York to find work and to go to school. They meet again on the steamer to New York. Charley, who really had nothing else to do with his life and knowing that the United States had entered the war against Germany, enlists in the ambulance corps with Doc. Their ship sails for France a week later.

Characters

Fainy McCreary

Fainy McCreary is known as Mac. He was born in a frame building that was home to four families. His father was the night watchman at Chadwick Mills. As a child, he couldn't play at home because his father slept during the day. Because of bullies in his neighborhood, he could only safely play in his backyard.

When his father lost his job during a strike, his mother worked by doing laundry, which Mac and his sister, Milly, had to help with. After the mother's death, they moved to Chicago, where Fainy lived for ten years. After finishing school, he worked in his uncle's print shop. His Uncle Time was supportive of the political left and he distributed handbills during strikes. When his uncle was forced out of business, Fainy looked for a job and found one with Mannie Bingham, selling books and left for Michigan. Bingham runs out on him without paying him. He travels around the United States and Canada with Ike. The two hop freight trains and work at various jobs when they need money.

In San Francisco he meets and becomes engaged to Maisie, then leaves to work on a newspaper for the labor movement in Goldfield, Nevada. He returns to marry a pregnant Maisie and they do to San Diego where he works for a printer. They have two children, Rose and Ed. When Mac withdrawn money from the children's accounts to pay for Uncle Tims funeral, Maisie finds out and they quarrel. He leaves since the house is in her name and goes to Juarez, Mexico, to work in the revolution. He settles in Mexico City and becomes the half-owner of a bookstore. When Zatpata is about to enter the city, he sells his store and flees to Vera Cruz.

J. Ward Moorehouse

J. Ward Moorehouse was born on the Fourth of July in Wilmington, Delaware. His father was a station agent at the train depot. He is one of six children. He has brothers Ben and Ed and sisters Myrtle, Edith and Hazel. He is the eldest and is considered to be the brightest. He worked as a book salesman after graduating high school and was the top salesman. He then received a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania, but had to quit during his second year when his father broke his hip and was unemployed.

He begins to work in a real estate office and when he is sent to Ocean City, Maryland, on business, he accepts a position at a real estate office there are remains. He soon marries Annabelle Marie Strang, who he met on the train. She is wealthy and pregnant. They marry and leave for a year in Europe, which is cut short by the collapse of the Ocean City real estate market. They return to Philadelphia and live at the home of Dr. Strang until Ward catches Annabelle with another man. They separate and he leaves for Pittsburgh where he works in advertising for Bessemer. After his divorce from Annabelle, he marries Gertrude Staple, another socialite and opens his own business in New York and becomes very successful. Gertrude eventually sues for divorce, thinking he is having an affair with Eleanor Stoddard. They resolve that issue, and Ward goes to Washington where he volunteered to help with the war effort.

Charley Anderson

Charley Anderson grew up in Fargo, North Dakota where his mother ran a railroad boarding house. His father left Charley and his mother when Charley was a baby. He had three older brothers and sisters. When he finished grade school he spent the summer working at his brother's father-in-law's garage in the Twin Cities. He wasn't happy in Fargo when he returned. When he finished high school at seventeen, he went to Minneapolis to look for a job and found one at an amusement park owned by Svenson. He worked with Ed Walters and at then end of the season they took a room together in St. Paul. He found a job at the Northern Pacific as an assistant to machinist and became engaged to Emiscah Svenson at Christmas. When his is hospitalized with diphtheria, Ed leaves with the rent unpaid. He notices that Emiscah is acting strange and finds that she is pregnant and it isn't his child. They announce that they will marry and he obtains pills that terminate the pregnancy. Charley leaves Minneapolis and bums around the country finding work where he can. He eventually enlists in the ambulance corps and leaves for France.

Janey Williams

Janey grew up in Georgetown with her brother and sisters, Joe, Ellen and Francie. Her father had been a tugboat captain in the Chesapeake. He now worked at the Patent Office. Janey's brother Joe is sent to work after his first year of high school and after a few years joins the Navy and leaves. Janey finishes high school and she and her friend Alice Dick find typist positions with a Mrs. Robinson. When she is twenty-one she accepts a better position with Dreyfus and Carroll who were patent attorneys. She continues to work there and moves out of her mother's house after her father's death. As she becomes more independent, she looses her fears and begins to want a career in business. She eventually goes to work for J. Ward Moorehouse. Janey is loyal to Moorehouse. When G.H. Barrow asks her to marry him, she tells him that she just wants to be friends. She allows Moorehouse and his associates to list her as an officer of a new corporation and to put a safe deposit and bank account in her name.

Eleanor Stoddard

Eleanor Stoddard grew up in Chicago where her father worked at the stockyards. She hates the smell of the stockyards. Her friend Isabelle dies when she is sixteen and the only other person she likes is her English teacher, Miss Oliphant. She was one of a select group invited to tea at the teacher's apartment. After her mother's death, she moves to Moody House. She works at Mrs. Lang's lace shop and attends classes at the Art Institute until she takes a position at Marshall Field. She and Eveline open their own interior design business and go into debt, then leave for New York to do the costumes and scenery for a play, which failed after two weeks. Eleanor stays in New York and begins a decorating business and becomes good friends with J. Ward Moorehouse and handles her investments. Their relationship almost breaks up his marriage.

Gertrude Staple

Gertrude Staple was a Pittsburgh socialite, the daughter of Horace Staple. Her father was very wealthy and the director of several corporations. She was dating Oliver Taylor when she met Ward at a country club dance. After Oliver broke up with her, she began to date Ward. When Ward first proposed, she said her family wouldn't allow her to marry him. After her father's death, they married, honeymooned in Europe and settled in New York. She has two children, and is near invalid after the birth of the second. When Gertrude suspects Ward is having an affair with Eleanor Stoddard, she threatens to divorce him.

Annabelle Marie Strang

Annabella is the daughter of the wealthy Dr. Strang. She meets Ward on a train to Ocean City, Maryland, and marries him the following September. She is pregnant which Ward knows about before the wedding. They leave for a year in Europe. In Paris, Annabelle has her pregnancy terminated without telling Ward. They return to the United States due to her father's financial problems. Annabella continues to play around with other men until Ward leaves her.

Ike

Ike is the nickname for George Hall. Ike is from Duluth, Minnesota, and meets Mac at the Gaylord train station. Mac accompanies Ike to Duluth to see his mother only to find out that his mother moved to Buffalo where his brothers live. Ike travels around with Mac and contracts a venereal disease. They separate when Mac fails to hop a freight train that Ike was one.

Maisie Spencer

Maisie Spencer lived in San Francisco and worked at the Emporium in the millinery department. She dated Mac and became pregnant. They marry and go to San Diego and have tow children, Rose and Ed. After several years, they break up when they quarrel and Mac leaves. The house is in Maisie's name so Mac doesn't have much choice but to leave.

McGill

McGill is a manager in the Homestead Steel company. He meets Ward in Paris through Jarvis Oppenheimer and when Ward moved to Pittsburgh, gave him a position in advertising at Bessemer. He also accepted Ward's proposal of an industry information bureau which ward would run.

Objects/Places

Orchard Street

Orchard Street was the site of the birthplace of Fainy McCreary in Middleton, Connecticut

Chicago

Chicago is in Illinois where Fainy's family moved after his mother's death.

Michigan

Michigan is a midwestern state where Fainy goes to sell books.

Canada

Canada is the country to the north of the United States, where Mac and Ike spend time working and traveling.

San Francisco

San Francisco is a city in Northern California where Mac is when the earthquake occurs.

Goldfield, Nevada

Goldfield, Nevada, is the site of mine and where Mac goes to work on a newspaper for the labor movement.

San Diego

San Diego is a city in Southern California where Maisie and Mac go after they are married.

Juarez, Mexico

Juarez is a Mexican city across from El Paso where Mac goes after splitting with Maisie.

Washington, D.C.

The Georgetown section of the nation's capitol is the home of Janey Williams.

Wilmington, Delaware

The East coast city of Wilmington, Delaware, is the birth place of J. Ward Moorehouse.

Ocean City

Ocean City is a resort area on the Atlantic coast of Maryland where Johnny moves.

France

France is a country in Europe where the Moorehouses live for a while after they are married.

Philadelphia

Philadelphia is a city in Pennsylvania where the Strangs live.

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh is a city in Pennsylvania where Ward moved to after splitting with Annabelle.

New Yrok City

New York City is where Ward opened his business after marrying Gertrude and where Eleanor and Eveline move to.

Mexico City

Mexico City is the capital of Mexico.

Fargo, North Dakota

Fargo, North Dakota, is where Charley Anderson was born and raised.

Twin Cities

The Twin Cities are Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota, where Charley Anderson lives after leaving Fargo.

Louisville

Louisville, Kentucky, is where Charley works for several month and meets Grassi.

New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana, is where Charley and Grassi drive to. Charley remains for Mardi Gras.

Themes

Discontentment

One of the most prevalent theme of the book is discontentment, which is felt by all of the main characters. They are all unhappy with the situation in which they grew up and are trying to escape it in one way or another. They all move out of their parents' home as soon as they can. For some, like Eleanor Stoddard, this had to do with the smell of and the memory of the stockyards, which she couldn't stand. For others, like Charley Anderson, it was a mother who kept forcing church and Bible reading on him. J. Ward Moorehouse had to help support his family. He moved out in response to a better job.

Discontentment is most obvious in the character of Fainy McCreary. Mac always wanted to be involved in the labor movement or the socialist movement, but he was too wishy-washy to make a decision and stand by it. It is discontentment stemmed from the fact that he didn't know what he wanted out of life, so he drifted from situation to situation. When he separated from his wife, he went to Mexico saying he wanted to fight in the revolution with Zapata. However, he moved in with Concho, became part owners of a bookstore and when Zapata was about to enter Mexico City, he fled.

The discontentment of many of the characters stemmed from their youth and their lack of goals. Those who had goals, like J. Ward Moorehouse and Eleanor Stoddard, were more successful than others. The others more or less floundered from situation to situation.

Labor Movement

The labor movement and socialism are also underlying themes in the book. The setting is the twentieth century when the labor movement was in its early years and there was a great deal of conflict between the capitalist and the workers. These were the years right before the Russian Revolution and World War I, and socialism was a topical issue as was Marxism at the time.

Throughout the book the characters express their view and opinions on these issues. J. Ward Moorehouse often expressed his views in terms of the capitalists and the workers, especially in his presentations to people for his business. Mac felt that he should be more active in the movement. He liked to read the literature and attend the meetings and rallies, and for a while, worked on a newspaper for the movement when he was in Goldfield, Nevada. Many characters present themselves as socialists, like Vogel did to Charley Anderson. Others, like the truck driver who drove Charley to Milwaukee, are vehemently opposed to it. At the end of the book, characters like Ben Compton and Charley discuss the war in terms of capitalists and workers.

The topic was a relevant issue of the time which is why it kept reappearing throughout the book and most characters had an opinion on it, either pro or con.

Bettermen

A third theme of the book can be called betterment of improvement. All of the characters were unhappy with the situation in which they grew up and wanted a better and different kind of life and most did what they could to improve their situations. Eleanor Stoddard attend art classes which helped develop her skills as an interior decorator. Charley Anderson attended technical classes to better develop his skills as a mechanic, hoping someday to become an engineer. When he left New Orleans for New York, he was hoping to attend school there, but the war began and he entered the ambulance corps. J. Ward Moorehouse had been attending the University of Pennsylvania on a scholarship, when he had to drop out to help support his family. After that, he taught himself whatever he needed to know. When he went to work at Bessemer, he spent the time learning about the steel industry.

The characters were willing to spend the time learning in order to improve their own situations and to help them achieve their goals. The characters in the novel had clearly defined goals were more successful than those that didn't.

Style

Point of View

The novel is written from the third person point of view. The narrator is the author, John Dos Passos. This approach allows the author to establish the setting and to supply background information to the reader about people, places and events. The book contains plenty of dialogue between the various characters which allows them to present their own views and opinions.

The use of the third person allows the reader to learn more information about the characters and the different situations. The book is a narrative of the lives of the different characters. Dos Passos could have written in the first person and allowed each of the main characters to tell their own story but the use of the first person confines the reader's knowledge to the events that occur in the presence of the storyteller. The reader's knowledge is limited to the knowledge of the storyteller. The use of the third person approach avoids his problems since the author can easily supply information to the reader.

The third person approach works well for this kind of book that Dos Passos has written.

Setting

The setting of the novel is twentieth century America, Europe and Mexico as the various characters move around from place to place. Chicago is the birthplace of Eleanor Stoddard and where she began her interior decorating business and lived until she moved to New York. Fainy McCreary spent his early years in Middleton, Connecticut and then moved to Chicago, where he lived for ten years. The novel follows him to Michigan, Canada, San Francisco, California, Goldfield, Nevada, San Diego, California, Los Angeles, California, Juarez Mexico and Mexico City.

Janey grew up in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. and lived in the D.C.-area until she moved to New York City.

J. Ward Moorehouse lived in Wilmington, Delaware until he took a job in Ocean City, Maryland. The novel also followed him to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and travels in London and Pris before he settled in New York.

Charley Anderson was born in and raised in Fargo, North Dakota before he traveled around the country. The novel follows him through the Twin Cities area, Milwaukee, Louisville, and New Orleans before he travels to New York where he enlists in the ambulance corps.

There are also many scenes on trains and boats as the characters travel around from place to place.

Language and Meaning

The language of the novel is the language of everyday people. The dialogue between the characters is written in the way people speak with the vernacular of the place or ethnic group. There are some sentences or terms in foreign languages that are not translated. There are also sections of dialogues in broken English or brogue. Dos Passos writes these dialogues the way people speak. It adds to the flavor of the novel but slows down the reader who must try to figure out the meaning in some cases. Except for this, the book is easy to read and understand.

The writing style is appropriate to the kind of book Dos Passos has written. He wanted to create the realism of the period and the people and this is what he did in the style in which he wrote. The use of any other kind of language in the dialogue would detract from the atmosphere and realism of the novel. Even through the reader has to slow down and struggle with the language and meaning at times, it creates the atmosphere that Dos Passos wanted.

Structure

The structure are of the novel is rather complicated. There are no chapters, per se. It is written in sections devoted to the different characters and jumps around from character to character. There is only one character whose narrative is presented entirely in one section and that is Charley Anderson. The reason for the choppy approach is that the various characters meet at different points in the book. Eleanor Stoddard becomes J. Ward Moorehouse's decorator and friend. Janey becomes his secretary. Mac meets Moorehouse and Janey in Mexico. Charley meets Ben Compton in New York. Even though the presentation is choppy, it is chronological.

The narratives are further broken up by the Newsreels, The Camera Eye and the bio briefs. These are a unique way of establishing the setting for the events by providing the reader with information about what is going on in the world at the time and providing information about some of the important characters of the time. This kind of approach has a greater impact than if the author just said this happened and that happened and is more enjoyable reading for the reader.

There is a Table of Contents which delineates the breaks in the book. It also gives names to the Newreels which adds to the atmosphere of the book.

There is a Foreward which provides information on the book and on the author, John Dos Passos. It also provides information on the USA Trilogy, of which the 42nd Parallel is the first part.

Even though the structure of the book is somewhat complicated, it works well for the novel by creating the atmosphere and effect the author desired. Any other structure would not have had the same effect.

Quotes

It's the fault of the system that don't give a man the fruit of his labor ... The only man that gets anything out of capitalism is a crook, an' he gets to be a millionaire in short order ... But an honest workin' man like John or myself we can work a hundred years and not leave enough to bury us decent with (Mac, pg. 10).

Fainy, you're a bright boy ... I wish I could have helped you more; you're an O'Hara every inch of you. You read Marx ... study all you can, remember that you're a rebel by birth and blood ... Don't blame people for things ... Look at that terrible forktongued virago I'm married to; do I blame her? No, I blame the system. And don't ever sell out to the sons of bitches, son; it's women'll make you sell out every time. You know what I mean (Mac, pg. 28)

Mona ran after him as he walked off down the dustyrutted wagonroad and kissed him right in front of her parents. 'I'm stuck on you,' she said. 'You make a lot of money and come back and marry me.' 'By gum, I'll do that,' said Mac, and he walked off with tears in his eyes and feeling very good (Mac, pg. 62)

A couple of days later it turned out that there was another fellow around who could run a linotype and Mac left town. He sold his suitcase and his good clothes for five dollars and hopped a train of flatcars loaded with ore that took him down to Ludlow (Mac, pg. 84)

'Well, I'm through," he said aloud as if he were speaking to somebody else. Then only did the thought come to him, 'I'm free to see the country, now, to work for the movement, to go on the bum again" (Mac, pg. 98)

Janey and Alice had a good time that winter. They took to smoking cigarettes and serving tea to their friends Sunday afternoons. They read novels by Arnold Bennet and thought of themselves as bachelor girls. They learned to play bridge and shortened their skirts. At Christmas Janey got a hundred dollar bonus and a raise to twenty a week from Dreyfus and Carroll. She began telling Alice that she was an old stickinthemud to stay on a Mrs. Robinson's. For herself she began to have ambitions of a business career (Janey, pf. 131)

This was a bad year for Johnny Moorehouse. He was twenty and didn't drink or smoke and was keep himself clean for the lovely girl he was going to marry, a girl in pink organdy with golden curls and a sunshade. (Moorehouse, pg. 140)

He lay awake all night in the upper berth in the sleeper for Pittsburgh. Here he was twenty-three years old and he hadn't a college degree and he didn't know any trade and he'd given up the hope of being a songwriter. God dame it, he'd never be valet to any society dame again (Moorehouse, pg. 161)

Oh, people make me so mad, they never will have any nerve or do anything that's fun or interesting ... I bet you if we started a decorating business we'd have lots of orders (Stoddard, pg. 183)

The information bureau was founded, and Ward was put in charge of the actual work at $10,000 a year and began to play stocks a little with his surplus money, but there were several men over him earning larger salaries who didn't do anything but get in his way, and he was very restless. He felt he ought to be married and have an establishment of his own. He had many contacts in different branches of the casting and steel and oil industries, and felt he ought to entertain. Giving dinners at the Fort Pitt or the Schlenley was expensive and somehow didn't seem solid (Moorehouse, pgs. 200-201)

Eleanor met a great many interesting people and decided that she'd stay on in New York whatever happened (Stoddard, pg. 219).

'Every poor man socialista ... a como no? But when you get rick, quick you all very much capitalista" (Mac, pg. 243)

The Tingleys had a good many friends and they liked Janey and included her in everything and she felt that she was living the way she'd like to live (Janey, pg. 264)

He said that the Twin Cities was the bunk and what a guy ought to do was to go down an' get a job in the oilfields at Tampico or in Oklahoma where you could make decent money and live like a white man. Charley said he'd pull out of St. Paul in a minute if it wasn't that he wanted to finish his course in nightschool and Hendriks told him he was a damn fool, that book learnin' never got nobody nowhere and what he wanted was to have a good time when he had his strength and after that to hell wid 'em. Charley said he felt like saying to hell wid 'em anyway (Anderson, pg. 303)

The first thing Fred said was, 'Well, did you make her, kid?' Charley laughed and nodded. He felt good and thought to himself he was damn lucky to get away from the Twin Cities and Emiscah and that sonofabitchin' foreman. The whole wold was laid out in front of him like a map, and the Mack truck roaring down the middle of it and towns were waiting for him everywhere where he could pick up jobs and make good money and find goodlooking girls waiting to call him their baby boy (Anderson, pg. 306)

Topics for Discussion

What is the purpose of The Camera Eye sections? Do they add to the quality of the book?

When he leaves Chicago,k Mac lives a different kind of life than he has ever known about. What kind of things does he learn? In what way don't his plans work out?

How do Mac's political views cause problems? Might things have been different if Maisie had been more tolerant of his views?

Why does Ward marry Annabelle, when he knows what she is like? Why does she marry him?

Many people succeed because they have faith in themselves and their own abilities. Apply this statement to the characters in the novel.

How does Janey change once she leaves Washington D.C.? How does this affect her relationship with Alice and Joe?

When Gertrude threatens Ward with a divorce, how does it affect his business? What is the affect on Eleanor and why?

BOOKRAGS

Thursday, February 3, 2011

42nd parallel