Clyde Griffiths escapes a poor, religious upbringing and lands in his wealthy uncle's orbit, where money, status, and a glamorous woman all suddenly seem within reach — as long as he can get rid of the pregnant factory girl who's now in his way. Based on a real 1906 murder case, Dreiser builds a slow, relentless case study of ambition curdling into something monstrous, one compromise at a time.A landmark of American literary naturalism — less interested in whether Clyde is guilty than in exactly how an ordinary, insecure young man convinces himself that a monstrous act is the only reasonable option left.