Alice Adams is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Booth Tarkington. It was adapted as a film in 1923 by Rowland V. Lee and, more famously, in 1935 by George Stevens. The narrative centers around the character of a young woman, Alice Adams, who aspires to climb the social ladder and win the affections of a wealthy young man named Arthur Russell. The story is set in a middle-class household in an unnamed town in Indiana shortly after World War I.
Th...
more
Alice Adams is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Booth Tarkington. It was adapted as a film in 1923 by Rowland V. Lee and, more famously, in 1935 by George Stevens. The narrative centers around the character of a young woman, Alice Adams, who aspires to climb the social ladder and win the affections of a wealthy young man named Arthur Russell. The story is set in a middle-class household in an unnamed town in Indiana shortly after World War I.
The novel begins with Virgil Adams confined to bed with an unnamed illness. There is tension between Virgil and his wife over how he should go about recovering, and she pressures him not to return to work for J. A. Lamb once he is well. Alice, their daughter, attempts to keep peace in the family (with mixed results) before walking to her friend Mildred Palmer's house to see what Mildred will wear to a dance that evening.
After Alice's return from her friend's house, she spends the day preparing for the dance, going out to pick violets for a...
less