An American Tragedy

Content Warning: This section contains discussion of racism and violence against women.

Asa and Elvira Griffiths preach on the streets of Kansas City with their four children in tow. It is obvious to every observer how humiliating this is to their son, Clyde. His sister Esta (Hester) enjoys being the center of attention as she sings hymns with her thin voice. Elvira, the wife and mother, plays the organ and looks like a person with true grit. It is obvious that the Griffithses are poor, but many wonder if their street preaching is a scam.

Asa talks frequently of God providing or perhaps his wealthy brother, Samuel, giving him some money one day. Elvira grew up on a farm and got “the virus of Evangelism” (5) when she married Asa. The family moves so frequently that their children have virtually no education. They live in a dreary set of rooms and mission halls that are so ugly they depress Clyde. The decaying walls are covered in brassy plaques of Bible scriptures. Clyde wants to escape that life with a job, but “true to the standard of the American youth, or the general American attitude toward life, he felt himself above the type of labor which was purely manual” (5).