Hey Rub-a-dub-dub: A Book of the Mystery and Wonder and Terror of Life by Dreiser
"Hey Rub-a-dub-dub: A Book of the Mystery and Wonder and Terror of Life" by Theodore Dreiser is a collection of reflective essays written in the early 20th century. The book delves into the complexities of human existence, exploring themes of poverty, morality, and societal contradictions as seen through the eyes of a contemplative narrator. The narrative voice grapples with personal inadequacies and observations of those around him, particularly focusing on the dissonance
between aspiration and reality in American life. The opening of the book introduces the narrator, who reflects on his life at the age of forty, living in a shabby neighborhood across the river from New York City. He describes his struggles with poverty, his attempts at being a writer, and his natural curiosity about the world, which leads him to question the societal values he observes. As he looks out over the city, he feels a mix of envy and confusion regarding those who thrive materially while he appears stagnant. Through a series of anecdotes about his neighbors and his inner musings, the narrator sets the stage for deeper explorations of life’s moral complexities, social injustices, and the pursuit of meaning in a seemingly indifferent universe. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Hey rub-a-dub-dub -- Change -- Some aspects of our national character -- The dream -- The American financier -- The toil of the laborer -- Personality -- A counsel to perfection -- Neurotic America and the sex impulse -- Secrecy: its value -- Ideals, morals, and the daily newspaper -- Equation inevitable -- Phantasmagoria -- Ashtoreth -- The reformer -- Marriage and divorce -- More democracy or less? An inquiry -- The essential tragedy of life -- Life, art and America -- The court of progress.
Credits
Emmanuel Ackerman, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Reading Level
Reading ease score: 57.8 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read.
