I'm reading this book independently and decided to write this because it is getting hard to keep up with all the characters. U.S.A is a trilogy The 42nd Parallel, 1919 and Big Money. Together it's about 1200 pages, I'm a little more than half way now and it does get confusing. Characters appear and disappear and meet. If anyone has read this book please share your insight especially on the characters. What did you think of certain characters, which did you like etc etc. My favorite character was probably Joe Williams. I really don't like J. Ward Moorehouse or any of the female characters, they are all stuck up and seem to drive the ignorance and perpetuation of the corrupted system. The women go where the power is and the men go where the women are. I also disliked Richard Ellsworth Savage. From word one Dos Passos hated the character but suddenly I felt like he became sympathetic toward him. He's driving around Europe in the Red Cross just having a damn good time while people are dying in the trenches. Daughter would have been a cool character if she hadn't sold out so suddenly but we'll see where that goes. I think this is a very important novel and I am really surprised to know it is not widely read. I'll finish the others we I get a chance.
U.S.A
By John Dos Passos
Character Evaluation
The 42nd Parallel
Mac
Mac is one of the most sympathetic characters in the novel. Born of a poor family the reader is introduced to Mac just after his mother dies. His father is an alcoholic and can no longer support his family. Mac has a younger sister and the family moves to Chicago with their uncle. There Mac learns the printing trade from socialist uncle. Mac is introduced to the condition in the world for the working man. His uncles trade press is shut down because of his political views. Mac tries to find a job in Chicago but has little luck. He meets a man who sells books and travels across the country with him. The man never pays Mac the money he earned and treats him poorly. Eventually leaving Mac high and dry. Mac moves into a farmers house for a season and falls in love with their daughter. Mac continues to travel getting his education from the road. He experiences first hand the problems facing most people. He marries a woman, because he got her pregnant. He thinks at first he loves her and that he should settle down now. He hears about a strike up north and feels he's sold out. He writes his wife saying he must support his brothers. He goes up north and sneaks into a mining camp where the workers are striking and works the printing press. The workers are victims of daily violence. When Mac gets back home his wife is cold and distant. All she cares about is money so Mac leaves and goes to Mexico. This is during the revolution and Mac wants to see it first hand. He meets some revolutionists and makes a home in Mexico. Here he sees more of the internal workings of a corrupted system. Mac settles down to quiet life in Mexico running a book store.
Janey
Janey lives in Georgetown with her mother, father and brother Joe. The reader is introduced to Janey early in her childhood. She admires her older brother Joe and as she grows falls in love with his best friend Alex. One summer day Janey, Joe and Alex go down to the river and have a great time. This event marks the end of Janey's childhood. After that she rarely sees Alex or Joe. She graduates high school and begins going to parties. On day Joe comes into her room, distraught, and tells her Alex died in a motorcycle accident. Joe says he's joining the navy and he'll write to her. Janey gets a job as a secretary determined to move out of her families house. She works for a company but when the war comes she proves her ignorance like many characters and quits her job because she believes her boss is a German spy. Janey grows cold and snobbish. Eventually, through luck she gets a job working for J. Ward Moorehouse a character who will be prominent later on.
J. Ward Moorehouse
John Ward Moorehouse is introduced as a bright young boy from a middle class family. He graduates high school with top honors, but since the family doesn't have enough money they can't send him to college. He, on his own merit earns a scholarship to University. He attends until his father breaks his hip and loses his job and the families home. Johnny as he is then called most move back home and get a job. He works for a real estate company in Delaware but moves to Ocean City for a raise because rumor is it is the next boom town. Ocean City doesn't turn out to be quiet the boom town but Johnny makes lucky and marries into status, likely on purpose. His wife thinks he should change his name to J Ward Moorehouse because it sounds more distinguished. He finds one day she was unfaithful to him and leaves her. He moves to Pittsburgh and works as a newspaperman. Eventually he works his way into one of the major steel companies. He has ambitious ideas of combining capital and labor. He marries a wealthy woman again and uses her to launch his own firm. In his work J.W spreads propaganda pushing the agenda of the Morgans and such. But he is very well-spoken and is described as having boyish blue eyes. He is making deals in oil and handing P.R for anyone important. He is something of a talking head and it is not clear whether or not he believes what he says. His second wife is bed ridden and becomes jealous of a platonic relationship he has with a woman named Eleanor Stoodard. She threatens to leave him which would financially destroy him. He smooths the situation over with his wife, for now, and announces he is going to Europe to lead the Red Cross publicity as it was just announced America would enter World War One.
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