Cowperwood Frank is the protagonist of the famous Trilogy of Desire by the famous American writer T. Dreiser. The first part of this work was published in 1912 and immediately attracted the attention of the reading public with the burning problems of the contemporary writer of society, which were very talented and vital to him in the novel. In his book, the author showed how big business breaks not only the physical, but also the moral life of a person.
The character of the hero in the first part of the trilogy
Cowperwood Frank first appears in the novel The Financier. He comes from the family of a small bank clerk who lives in Philadelphia. The author emphasizes that his character is an outstanding nature: he is smart, has an iron will, determination, patience and resourcefulness, which helps him quickly get used to it in financial circles. Cowperwood Frank marries, he gives birth to children, he starts his own brokerage cantor on one of the most prestigious streets of the city. However, the young man is prohibitively ambitious and cannot be content with simple family happiness and prosperity. The hero is drawn to money and other women. He is beaten out into people, acting on the principle voiced in the following quote: "One strong man always respects the other."
Adventure
The character seeks to cash in on money speculation. To achieve his goal, he embarks on risky financial fraud, which was not in vain for him. At the first failure of his company, the hero began financial difficulties. It turned out that he owed the city treasury a huge amount of money. However, Cowperwood Frank is faced with other serious problems. Having made an affair with the daughter of a local financial tycoon, he incurs the wrath of her father. He and his family are beginning to be threatened. On top of all the troubles, the young man is sent to prison for wasting public funds.
Hero evolution
The first novel of the trilogy shows a change in the character's personality during the growth of his career. In the final part of the work, the reader observes the complete degeneration of the financier. Early leaving prison, he again embarks on a risky adventure, playing on stock speculation, and succeeds. But the worst part is that at the end of the book, Frank Cowperwood shows himself from the most unseemly side in relation to his wife and children. He throws his wife on a rather modest maintenance and leaves Philadelphia in the hope of subsequently marrying his new lover Eileen. Thus, the author showed how a talented, gifted young man, who had all the makings in order to become an outstanding personality in all respects, turned into an immoral person, ready to neglect moral principles to achieve his goal.
Character development in the novel "Titan"
This work is the second part of the famous trilogy. It was published in 1914 and was greeted with eloquent silence, indicating that critics did not like it. After that, attacks began on the protagonist for his immorality and immorality. Indeed, Frank Cowperwood has evolved for the worse. After moving to Chicago, he married Eileen and again engaged in speculation. He began to publish a newspaper, got rich, and then got involved in the affairs of the city government, bribing members of the municipality, politicians and officials. Then the hero began to monopolize the transport system of the city and thus set up local dealers against himself. He is best characterized by this quote: "Life is war, and especially the life of the financier." In this case, an interesting fact is the fact that the writer chose a real big businessman as a prototype for his hero. This allows you to better understand the idea of the author, who wanted to show the consequences of the realization of the American dream.
Personality change
Frank Algernon Cowperwood in the second part turned into a completely immoral person. He almost abandoned his wife and made himself several lovers. After some time, his attention is attracted by a pretty young girl Berenice, whose mother secretly contained an elite brothel. The hero begins to patronize the mistress in the hope of getting closer to her daughter. After some time, he seeks her reciprocity, and his wife, learning about this betrayal, almost commits suicide. Frank Cowperwood himself, the hero of the Wish Trilogy, turns into a completely immoral person. He spends all his charisma and charm on cheap social life, and his natural mind, charm, ingenuity — on illegal frauds, which, although they bring him wealth, do not bring moral satisfaction.
The personality of the hero in the third part of the trilogy
The last novel, The Stoic, was published after the death of the writer in 1947. It is interesting that the author postponed the creation of the continuation of the fate of his hero for a long time: the character turned out to be so complex and ambiguous. In the book, the author sums up the character’s life. Frank Algernon Cowperwood, whose prototype was also a big financial businessman and a millionaire (C. Yerkes was a prominent American businessman who played a big role in the development of the Chicago transport system), in the last book he moves to London, where he decides to build a subway. To do this, he makes new acquaintances with the capital's upper world. In this part of the trilogy, the hero is not so much evolving psychologically as he is experiencing the terrible consequences of his immoral behavior in previous years. If before he retained some chance to give up a depraved lifestyle, now he is literally surviving his days not only physically, but also morally.
Positive features
Best of all, a change in the character of the hero can be observed in his behavior with women. At first, he saw in Eileen the woman of his dreams, but after a while she ceased to interest him. The author masterfully paints how an unleashed secular way of life, a thirst for profit and easy success in high society turned his head and made him an insensitive businessman. However, Dreiser, as a true master of psychological analysis, shows that at first the environment in which he found himself did not completely ruin him.
So, at the beginning of his career, Frank has not yet lost the ability to appreciate simple family happiness. He sincerely loved his first wife, adored children and built bright dreams for the future. This is evidenced by the following statement, which is very indicative of understanding his inner world: “Life is love, and not just money and money!” After a while, the hero falls in love for the second time, but this time the young man is again romantic and still believes that he can be truly happy.
Lifestyle
Frank Cowperwood's description of the house shows how sensitive this character was to everything beautiful. He built himself a luxurious mansion, which he furnished to his liking. But the main feature of his home was that in it he collected a large number of priceless works of art. Of course, for this successful businessman, this was largely a matter of prestige. However, it is indicative of the fact that Frank always tried to set himself up on the idea of the need to do good to people. It is not for nothing that he is characterized by the following phrase: “A fall cannot last without end!”
He is periodically visited by thoughts that with the help of this meeting one can help the sick, build charitable institutions. However, the hero is already too drawn into his former way of life and cannot leave him. He is not shy in the means to achieve his goal, he embarks on any deception to carry out his plans. As a result, he ruins not only his life, but also the fate of those people who are dear to him. At the end of life there is not a single person who would pity him. Frank is envious and angry among local businessmen, those women whom he once loved leave him, and the hero himself dies practically alone.