The Magnificent AmbersonsThe Magnificent Ambersons is the epic story of an American family's traumatic tumble from the dizzying heights of fame and fortune. A dynasty spanning three generations, the Ambersons' pre-eminence as society's elite is threatened--not only by a hungry new breed of industrial entrepreneurs--but from its own arrogance and greed. At the center of the story is George Amberson Minafer, the pampered but pitiful, scion of the clan upon whose shoulders the fate of the family fortune will be won ... or lost. At once an exciting chronicle of a family's rise to fortune and its tortured downfall, it is also a fascinating portrait of the forces that shaped American society. |
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Common terms and phrases
asked Aunt Amelia Aunt Fanny automobile began better cat-tails chair Charlie Johnson cotillion course cried dance dear dinner door Eugene Morgan Eugene's eyes face Fanny Minafer Fanny's father feel Fred Kinney gave George Amberson Minafer George drew George rose George uttered George's girl Git a hoss Good-night grandfather guess hand hear heard horseless carriage Isabel keep knew lady laughed live look Lopa Lucy Lucy Morgan Lucy's MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS Major matter mean mind Miss Fanny Miss Morgan mother National Avenue nephew never night nitro-glycerin old Frank Papa pretty riffraff runabout seemed Sharon shoulder smile speak spoke stared stood street suppose sure table d'hôte talk tell there's thing thought told town turned Uncle George voice waiting walked wanly What's white pony Wilbur window young
Popular passages
Page 365 - Seems, madam! nay, it is; I know not seems. 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath, No, nor the fruitful river in the eye. Nor the dejected haviour of the visage, Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief, That can denote me truly...
Page 365 - Nor the dejected haviour of the visage, Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief, That can denote me truly: These, indeed, seem, For they are actions that a man might play : But I have that within, which passeth show; These, but the trappings and the suits of woe.
Page 386 - Bedelia" and all the new cake-walks, for she was her father's housekeeper, and rightly looked upon the office as being the same as that of his heart-keeper. Therefore it was her affair to keep both house and heart in what state of cheerfulness might be contrived. She made him "go out" more than ever; made him take her to all the gayeties of that winter, declining to go herself unless he took her, and, though Eugene danced no more, and quoted Shakespeare to prove all lightfoot caperings beneath the...
Page 275 - I'm not sure he's wrong about automobiles," he said' "With all their speed forward they may be a step backward in civilization — that is, in spiritual civilization. It may be that they will not add to the beauty of the world, nor to the life of men's souls. I am not sure. But automobiles have come, and they bring a greater change in our life than most of us suspect. They are here, and almost all outward things...
Page 18 - Sixty thousand dollars for the wood-work alone! Yes, sir, and hardwood floors all over the house! Turkish rugs and no carpets at all, except a Brussels carpet in the front parlour— I hear they call it the 'reception-room.' Hot and cold water upstairs and down, and stationary washstands in every last bedroom in the place! Their sideboard's built right into the house and goes all the way across one end of the dining room. It isn't walnut, it's solid mahogany! Not veneering— solid mahogany! Well,...
Page 51 - It was the last of the great, long-remembered dances that "everybody talked about" — there were getting to be so many people in town that no later than the next year there were too many for "everybody" to hear of even such a ball as the Ambersons'. George, white-gloved, with a gardenia in his buttonhole, stood with his mother and the Major, embowered in the big red and gold drawing-room downstairs, to "receive" the guests; and, standing thus together, the trio offered a picturesque example of good...
Page 9 - House and stable cost seven or eight thousand dollars to build, and people with that much money to invest in such comforts were classified as the Rich. They paid the inhabitant of "the girl's room" two dollars a week, and, in the latter part of this period, two dollars and a half, and finally three dollars a week. She was Irish, ordinarily, or German, or it might be Scandinavian, but never native to the land unless she happened to be a person of colour. The man or youth who lived in the stable had...
Page 16 - No matter how prosperous they were, they could not spend money either upon "art," or upon mere luxury and entertainment, without a sense of sin. Against so homespun a background the magnificence of the Ambersons was as conspicuous as a brass band at a funeral. Major Amberson bought two hundred acres of land at the end of National Avenue; and through this tract he built broad streets and cross-streets; paved them with cedar block, and curbed them with stone. He set up fountains, here and there, where...
Page 3 - York of late, and the Ambersons were magnificent in their day and place. Their splendour lasted throughout all the years that saw their Midland town spread and darken into a city, but reached its topmost during the period when every prosperous family with children kept a Newfoundland dog.
Page 180 - As I walk along the Boy de Balong With my independent air, The people all declare, 'He must be a millionaire!' Oh, you hear them sigh, and wish to die, And see them wink the other eye At the man that broke the bank at Monte Carlo!