Old Roguam and His Theresa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Old Rogaum and His Theresa. (Discuss)

Old Rogaum and His Theresa is a short story by the American author Theodore Dreiser, published in 1901. It was first published in Reedy’s Mirror, under the title “Butcher Roganm's Door.” It was then published in 1918 in the volume Free and Other Stories by Dreiser.

1 Plot summary
2 Major themes
3 Realism
4 References

[edit] Plot summary

Rogaum is a German immigrant running a butcher shop in New York City. His daughter, Theresa, is eighteen and has taken to spending her time with her friend Myrtle, walking around the street. They secretly spend their time with two no-good boys, Connie and George. Every night, Roguam calls Theresa home, and reprimands her for being out so late. She stays out later each night, and Roguam threatens to lock her out.

One night he does, and refuses to let her in, intending to teach her a lesson. Instead of staying in the entrance all night, as expected, she goes back out with Connie.

Seeing Theresa leave by herself and not return, Roguam goes looking for her. Upon returning home without her, he finds a young woman lying at his door, who had drank acid in order to kill herself. The police come, the girl is taken care of, and Roguam and his wife tell them of their daughter’s disappearance. The police had seen her with Connie, which worries her father even more.

The two police officers, Maguire and Delahanty, investigate the woman’s death, knowing she came from Adele’s, a nearby whorehouse. They discover that she too, had been locked out of her parents’ house, starting her down that road.

The police find Theresa and Connie and take them to the station. Old Roguam comes down to get her, enraged at Connie but delighted to have his daughter back.

[edit] Major themes

A theme of this story is the struggle between parents and children. Roguam wanted control over his daughter, partially because he believed children should obey their parents, and partially to protect her. An eighteen-year-old girl, Theresa’s had a need for independence. This conflict between the protective father and independent daughter let to her lying about where she was going so that she could get out. She struggled between heeding her own desires and her father’s wishes.

The story deals with the conflict of culture between first generation and second generation immigrants. Roguam and his wife were immigrants from Germany, still speaking half in German and half in English. Roguam believed he should have control over his wife and his daughter, and he did. He wanted Theresa to marry a German boy from the Lutheran Church. Theresa was of another culture; she was from New York and spoke perfect Enligsh. She wasn’t scared of the streets at night or of the boys, she thought it was normal and wonderful to be out with them. She saw a different way of life than the one her father expected her to have.

There is also an underlying theme of the struggle faced by immigrants in the big city. Roguam does well enough as a butcher, but he has trouble communicating in English. The police are pretty apathetic to his plight, and only go looking for his daughter because they are bored. The conflict between Roguam and his daughter reflects the conflict between his culture and America’s.

[edit] Realism

This story is considered an example of realism in American Literature. None of the events or characters in the story are romanticized. It shows the realistic relationships of a protective father and teenage daughter, the conflict that naturally occurs in that relationship. It realistically portrays the naïve girl who is trying to be good and the womanizing boy who is trying to get her to stay the night with him.

The story shows realism by showing how things really are, in an everyday occurrence, not how society wants it to be. Theresa does what she wants, following her desires, not what is expected of her. Roguam is not a perfect father, he shows flaws by not listening to his wife or his daughter, and punishing her harshly, but he reacts as a real father might react.

This story’s dialect contributes to its realism, as Dreiser interweaves German with English. Roguam and his wife, being German immigrants, speak partially in German, especially when emotional.