Tarkington really did not deserve his first Pulitzer; the awarding of this one was criminal.
The tragic ending of Alice Adams comes when the eponymous character gives up her idea of marrying well (social position, money) and starts up those steep steps to the local secretarial school. Alice's grasping mother manages to ruin the family fortunes in the totally predictable process in an effort to bring the family to the wealth and social position that will allow Alice to capture the man of her dreams.
Not a surprise. The ending is ponderously foreshadowed early on when Alice passes by the dreaded secretarial school and considers herself to be so much better off than those poor girls who are forced to look after their own fortunes.
Plotwise, Alice Adams has much in common with The Magnificent Amberson's but without the fairy tale ending. Once again, the casual racism in this book is disturbing.
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