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The novel, Sister Carrie, written by Theodore Dreiser discusses the life of an eighteen-year old girl leaving Columbia City to start a new life in Chicago. With her are four dollars, a few paltry belongings, and her sister s address in Chicago. Throughout the story, a pattern is shown as Caroline (Carrie) Meeber progresses in the ladder of society: from a poor, jobless girl living below the poverty line to a rich and wealth actress in New York.
Carrie s story starts off living in her sister s flat within the pits of Chicago.
The only jobs she could find are hard, backbreaking professions and those that require experience. One day, she finds a difficult and unpleasing job working in a shoe factory where she earns for and a half-dollars a week. This, however, was not enough to satisfy even the bare requirements needed to live within the city.
As winter comes along, Carrie finds herself ill and loses her job.
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Yet all is not lost. She soon discovers Mr. Drouet, the gentleman she had met at the train station upon arrival to Chicago. At this point, Mr. Drouet has become fond of Carrie and offers her twenty dollars to buy new clothes. One evening, Drouet invites George Hurstwood, a high classed, well to do man, to a card game. Through this game, Drouet introduces Carrie, whom Hurstwood is later drawn to. Hurstwood is a married man, yet he feels his marriage is falling apart and thus begins his pursuit of Carrie.
Hurstwood draws her by taking her out and buying her gifts. Soon she is captivated by his charm and falls in love with him. They then decide to get married despite the fact the Hurstwood was still married to his first wife. Carrie, on the other hand, is unaware of the affair she is having with Hurstwood.
Julia, George Hurstwood s actual wife continues to pester Hurstwood because she isn t getting the attentions she deserves. She asks Hurstwood to go on social outings yet Hurstwood declines due to the lack of interest in their dull relationship.
One night, Drouet s local Elk lodge plans to put on an amateur theatrical to raise funds for new furniture. He needed a young lady for the par and asks Carrie. After a brief quarrel, she agrees and gave a surprisingly good performance for a beginner. This sparked the beginning of her acting career.
Carrie feels at home in theater and loves the entire affair. Hurstwood continues to explain the absence of his wife by telling his friend that she is sick. This soon lead to a suspicion caused by Julia and the situation intensifies. One day, Julia realizes the affair going on between Hurstwood and Carrie. A divorce is set up and Julia demands money from Hurstwood. Hurstwood refuses and a suit is placed on Julia s behalf for divorce and alimony. Carrie also finds out about the situation and angrily leaves both Drouet and Hurstwood in search for a new life as an actress. Hurstwood, upon receiving Carries letter to leave, tries to win her back. He lies to her by saying Drouet is injured and asks her to board a train to see his condition. Hurstwood steals $10,000 from Fitzgerald and Moy, a high-classed saloon he was managing, and runs away with Carrie to New York. Thus, Hurstwood loses his job starts his downfall from rich to poor. Carrie, on the other hand, gets a singing career in New York primarily making $12 a week, then $16, then $20, then $35, and soon $150. Soon she comes to the conclusion that life without Hurstwood would be much better. She leaves him and pursuits her growing career of fame. Drouet find out about Carrie s fame and tries unsuccessfully to win her. Hurstwood becomes homeless and soon decides to commit suicide.
Sister Carrie has been the fundamental modern American novel through its characters and their story. Such a book illustrates the effects of the changing economic structure on American culture. It also shows how wage seekers converged during the economic boom that followed the Civil War. Through Sister Carrie, one is shown the emphasis of how society impacted the ways Americans thought and felt.
One of the biggest changes that capitalism brought to the American culture was an overwhelming emphasis on the "conspicuous consumption." This was the purchasing of goods and services in such a way that one's buying power becomes immediately evident. The readers are shown this when Carrie s wants exceed far past her what she can afford. Her wants typified they way society functioned. It showed Americans that material satisfaction was always temporary. Drouet also represents the class of conspicuous consumers. Throughout the novel, he is portrayed wealthier than he actually is. This is done through his purchasing of trinkets for Carrie and his presence at Fitzgerald and Moy. Consequently, the unsatisfied desire drives the consumer to continue buying more material goods and the desire to buy drives the consumer to work long hours at unpleasant jobs.
Through Sister Carrie, Americans were also shown the exposed corruption found within cities. Through the novel, Dreiser s readers are presented with the decrepit conditions found within factories. The truth in industry was revealed through such descriptions inside the shoe factory. In his description, factory work was difficult and unpleasant. They posed potential health threats and supplemented low wages. People were crude and hard to work with. In addition to such criticism, Sister was suppressed until 1907 due to its realism and supposed exploiting. Such publications were judged offensive by the publisher and often kept from good publicity.
Hurstwood represented a man of great wealth. This typified the high class of society. Through his wealth, Dreiser was able to show the reader a view of unsatisfied desire. He showed the American people that wealth was not everything. This was shown in Hurstwood s want for Carrie and in Carrie s suffering of chronic dissatisfaction near the end of the novel. Such examples supply the reader with an idea of the driving force behind consumers: it doesn t matter how much a man makes, there are still things left in life which are unfulfilled. Thus, Dreiser hoped to covey a concept showing wealth as being something materialistic.
Dreiser impacted every level of society by exposing their realities. He showed the readers what truth lied behind his society and how corrupt things were within certain cities. Not only was he able to show how each class in an economy functioned, but was also able to depict the social differences in the role of men and women within such levels of society.
Sister Carrie reflected the author s time period by describing the changing economic structures of American culture. It depicted the situation during the time of the economic boom in the late nineteenth century and exposed the social classes within the economy. Through the different characters and their roles, Dreiser showed how each class of society functioned and how they lived life under their ranks in society. Expression of such distinction between the classes also portrayed the differences between the men and women of his era.
Carrie served as a symbol of the American middle class. Carrie's visit to the department store shows her fascination with conspicuous consumption. Her desires for trinkets and fancy clothing captivate her even though she cannot afford any of them; thus a capitalist economy is shown which manipulates the desire of the consumer without ever completely satisfying them. Through this, Dreiser is able to show the weakness of mediocrity. He showed them as people who want things and become dissatisfied shortly after they get it.
Another idea Dreiser inflicted upon his readers was Charlie Drouet who represented a symbol of the changing economic structure. Thus, through his professions, the reader is shown the mobility of the new worker. He is represented the tradesman of the society. As the tradesman, Drouet hopes to sell goods through charm ultimately making his products seem more attractive than they actually are. This causes an appeal towards the conspicuous consumer who not only want to have wealth but wish to present it as something greater than it actually is. Such a connotation gives the reader an ostentatious view on the average consumer.
Dreiser reflected the upper class of society through his interpretation of Hurstwood. Through the example of Hurstwood, Dreiser showed Americans the people high in society. Hurstwood represents the modern, capitalist man. His identity is largely derived from his role as manager of Fitzgerald and Moy's. As the manager, he is able to accumulate a rather large income. This income makes him rich thus carrying the symbol of wealth.
The captain, on the other hand, symbolizes the impersonalized, dehumanized situation of the desperately poor within the novel. Through him, the reader is shown the low rung of society where people are forced to cope with the depraved facts of life. This often involves the cheating of other people. An example of such cheating was the captain s form of charity. This involved creating an entertaining spectacle by displaying misery of his fellow homeless men. Thus, by such a scheme, the misery of each individual beggar is auctioned off.
Sister Carrie also presents a woman's identity as virtually non-existent. Through the novel, Dreiser showed that men can be genuine, but women can only try to imitate. This was shown when Carrie takes special care in imitating the mannerisms the Drouet compliments in other women. Thus, by imitating whatever Drouet desires in a woman, she becomes merely a reflection of masculine desire. Moreover, by playing her role in such a great manner, Carrie shows the reader her support in the conventional social belief that women are of nothing but deceit and performance. Dreiser hoped to show the reader that women lack fixed identities of their own making them seem pretentious.
Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie. Plot Summary.. (2024, Feb 03). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/theodore-dreisers-sister-carrie-plot-summary-essay
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