解析嘉莉妹妹与命运的抗争

论文总字数：28513字

摘 要

《嘉莉妹妹》是美国伟大的作家西奥多•德莱塞的处女作,讲述的是一个农村少女如何从社会底层登上百老汇红舞星宝座的过程。本篇论文主要从三个方面来分析嘉莉妹妹与命运的抗争，分别是：敢于跳出自己的舒适圈，追求理想生活的勇气、为改变命运自身付出的努力。无论面对多大的困难和挫折，嘉莉妹妹都能以积极的态度去面对生活。嘉莉能摆脱自己的贫穷命运的牢笼最根本的原因还是她自己的努力奋斗，从而也启示了当今社会上的许多年轻人，要想获得真正的成功一定要自己努力奋斗。

关键词：《嘉莉妹妹》；追求理想的勇气；自身的努力；命运的转变

Contents

1. Introduction....................................................................................1
2. Literature Review...........................................................................2
3. The Study of Sister Carrie’s Struggle against Destiny................4

3.1. Courage to Pursue an Ideal Life.....................................................4

3.2. Her Own Efforts.............................................................................6

3.3. Positive Attitude towards Life........................................................9

1. Conclusion.......................................................................................10

Works Cited..........................................................................................12

1. Introduction

Theodore Dreiser was born in Treut, Indiana, on August 27, 1871. In 1900, Dreiser published his first novel, Sister Carrie, about a little girl from the countryside who came to Chicago in search of happiness and eventually became a superstar. Carrie’s fate had not been smooth sailing. To get out of poverty, she abandoned her virginity and relied on the wealthy, however, the man she relied on did not bring her true success. Carrie’s true success came from her own efforts. She caught the chance to be an actress. Although she had some talent for acting, she still kept working hard.

For many people, Carrie was a vain woman, who was from the countryside and had little knowledge and relied on men for a better life. But Sister Carrie achieving success was not only dependent on men. At first, she wanted to be a couple with Drouet. But Drouet was not determined to marry her. Then she was attracted by Hustwood, however, he had been hiding the fact that he was married. Carrie was later coaxed into New York by Hurstwood. It was praiseworthy for her to abandon everything stable in Chicago and would like to start a new life with Hurstwood in New York.

Carrie liked beautiful clothes, jewelry, stage, attention of people, but she could become a star by her own efforts. She was willing to start with the most basic things. Carrie was good at taking advantage of her strengths, using her beauty and acting strength to stand out from the crowd. Sister Carrie wanted to get out of her own poverty and transform her destiny, which was her dream and she had been fighting for it. She worked hard, and she was full of passion and expectation for life, and that’s why Carrie was really successful.

This paper will consist of four parts: the first part is the introduction; the second part is literature review; the third part is the causes of Sister Carrie’s change of fortune; and the last part is the conclusion. Society believes that true women should be pious, pure, submissive and family-oriented and imposes this definition on women. (Bao 82-83) Sister Carrie apparently not a socially recognized woman, because she longed for material life that she wanted. My thesis takes Sister Carrie as the research object and discusses the reason why she can successfully change her destiny. Through the study of Sister Carrie’s struggle against fate, it can be seen that she can achieve her own real success, the main reason is her own hard work. It is enlightened that if young people want to achieve success, they ought to labor for it and face life in a positive manner.

1. Literature Review

Sister Carrie is the debut of a great realistic American writer, Theodore Dreiser, which is an excellent work of epoch-making significance in the history of American literature. Many scholars have also studied the novel. The background of the creation of Sister Carrie is at a time when modern American consumer culture flourishes. Consumption is playing a more significant role in daily life. Chen Jing, “Interpretation of Symbolic Consumption Culture in Sister Carrie”, was published in Times Literature, No. 3, 2010. This paper analyzes the influence on the fate of the protagonist through the consumption symbols of clothing and mansion in Sister Carrie which can show the identity and status of the protagonist, thus reflecting Dreiser’s profound thinking on the consumer society in the course of the development of human history.

Sister Carrie pursued material and wanted to join the upper class society. Dong Xinmeng, “The Analysis of Main Cause of Sister Carrie under the Influence of Desire and City”, was published in Science Guide, issue 2, 2014. Her article starts from the analysis of Carrie’s character. She analyzes Carrie’s living environment and explores her self-awakening in a city that is full of desires. Through the analysis of Carrie, this paper explains the influence of the environment which is full of desires on human beings, and people will be driven by society and instinct so as to pursue the material endlessly.

Most of the comments on the novel focus on social environment and the men behind her, but the other female characters in the novel also play an indispensable role, together with Carrie to form a microcosm of the times. Chen Xiuyuan, “The Full Interpretation of the Female Role in Sister Carrie”. Through Carrie’s growing experience, it also reveals the great importance of young people’s self-growth.

Female is a group which is different from male in human society and it has its unique natural attribute, social attribute and spiritual attribute. They are engaged in social practice in the long river of history, and they are also independent individuals with material and spiritual needs in real life. Cui Li and Ma Chengming, “Taking Sister Carrie as An Example to See The Desire and Reason of Women”, study the relationship between Carrie’s desire and the society by using a female perspective to analyze the character of Carrie.

In the novel, Sister Carrie gradually changed from a helpless and rural girl to an independent and successful star, which was not easy in American society at that time. Liu Guohong, “The Awakening of Female Consciousness of Independence”, was published in AnHui Literature, No.2, 2008. This paper analyses how does Sister Carrie change from knowing nothing to living the material life she wanted in the end. During the process of pursuing her ideal life, her view of men, her relationship with men was constantly changing, which reflected the awakening of Carrie’s female consciousness of independence.

Sister Carrie finally got rid of her poor fate, and to some extent, she was successful. My thesis takes Sister Carrie as the research object and discusses the reason why she can successfully change her destiny. This article will analyze how sister Carrie fight against her fate from three aspects: courage to pursue an ideal life, efforts to change destiny and life with a positive attitude no matter how much difficulties and setbacks she faces. Through the analysis of Sister Carrie’s struggle against fate, it can be seen that she can achieve her own real success, the main reason is her own hard work. In the society of rapid development and full of material desire, the research in this paper has practical significance for the contemporary young people to pursue success correctly. It is enlightened that if young people want to achieve success, there are no shortcuts to go, but rely on their own down-to-earth efforts.

1. The Study of Sister Carrie’s Struggle against Destiny

Sister Carrie was a typically rural girl. She lived in a small village with her parents whose lives were simple or even short of money. If she had been in the countryside all her life, perhaps Sister Carrie would have lived as diligently and simply as most of the country people. This kind of life was not rich but comfortable for most rural people at that time, so it was not easy for the rural people to walk out of the countryside at that time. But Sister Carrie took this step bravely. She wanted to change her destiny. She wanted to pursue the material life of the big city. It was in the 1889, August, she was 18 years old, clever, shy, full of young people’s ignorant fantasies. 18 years old is a dream-chasing age. Carrie was full of longing and enthusiasm for the big city and left her familiar hometown with her simple bags. It certainly required a great deal of courage, and because of her daring, her fate began to differ.

• 1. Courage to Pursue An Ideal Life

Sister Carrie was unwilling to do nothing in her life and lived a poor life. She desired for the prosperity of the metropolis and wanted to get rid of poverty. Carrie left her hometown and boarded the train to Chicago, not knowing what life would be like in the future, but she dared to give it a try. She was an inadequately equipped knight, ready to explore the mysterious city. Carrie was a rural girl, uneducated. Most of the people in the place where she lived were simple and hard-working. Many people in the countryside might be eager for a better life in the city, but they were afraid to go out of the village to go for it. They did not want to leave their familiar hometown. Leaving means they had to give up everything they had. They lacked the courage to pursue their ideal life, however, sister Carrie dared.

Carrie lived a hard life in Chicago at the beginning. She stayed at her sister’s house, and she needed to find a job and paid for food. Carrie had been living in the countryside without little contact with the big cities, without any experience of work, so it was difficult for her to find a job.

Into this important commercial region the timid Carrie went. She walked east along Van Buren Street through a region of lessening importance, until it deteriorated into a mass of shanties and coal-yards, and finally verged upon the river. She walked bravely forward, led by an honest desire to find employment, and delayed at every step by the interest of the unfolding scene, and a sense of helplessness amid so much evidence of power and force, which she did not understand. (Dreiser 13)

Carrie, who had never worked before, went into the business world in search of a job, which undoubtedly required a great deal of courage for Carrie. In spite that she was afraid, she did not retreat. Sister Carrie has the courage to break the bondage of traditional ideas to pursue her ideal life, which is an important factor for her to change her destiny, and it is also worthy for us to learning from her.

Firstly, the pursuit of our ideal life is not a simple thing, and it requires us to have the courage to give up what we have now and dare to go out to face the unknown life and challenges. Not everyone has such courage. I believe most people have fantasized about their ideal life, but they do not have the courage to pursue it. Because they are not willing to leave their familiar and comfortable life circle to pursue their ideal life, they are not sure what challenges they will face in the future, and they do not know what the end result will be. So rather than losing everything it had, it would be better to live a simple, step-by-step life.

In fact, if we want to be successful and make our dream come true, we need to have the courage to start over again, which is a very significant factor. It has a good reflection of Sister Carrie. Sister Carrie had worked in a hat factory but she lost her job when she had a serious illness. Minnie who is Carrie’s elder sister also advised Sister Carrie to leave and go back to the countryside for a simple life, but she did not give up. She made acquaintance with Drouet and Hurstwood to rely on them for a period of grace, and occasionally had an experience of acting on stage. However, she was coaxed into New York by the hotel manager, Hurstwood later. She had to abandon her stable life in Chicago and began a new life in New York. When she discovered that living on Hurstwood in New York was not better but poorer, Carrie decisively went out to look for a job. She made up her mind to give it a try. As a result of her once acting experience, Carrie decided to go to the theater to find a job. She went to one theatre after another to find opportunities to perform. She eventually found a small role at the Casino Theater, anyway, she has her own job again.

Hurstwood, by contrast, lacked the courage to start over. He lost everything by stealing public money and getting divorced. It was also what he wanted to have a good life again, but he had come to New York for three months to escape from reality by failing to find a job. He continued to depend on all the money he had left. I believe that if Hurstwood could muster the courage to find a real job, perhaps his final life would not be so tragic. So, it can be seen that the courage to pursue their ideal life is how important it is. The ideal life is difficult to achieve, but having the courage to take that step is half the success

• 1. Her Own Efforts

Carrie’s courage to pursue her ideals was laudable, but one of the most important reasons for her success in changing her destiny was her own efforts to pursue her ideal life. Carrie, who just arrived in Chicago, saw her sister’s life difficult.

She felt the drag of a lean and narrow life. The walls of the rooms were discordantly papered. The floors were covered with matting and the hall laid with a thin rag carpet. One could see that the furniture was of that poor, hurriedly patched together quality sold by the installment houses. (Dreiser 10)

The difficulties of her elder sister’s life strengthened her desire to go out and find a job to change her current situation. Carrie’s first job was at a leather shoe company, but Carrie did not have any work experience, the job was also a bit difficult for her. Even so, she did not retreat from difficulties, but made more efforts on the contrary. Carrie seized on her work, and she did not care that the light in the room was dark and the nasty smell of leather which was in the air. She never participated in the gossip of others, all she thought was how to do the job on her hand. The salary was only $5, but it allowed her to live in Chicago. This was far from her ideal life, so she had to work harder and harder.

But a serious illness had ruined her previous efforts. Carrie lost her job after she was seriously ill, therefore she had to go out again to ask for it. It is often said that as long as efforts are made, there will be results. But sometimes when people work hard for their ideals, the result is not always satisfactory. At that time they will fall into confusion and despair, so they may have the possibility to make the wrong choice, Carrie is no exception. Carrie met Drouet again after her failing to find the job over again and again. She relied on Drouet, the salesman she met on the train, to live the elegant life she had been hoping for and she also became more beautiful. Carrie seemed to have found a shortcut to success, but actually it was not. She wanted to marry Drouet and live such a comfortable life without worrying about others’ gossip. Whereas Drouet never thought about getting married with Carrie, Carrie had to be always worried about when Drouet would get tired of herself and abandon herself. Then Carrie became acquainted with the hotel manager, Hurstwood, through Drouet. She was later tricked into becoming a housewife for him in New York. But Carrie, married to Hurstwood, was not as happy as she had been, and even more straitened. Sometimes taking shortcuts seems to make you feel happy to succeed, but over time you will find that these are only temporary pleasures, and the end result is nothing.

Sister Carrie and Hurstwood’s days in New York were getting poorer and Hurstwood admitted that their marriage was just a hoax and no binding force. She finally realized that if she kept relying on Hurstwood, the final result might be a return to her old poor days. She must have to go out and find a job for herself if she wanted to change her present situation. Carrie began to take advantage of her beauty and acting talent to work in the theatre, and she got a performing job. The practice of the theatre was very hard, and the manager was very strict, but Carrie did not complain but rehearsed harder.

It was this constant urging, coupled with irascibility and energy, for three long hours. Carrie came away worn enough in body, but too excited in mind to notice it. She meant to go home and practice her evolutions as prescribed. She would not err in any way, if she could help it.(Dreiser 304-305)

She was kept pushing and worked hard for three hours. Carrie was tired when she left the court. It was a new beginning for Carrie, who had never forgotten her ideals, so she was willing to suffer. She did not slackened back home and continued to rehearse after a quick rest. As long as she could do it, she would not make any mistakes, which was what she wanted.

On the other hand, Hurstwood said every time he went out to find a job, but he never took it seriously. He didn’t want to work hard, but he wanted to live a good life by gambling. After her complete disappointment with Hurstwood, Carrie decided to leave him and live on her own. Sister Carrie’s dedication to her work has given her more opportunities to perform, and her salary has risen from $12 to $35 per week. Her life also began to get better. She earned a weekly income, lived in a comfortable house. She could buy clothes she liked, beautiful jewelry, and no longer worried about paying the rent. All this was achieved by her own hard work, not by anyone. Carrie was trying to move forward towards her ideal life and she didn’t need to worry about being abandoned. She seized every chance to perform and worked harder than complacency when she makes a small achievement. Carrie finally became famous in a performance with her own efforts, and her fate completely changed. She was not a poor little girl from the village any more, she was a glittering star on the stage.

Carrie finally succeeded in realizing her original dream and living her ideal life through her hard work. In this world, you either willingly fall into the dust of society, or incite your angel’s wings, fly to the sky, overlooking the world. (Li 414) Sister Carrie didn’t want to be dust, so she chose to fight for her dream. She cherished every job she got, whether in a leather shoe factory or in a theater. She tried her best to do her job best. In the way to be a Broadway star from a town girl she takes her every effort to conquer the difficulties with bravery without ever compromise with reality. (Li 25) Everyone wants to be successful. Some people struggle to find a shortcut to success, but from Carrie we can know that there is no shortcut to real success but to struggle with your own efforts. Perhaps your temporary efforts will not have a good result, but as long as you insist on not giving up, down-to-earth toward the direction of your dream, the fruit of victory will be waiting for you at the end.

• 1. Positive Attitude towards Life

A man’s attitude towards life also determines his future to some extent. Sister Carrie was a positive and optimistic girl. When she faced setbacks she still could still live a positive life. The first job she got, though it was not well-paid and environment was bad, she was not downhearted. She believed that life could be better and better in the days to come. When Carrie was tricked into New York by Hurstwood, life was not as stable as it had been in Chicago, but she was happy to accept all the changes. What fate has given her, she has always accepted in good faith. Carrie followed the maid to learn how to take care of the house. Although the house was small, Carrie would always arrange the house very cozy. Not only did that, Carrie also tried to improve her cooking skills and figure out how to make delicious biscuits. However arduous life was, she had been trying to maintain a comfortable and warm environment for herself. Life will always have a lot of suffering, no one is smooth sailing. When we get into trouble, what we should do is not to escape but accept. Acceptance is not a compromise, so we need to positively face problems and try to deal with them. Spencer believes that man’s destiny is determined by character, and that bad fate is due to bad character. The survival of the fittest, the elimination of the unfit, is the law of nature. It is also the self-improvement of human society. (Wang amp; Chen 20)

Sister Carrie, no matter what her life might be, she is always full of expectations for life and tries to enjoy life. When she first arrived in Chicago, she was poor. She still would wear a nice dress and hat to make herself look energetic when she went to work in a factory. In spite of her life going from bad to worse in New York, Carrie took care of her appearance and tried to look elegant. After sister Carrie realized that she was once again deceived by Hurstwood, she found that she lost the last person she could rely on. She actively went out to find a job to find ways to change their plight rather than felt sorry for herself.

Compared with Carrie, Hurstwood, who was equally depressed, faced life with a pessimistic attitude and did not dare to face his own failure. After Carrie left him, he became more depraved, living on the bread of charity. Having seen Carrie’s success, he thought that Carrie was so lucky to have a chance to change her destiny, but he was too unfortunate to be justly treated. So he finally tragically ended his life. Hurstwood, a former hotel manager, should have been much easier to get a job than Carrie, but he could only shout slogans without doing anything. He said more than once that he wanted to find a job, but every time he just said that he couldn’t find a job and didn’t take any action. True optimism is that we have the courage to face difficulties and setbacks and take the initiative to find solutions. We should learn Carrie’s optimistic attitude towards life, which is not only always full of expectations when in a difficult situation, but also is taking positive actions to find a way to overcome them in the face of difficulties. Only always be optimistic, will not be defeated by the setbacks of life, can we achieve ultimate success.

4. Conclusion

There is vanity in Sister Carrie’s character, but what we see more in her is the independence and boldness of the new woman. An 18-year-old girl from the countryside came to the big city alone in pursuit of her ideals. Society is cruel. Carrie went to find a job and found it for a long time, but she was dismissed from work because she was ill. It was no doubt a great blow to Carrie, who had just wanted to live in Chicago, but she did not give up the idea of earning a living in the big city. Carrie, from the bottom, saw the indifference between sisters caused by poverty and the hardships of her work, however, she still loved dressing beautifully and enjoying life. She calculated how long it would take to save her weekly salary after deducting her living expenses to buy herself a new dress, and planned to go to the theatre when she had the rest of her weekly salary.

Some people may think Carrie is vain, and I do not deny that there is vanity in her character, but her vanity encouraged her to make efforts to pursue her dream. Carrie was more optimistic about life. And she was still able to pay attention to her clothes and the warm of her home under the worse and worse circumstances of her life. Entering the upper class and getting rid of her poverty has always been Carrie’s dream, and she has been struggling to realize it. Her occasional performance led her to discover her talent, so later when life in New York became worse and worse, she went to work in the theatre on her own beauty and acting talent. When Carrie finally turned from a little unknown actress to a glittering star on the stage, she succeeded at last. Her success depends not on others but on her own hard rehearsal, hard work and sweat. She practiced hard while others were rehearsing, she still did not slacken at rest. She was willing to perform in other cities when no one else was willing to perform. It was her hard work that eventually succeeded her.

The success of Sister Carrie is of practical significance. Today, there are many young people with great ideals, but few people can really adhere to the dreams and make them come true. Everyone has the right to pursue the ideal, but not everyone has the courage to pursue it. When faced with unknown life and challenges, many people will choose to back down. They are reluctant to go out of their comfort zone and start a new journey. The courage in Sister Carrie was worth learning for every young man who has to fight for his ideals.

As a person, we need to have our own goals, and we also need to seize the opportunity to show our talents. When we are chasing our ideal life, we may encounter setback and failures, or find it difficult to find someone who will appreciate our talents in the process of ideal, but we still have to face life positively and look forward to it. Learn from each failure we had, see the setbacks as an opportunity to learn from and take positive actions to solve problems. When life is a mess, pessimism only makes things worse, so let’s be optimistic. Everyone’s ideals are worthy of respect. In the face of other people’s doubts, we should strengthen our own belief, not defeated by the secular vision. Above all, everyone’s success is not easy. When we lamented other people’s good achievements, we should also think of the great efforts they have made behind them. Chances and luck are important to success, but we need to keep in mind that there are no shortcuts to success. Relying on others only leaves you with nothing, and true success depends on your down-to-earth efforts.

Works Cited

Chen Jing. “Interpretation of Symbolic Consumption Culture in Sister Carrie”, Times Literature, No. 3 (2010)

Dong Xinmeng. “The Main Cause Analysis of Sister Carrie under the Influence of Desire and City” Science Guide, No.2 (2014)

Theodore Dreiser. Sister Carrie, Signet Classics (2009)

Wang Renfu and Chen Guihua. “The Contemporary Significance of Sister Carrie”, Journal of China West Normal University (Philosophy amp; Social Sciences), No.4 (2015)

Yin Juan “A Feminist Reading of Sister Carrie: Carrie——the Aspiring Cinderella”, Science amp; Technology Information, NO.22 (2008)

Zhou Ling. “The Fate of Carrie and the Disillusionment of the American Dream”, Social Sciences Review, NO.1 (2016)

鲍晓兰：《西方女性主义研究评价》，三联书店，1995

[Bao Xiaolan. Evaluation of Western Feminism Research, Sanlian Bookstore, 1995]

陈秀渊：《嘉莉妹妹》女性角色全面解读，文学教育第3期，2010

[Chen Xiuyuan, “A Full Interpretation of Female Roles in Sister Carrie”, Literature Education, No. 3 (2010)]

崔莉, 马成明：以《嘉莉妹妹》为例看女性的欲望与理智, 文学教育第10期，2018

[Cui Li and Ma Chengming, “Taking Sister Carrie as an Example to See the Desire and Reason of Women”, Literature Education, No.10 (2018)]

李淑芬：上帝的女儿都有翅膀——为嘉莉妹妹辩护, 科技信息(科学教研) 第21期，2008

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