（英语语言文学专业论文）美国梦的牺牲品——评德评德莱塞笔下的女性形象.pdf

摘 要 i 摘 要 在美国自然主义文学的发展史上西奥多 德莱塞被公认为 2 0 世纪初美国最杰 出的作家之一这位来自下层社会未接受过正规教育的作家率先如实地描写了 新的美国生活是美国现代小说的先驱也是美国现实主义大师 德莱塞的小说摒弃了当时流行的优雅文学传统勇于按照生活的本来面目 来描写生活如实地揭示出了当时美国社会生活的阴暗面大胆地攻击了美国传 统的道德标准他小说中的人物大多来自下层社会在因被私利和虚荣所驱动而 不断堕落的过程中又深受社会等级特权和局限性的影响从而最终导致了人物 的悲剧性命运 本文选择了德莱塞著名小说嘉莉妹妹珍妮姑娘和美国悲剧中的三 位女主人公嘉莉珍妮和洛蓓塔作为研究对象以分析其各自的性格特征为中心 并通过横向对比与纵向联系的手法揭示出了十九世纪末期真实的美国社会生活 尤其是底层阶级为实现其所谓的美国梦从挣扎奋斗到梦想破灭的残酷事 实从而指出造成其悲剧性的最终根源美国社会制度使文章的现实意义得 到了体现也使读者对作者真实的写作意图有了更深层次的了解和体会 关键词 女性形象 性格特征 悲剧性 社会根源 abstract ii abstract in the history of american literary naturalism, theodore dreiser is one of the most outstanding novelists in the early twentieth century. coming from the bottom of the society, dreiser is the first one to describe the real american citizen life. he is called pioneer of american contemporary fiction and is thought to be the great master of american realism. in dreisers novels, he discards “the genteel tradition”, which is very popular at that time. on the contrary, he dares to depict the life as it is and discover the dark side of the social life, bravely attacking the traditional moral standard of america. the characters in his novels mostly come from the bottom of the society, and during their degeneration driven by their selfish interests and vanities, they are also deeply influenced by the privileges and limitations of the social class. that leads to their misfortunes at last. this thesis chooses three female images as objects of study. they are carrie, jennie and roberta, who respectively come from dreisers famous novels sister carrie, jennie gerhardt and an american tragedy .the thesis mainly analyzes and compares the different character of the three heroines, to depict a real american social life in the late 1890s, especially those of poor peoples lives from struggling, fighting to failing for their so-called “american dreams”. at last, the article points out the most important resource resulting in the tragedies the american social system, to make the readers understand the practical significance of the novels better. key words female images heroines natures tragedy social resource introduction - 1 - introduction theodore dreiser (1871-1945), known as one of american greatest writers and the leader of american naturalism, is deeply remembered for his stinging criticism of the genteel tradition and of what howells described as the “smiling aspects of life” typifying america. in his fictions, dreiser is apt to deal with the new social problems that have come into being in a rapidly industrializing america and with his characters driven by selfish motives and influenced by the privileges and limitations of social class. his heroes and heroines, his settings, his frank discussion, celebration and humanization of sex, his clear dissection of the mechanistic brutality of american society are so different and new that they shock the reading public reared on the genteel romances and adventure narratives. in all of his life, dreiser is thought to be controversial both as a man and as a writer. on one hand, he is accused by some critics, with some justice by conventional standards, of being immoral in his personal behavior, imperfect in his plot structure, and dreadful in his style. he is even called a poor thinker and dangerous political radical. on the other hand, dreiser is praised as a profound and prescient critic of debased american values and a powerful novelist. just as bucco wisely says, “dreiser is one of the worlds best worst writers. he is an impurist with nothing but genius.” though dreiser and his characters dont mean to attack the nations puritanical moral code: they simply ignore it, it still causes a great disturbance when his first novel sister carrie came out in 1900. it tells a story of a young girl named carrie who leaves her small hometown to chicago. she meets a traveling salesman named drouet and moves in with him after a few weeks. after being wooed by hurstwood, she is cheated by him and goes to new york with him. hurstwoods financial decline forces her to apply for jobs in the theater, and she soon becomes a well- known actress. then, she discards hurstwood and enjoys great success as one of broadways stars. however, even 河北大学硕士学位论文 - - 2 in all her wealth carrie remains unhappy at the end of the story. thought to be “immoral”, the book is even initially rejected by many publishers. harper brothers, the first publisher to see the book, rejects it by saying that it is not “sufficiently delicate to depict without offense to the reader the continued illicit relations of the heroine.” the critics give various opinions on this novel. william marion reedy calls it “a strangely strong novel in a queer milieu”. although reedy admitted the novel is neither “nice” nor “nasty”, he identifies one of the enduring powers of dreisers tale: “the strong hint of pathetic in banal situations which is more frequent than often imagined.” norris, an advisor for doubleday publishing house “is much taken by the narrative”, and calls it “the best novel i have read since i have been reading for the firm.” edgar lee masters, a lawyer who notices dreisers novels from the beginning says in his letter to dreiser: “you have such a capacity for detail and for the pure fact from which truth is secreted that you pile up in tireless fashion the evidence for your agreement.” jennie gerhardt is dreisers second novel. jennie gerhardt is a good girl from a poor family. motivated by affection and a desire to help her family escape crushing poverty, she submits to two wealthy men by force. but she is discarded at last and loses everything and becomes alone. when the novel was published in 1911, dreiser was full of both hope and fear. of course, some people still criticize that his novel “offends public decency”, but most important remarks are positive. andrew delbanco says: with a force unprecedented in american literature, jennie gerhardt exposes the beaten wills of people living in unrelieved exhaustion and worry, teased by the proximity of good life. in the portrait of jennie herself dreiser gives expression to an undirected longing, the unbearable sense of youth taunted by hope, then defeated.(2) h.l.mencken calls dreisers indictment of the american quest for status “the best american novel i have ever read, with the lonesome but himalayan exception of “huckleberry finn.”(3) in 1925, after eight abysmal novels, dreiser released his longest and best selling introduction - 3 - novel an american tragedy. this novel is based on the infamous chester gillette case and it reveals a third stage in his thinking: social consciousness. its hero, clyde griffiths grows up in a poor family. but he holds a strong american dream, that is, to gain money and high position. he meets roberta, a working girl in his uncles factory and makes her pregnant. but at the same time, a rich girl with high social position falls in love with him. to enter the high society and realize his “dream”, clyde murders roberta. at last, clyde is sentenced to death and his american dream is broken with his death. though the novels questionable grammar and style are transcended by its narrative power, it is still called by one influential critic “the worst-written great novel in the world”. burnet and wills both agree that “this novel is one of the greatest novels in 1920s. it expands a poor, small and typical case of american life to much a bigger realm than its real life and has a representative significance.” mencken summarizes different opinions on the novel and says:dreiser can understand, and then act. whereas others are particular about using words.” thomas remarks: its the greatest achievement of his later years. it is a work of mythic force, at once brutal and heartbreaking.”(4) vitor flona says:with this tremendous novelthis masterpiecedreiser will conquer the world, just as he has conquered america.” besides these three famous novels, dreisers other important works also include: the trilogy (including the financier (1912), the titan (1914), the stoic (1947), the genius (1915), the bulwark (1946) and so on. dreiser passed away on december 28th, 1945, while the power of his works didnt fade away with time but became stronger and stronger. in china, far in 1930s, our great new culture movement pioneer qu qiubai used to write articles to introduce dreiser to the chinese. in his a true american tragedy, he says dreisers genius “radiates endless luster just like the grand white” and pointed out that “dreiser is a very great writer in depicting american life.” up to now, a lot of dreisers famous novels and some good short stories have been translated into chinese. some of them are collected into college 河北大学硕士学位论文 - - 4 teaching materials for liberal arts students. the study on dreiser and his works is also kept going further. to really understand dreisers novels, one should concentrate on the novels background, the reason for the characters misfortunes and the most important one-the social resource leading to the tragedy, combining with the writers intention of course. in this thesis, it chooses three female images, namely carrie, jennie and roberta in dreisers novels, sister carrie, jennie gerhardt and an american tragedy as the objects of study. through the analysis of the heroines character respectively, the novel shows a scene of a real american citizen life in the early 1890s, and through the contrasts and relations of their character and fortunes, it discovers the most fundamental reason resulting in their “broken american dream”, and reveals the writers ultimate intention for writing. chapter character of the heroines - 5 - chapter character of the heroines 1.1 character of carrie one day in august 1889, an eighteen-year-old girl, caroline meeberor sister carrie, as she had been half affectionately termed by the family was from columbia city to chicago by train. it makes sister carrie become a member of the world literature. as the most controversial character in dreisers novels, carrie used to be called “immoral”. coming from a small county, she is lured by the life of the big city and degenerated step by step. though she seems to get what she wants at the end of the novel, she still feels puzzled and doesnt know where her future lies. this is the main idea that the novel wants to show: unpredictable ups and downs in life. as the subtitle in chapterwrites: “the magnet attracting: a waif amid forces”, carrie is considered as a puzzled, passive and doubted character without energy. growing up in a small county, and with “books were beyond her interest”, she hasnt much insight. but as most girls i n her age, she is full of vague ambition, including money and fame. these two factors make her always feel puzzled in the real social life and become passive on most things she meets. in her original opinion, chicago is a heaven and it is very easy to earn money. but when she sees the poverty of her sisters life and the dull of her job with little money, she becomes very depressed. she doesnt understand why her life drops to such a situation and begins to bemoan “her narrow lot and her unfolding fate.” trying to avoid poverty, she lives with drouet, a salesman who is fascinated with her beauty, and becomes his mistress passively. now she can afford beautiful clothes and lead a comfortable life, but sometimes she still feels puzzled, as it says in chapter 10: “ah , thought carrie, with mournful misgivings, what is it have i lost?” later, she meets hurstwood, a famous hotel manager, who expresses his love for her. though excited, she is puzzled again: “behold, he had ease and comfort, his 河北大学硕士学位论文 - - 6 strength was great, his position high, his clothing rich, and yet he was appealing to her. she could formulate no thought which would be just and right.” (chap 13) when hurstwood steals money from the hotel and carrie is cheated to flee with him to hew york, carrie firstly feels worried and wants to go back, but at last she stays there reluctantly and “marries” him. but their life after marriage isnt as good as carrie thinks, even gets worse. carrie finds this but “ being of a passive and receptive rather than an active and aggressive nature, carrie accepted this situation.”(chap 31) even when she discards hurstwood and becomes a hot actress and owns her dreaming fame and gain, she still doesnt feel happy. on the contrary, she feels more lonely and puzzled. the novel ends with carrie sitting in the rocking-chair falling into deep thinking: “in your rocking-chair, by your window dreaming, shall you long, alone. in your rocking-chair, by your window, shall you dream such happiness as you may never feel.” from countryside to chicago and to new york, carrie is just like a waif. she doesnt know her goal clearly and where is her ultimate destination. she is a puzzled and passive character all along, as it says: “among the forces which sweep and play throughout the universe, untutored man is but a wisp in the wind.”(chap 8) it cant be denied that carrie is a very attractive girl, or drouet and hurstwood couldnt have fascinated with her. she is born of beauty: wth the fancies of youth, pretty with the insipid prettiness of the formative period, possessed a figure promising eventual shapeliness and an eye sight with certain native intelligence, she was a fair example of the middle class.(chap 1) but she is not affected. all of her power of pretty comes out of her innocent nature: in the intuitive graces she was still crude, she could scarcely toss her head gracefully. (chap 1) and in the mild light of carries eye was nothing of the calculation of the mistress. in the different manner was nothing of the art of the courtesan. she came fresh from the air of the village, the light of the country still in her eye. (chap 13) carrie is not just a girl with beautiful appearance, she has mind. she knows how to chapter character of the heroines - 7 - take chance to get away from poverty. she can observe the shortages of her lovers and react to them to improve herself: “in reality, carrie had more imagination than he more taste. it was a finer mental strain in her that made possible her depression and loneliness.” (chap 7) she is a shy, humble girl when she gets to chicago. this makes her feel embarrassed: this line the individual at her elbow now marked for carrie. she became conscious of an inequality. her own plain blue dress, with its black cotton tape trimmings, now seemed to her shabby, she felt the worn state of her shoes. (chap 1) she had never done this thing before, and lacked courage. to avoid a certain indefinable shame she felt at being caught spying about for a position, she quickened her steps and assumed an air of indifference supposedly common to one upon an errand. (chap 3) but she is good at learning and imitating. soon she conquers such shortcomings and becomes a graceful woman: “carrie was an apt student of fortunes ways of fortunes superficialities. seeing a thing, she would immediately set to inquiring how she would look, properly related to it.” (chap 11) using her mind and her will to succeed, carrie at last becomes a real noble, graceful and confident woman at the end of the novel. in short, her knowledge of grace doubled, and with it her appearance changed, she became a girl of considerable taste.( chap11) carrie was certainly better than this man, as she was superior, mentally, to drouet.(chap13) but anyway, she is far from a perfect woman or even a “good” girl. she hates poverty and is unwilling to work hard to support herself. on the contrary, she preferred to be other mens mistress than work. so in a way she is a dependant woman and abandons herself to vice. besides, she is a selfish and cruel girl in some aspects. she shows this especially on her family and her lovers: whatever touch of regret at parting characterized her thoughts, it was certainly not 河北大学硕士学位论文 - - 8 for advantages now being given up. (chap1) her situation was cleared up for her. she felt that her life was becoming stale, and therein , she felt cause for gloomthe desirous carrie was whispered to concerning her possibilities.(chap31) from now on, her indifference to the flat was even greater.(chap40) at last, she discards hurstwood, which finally leads to his committing suicide. this mans tragic ending proves carries selfishness and cruelty more clearly. whats more, carrie is also a woman with vanity and material desires at the same time. even when she is in poverty, what she thinks isnt to save money. on the contrary, she spends most of the money on clothing and entertainments. when she lives with her lovers, she uses their money on dressings flashy and without substance to meet her vanity. but in some way, she doesnt lose her innocence. after all, she used to be a pure and innocent girl, and she keeps some of these natures even when she degenerates gradually and unconsciously. this makes her feel contradictive sometimes. to get away from poverty, she becomes the mistress of drouet, but she feels upset about this: she looked into her glass and saw a prettier carrie than she had seen before; she looked into her mind, a mirror prepared of her won and the worlds opinions, and saw a worse there she heard a different voice, with which she argued, pleaded, excused.(chap10) she is cruel and selfish, but she feels regretful and sympathetic sometimes: “sorrow in her was aroused by many a spectacle- an uncritical unwilling of grief for the weak and the helplessthe poorly clad girls who went blowing by her window evenings she pitied from the depths of her heart.” (chap15) to hurstwood, when she leaves him, she feels a little upset and whe