An Analysis of Carrie’s Character in Sister Carrie.doc

本科生毕业论文（设计）题目 an analysis of carries character in sister carrie姓名 学号 院系 专业 英语 指导教师 职称 教授 曲阜师范大学杏坛学院教务处制an analysis of carries character in sister carriea thesissubmitted toxingtan collegequfu normal universityin partial fulfillment of the requirementsfor the degree of bachelor of artsby jiao nana under the supervision of sun huaxiang acknowledgementsi am deeply indebted to sun huaxiang, my supervisor, who has read my draft meticulously and offered inclusive comments on them. without his help, the thesis could never have reached its present form.my sincere gratitude also goes to all my teachers who have given me excellent lecture and great help, which is indispensable to the completion of this thesis. i also give my hearty thanks to all my roommates who offered me generous help and useful suggestion in the process of writing this thesis.finally, i would like to express my appreciation to all the writers whose works are referred to in this thesis. abstractthis thesis will make a study about carries character and the internal and factors that affect carries character in carrie sister which is written by theodore dreiser. this thesis divides carries character into positive aspect and negative aspect. the positive aspect of carries character is her innocence, simplicity, diligence, enterprising and independence; the negative aspect of carries character is her vanity and endless desire. carries character is affected by both internal and external factors. the internal factors that affect carries character is her understanding of life and her growing of independent consciousness; the external factors that affect carries character is the social reality and the influence of the two men carrie meets. according to the analysis of carries character, this thesis thought that carrie is an innocent, simple, hard-working woman. she is also an independent woman whose heart is good, aggressive but vain. besides, she has endless desire.key words: theodore dreiser; character; sister carrie; carrie 摘 要论文探讨西奥多德莱赛的自然主义小说嘉莉妹妹中嘉莉的性格和影响嘉莉性格的因素。论文将嘉莉的性格分为积极的一方面和消极的一方面。嘉莉性格的积极的一方面表现为她的天真单纯、勤奋、上进心和她的独立意识；她性格的消极的一方面表现为她的虚荣心和无限的欲望。影响嘉莉性格的内部因素是嘉莉对生活的理解和他独立意识的形成；影响嘉莉性格的外部因素是社会现实和嘉莉遇见的两名男子对嘉莉性格的形成的影响。通过对嘉莉的性格分析，嘉莉是一个天真单纯、勤奋、有进取心但虚荣心较强，有着无限欲望的独立女性。关键词：西奥多德莱赛；性格；嘉莉妹妹；嘉莉contentsacknowledgements.iiabstract (english).iiiabstract (chinese).iv0. introduction.10.1 the introduction of the american naturalism.10.2 the introduction of theodore dreiser.20.3the introduction of sister carrie22. literature review.33. carries character.53.1 carries positive character5 3.1.1 carries innocence and simplicity.5 3.1.2 carries diligence and gumption.6 3.1.3 carries independence.73.2 carries negative character.7 3.2.1 carries vanity.7 3.2.2 carries endless desire.84. factors that shape carries character8 4.1 external factors94.1.1 the social reality.94.1.2 the influence of two men whom carrie meets 104.2 internal factors134.2.1 carries understanding of life.134.2.2carries growing of independent consciousness.155. conclusion.16works cited18viii0. introductionat the end of 19th century american society was transiting from traditional industry to modern industry. modern industry provided opportunity for the development of cities. peoples thought also changed a lot, some of which even in the mood of confusion. at the first half of the 19th century, according to the law of the united states, a married woman women and their husbands werent equal in the relation ship of marriage. whats more, their husband are allowed to give them punishment by using sticks with their degree of thickness was no more than mens thumb women were subordinated to men. it was a society which dominated by men. besides peoples pursuit of money and materials and were endless. people, at that time, paced with spiritual emptiness and worship crisis. theodore dreiser (1871-1945) is the forerunner of american novel and representative writer. theodore dreiser published the novel carrie sister. the story tells of a beautiful rural girl who admires the material life of the urban is eager to make a living in chicago. the harsh reality shattered her dream. what greet her are unemployment and disease. in the desperate, she becomes a mistress of a salesman, drouct. later, she becomes a mistress of a hotel manager, hurstwood because of a greater desire. after running away with hurstwood, she becomes a famous actor by pure change and crammed into high society. at the same time, she discards hurstwood who are becoming poorer and push him into despair with unconscious cruelty. however, what does the so called high society brings her. she feels empty and cannot find the meaning of life. in sadness and loneliness, she dreams about the happiness which cannot be gotten. she sold her virginity in order to get rid of poverty. so far, carrie sister is still a controversial book. this thesis will mainly analyze carries character, the internal and external factors which affect her character.0.1 the introduction of the american naturalismamerican naturalism is a literary trend prevailing in the second half of the 19th century in europe. especially in france and germany, naturalism is an attempt to achieve fidelity to nature by rejecting idealized portrayal of lice. in literature, it can be further defined as a technique of objective view of man or a mood with frankness and accuracy. according to naturalistic writers, man is shaped by heredity and environment over which they cannot control. they tend to show “true-to-life” description without selection. they show man struggling for survival. as a literary movement, naturalism was initiated in france and it came to be led by emile zola. like the realists, the naturalists in america strove for objectivity and were interest in the commonplace in contemporary life, with a passion for scientific accuracy and an overwhelming accumulation of factual detail (to 164). hortons comment on american literary naturalism was “though gloomy, pessimistic, and often bitter, american naturalists could not accept the deterministic attitude of the complete helplessness of man and the view of an amoral and predatory universe and adopt a thoroughgoing scientific attitude in the portrayal of the american scene” (chang 142).0.2 the introduction of theodore dreiser theodore dreiser (1871-1945) is the forerunner of american novel and representative writer. theodore dreiser, hemingway and william faulkner are considered as three giant of the modern american novel. and he is regarded as an outstanding representative of american naturalism. in 1990, theodore dreiser published his first full-length novel carrie sister which was a commercial and critical failure. it describes the disillusion of carries seek for happy life on the broad social background, revealed and criticized the darkness of capitalist society. he pointed out that one cannot find way out rely on by honest labor. and, one can get money and status only by selling ones soul. it is not possible to get real happiness. the image in the work which is anti-traditional suffered criticism from the people. this work impressed the reader very much and thats why it can be chosen as the basis of the thesis. besides, carrie sister, his major works include jennie gerhardt, trilogy of desire, the stoic and the financier. 0.3 the introduction of sister carriesister carrie is the first novel of theodore dreiser. and at the same time, it is regarded as a master piece of american naturalism. in the history of american literature, the bookstands out asoneofthenotable landmarks. the plot of the story is that a beautiful rural girl who admires the material life of the urban is eager to make a living in chicago. the harsh reality shattered her dream. what greet her are unemployment and disease. in the desperate, she becomes a mistress of a salesman, drouct. later, she becomes a mistress of a hotel manager, hurstwood because of a greater desire. after running away with hurstwood, she becomes a famous actor by pure change and crammed into high society. at the same time, she discards hurstwood who are becoming poorer and push him into despair with unconscious cruelty. however, what does the so called high society brings her. she feels empty and cannot find the meaning of life. in sadness and loneliness, she dreams about the happiness which cannot be gotten. 2. literature review sister carrie is theodore dreisers first novel and also one of the most famous literature writings. one of the most plot in sister carrie is hurstwood steals the hotels money and tricks carrie into running away with him. the model of the plot is theodore dreisers sisters life experience. in those days, a hotel cashier stole the hotels money and ran away with her sister. in 1900 theodore dreiser finished the first draft. in a century, although this work has been receiving some criticism, it is still a masterpiece that readers cannot tear themselves away from it. when sister carrie was published, american public opinion of the book can be divided into two groups. the herald times and interior regard theodore dreiser as american zola and with the opinion that sister carrie is a great american novel. although they also hold the opinion that carrie and hurstwood are lacking in firm morality, they affirm the artistic status of sister carrie on the whole. among the critics who are for theodore dreiser, h.l mencken is the earliest and the most outstanding. he pointed out that theodore dreiser is not the follower of frank norris and zola. because he absorbed the ideas of hawthorn, irving and spencer which is useful for him and brings “the deep sense of wonder in the literature” besides, charles baldwin, burton roscoe and f.o. matthiessen also hold an appreciative attitude on sister carrie. sinclair lewis, comments on sister carrie like this “dreiser more than any other man, marching alone, usually unappreciated, often hated, has cleared the trail from victorian timidity and gentility in american fiction to honesty and boldness and passion of life. dreisers great first novel, sister carrie, gives us the first fresh air since mark twain to whitman” (rebinstein 86). american critic, alfred kazin, points out that “it is a challenge to the illegal and immoral society and it accomplishes its task in the literary history, gives a down-to-earth expression to the new moral in 1890s and unconsciously liberates this moral outlook” (long 54).baldwin held that theodore dreiser is the most famous and distinctive writer in america and he exceed british novelist in sprite and writing level; roscoe defended the amorality in sister carrie and thought that theodore dreiser is the advocator of free thought in the 1920s; matthiessen regarded sister carrie as the record of historical facts in the are of theodore dreiser life. another school which is represented by “life” and “business newspaper”, however, held a condemning attitude towards sister carrie. the critics of this school thought that promoting moral decay and corruption. it was criticized for its jumbled structure, for its awkward expressions, and mostly for its bad content, namely, its focus on the characters beastliness rather than humanity, on the poor rather than on the rich, and on its heroes and herons endless desire (song 5). the most powerful and influential attack toward theodore dreiser was from stewart sherman. in the book of theodore dreisers naturalism, he criticized that theodore dreiser didnt describe american society and people with reality, but took human as animals, and ignored great responsibility of the novelist on purpose-understanding and expressing the development of character. when stewart sherman criticized theodore dreiser, he denied naturalistic literature as a whole. in his point of view, realistic novels express human behavior but naturalistic novels express animals behavior. alfred kain and charles shapiro co-edited a book named distinguished theodore dreiser, collecting many critical essays. this book is valuable comprehensive analects. in british critics, sister carrie got a high evaluation. daily mail held the opinion that sister carrie is a marvelous novel which is written by american. defender pointed out that sister carrie is real and impartial, and it is a file with the historical data value in american history. besides, some critics thought that sister carrie a rare book which is accurate in observation and sympathetic in style. at the same time it is full of lyrical and dramatic power. 3. carries characterfrom the book itself, sister carrie is an innocent, simple, hard-working woman. she is also an independent woman whose heart is good, aggressive but vain. besides, she has endless desire.3.1 carries positive characteras we all know, we have both advantages and disadvantages. likely carrie has some good character which are worthy of praising. she is an innocent, simple, hard-working, romantic and realistic woman. she is also an independent woman whose heart is good, aggressive.3.1.1 carries innocence and simplicitycarrie is easy to be moved by sweet words. she encountered drouet on the train for chicago and after getting off the train. drouet asked for taking the package for carrie, she felt that it is really lucky to get a strangers care in strange place. but carrie didnt know drouet was a person who has the strong desire for women. carrie lost her work after being ill and couldnt find a job. at this time she met drouet again and he invited carrie to dinner and then gave her twenty dollars to let her buy clothes and shoes. then carries mood contradictory, and she felt ashamed and refused him, but she accepted at last under the lure of money. once again carrie thought drouet was a generous and very good person. but she didnt know he was only a man who took the pursuit of women for fun. when carrie had no choice and had to return home, drouet helped carrie again. carrie was moved and accepted his help. then she became his mistress at last. later, because of her simplicity, carrie was deceived by another man, hurstwood. she was also attracted by the appearance and conversation of him and he was attracted by her pretty, so they frequently made appointment. but she was completely unaware of hurstwood was a married man. when drouet told her that hurstwood had a family, she knew that she was deceived and she felt much regretted. when carrie learned that the hurstwood has been married and decided not to contacts with him any longer. but one day, hurstwood suddenly came to her home and told carrie that drouet was sick in the hospital, she followed him with no doubt then she was cheated to the city of new york. because of her innocence and simplicity, carrie became the prey of the men twice.3.1.2 carries diligence and gumption carries diligence was expressed in her work. when she arrived in chicago, she went out to find a job at once. after her efforts, she finally found a job. though it was low pay, long working hours, poor working conditions, she chose to endure that. later because she was ill and lost her job. after she became the lover of drouet, carrie tried to improve herself in taste and she found herself was more tasted than drouet. and at that time, the masonic which drouet belonged to was performing a play which misses the key actress. drouet asked carrie to have a try, so carrie decided to have a try. carrie practiced industriously everyday and thought it is a good opportunity fir her to get rid of poverty. so she knew that if she wanted to success, she had to work hard and finally carrie finally performed this role successfully. this experience laid a solid foundation for her to be successful in the broadway later. hurstwood deceived carrie into going to new york with him and they lived together. carrie first was a housewife, but when hurstwood lost his job. carrie had to look for a job to make a living, but she didnt success at first. however, she did not give up and made every effort. she eventually became a popular actress and lived a rich life. without her hard work and persistence, carrie couldnt have got success. her gumption was expressed in improving herself. in chicago, carrie learned the conversations and manners of the people in high society.3.1.3 carries independencecarries independence is not initiative but is forced out. she came to chicago and stayed at her sisters home and had to look for a job by herself and paid for her living expenses. after she was unemployment, she was not welcomed by her sister and brother-in -law. they advised her to