安 徽 农 业 大 学
毕 业 论 文（设计）
论文题目 姓 名 _______________ 学 号 _______________ 专 业 指导教师 职 称
中国·合肥
二oo 年六月
安徽农业大学学士学位论文（设计）开题报告
Image of New Woman in Sister Carrie
Thesis submitted to the faculty of School of Foreign Languages
Anhui Agricultural University in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Arts
By:XXX
Supervisor:XXX
School of Foreign Languages, AHAU
May 2011
Acknowledgements
For this thesis, grateful acknowledgement goes first to my supervisor xxx, who took time from her busy schedule and gave me valuable advice on how to choose an appropriate topic, what and how to study. Without her patient reading, careful thinking and expert instructions, the completion of this thesis would be impossible, at least, not so successful.
Besides, I would like to avail myself with this opportunity to thank all teachers and professors in School of Foreign Language, Anhui Agriculture University, whose devoted teaching and enlightening lectures have benefited me a lot.
Moreover, I grateful acknowledge all my classmates and friends who have been supporting me throughout the four years, making my college life colorful and meaningful.
Last but not least, my sincere gratitude also extends to my family, especially my dear parents, who have been working hard all day, supporting, encouraging and caring for me all of my life.
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Abstract
Theodore Dreiser is an outstanding realistic novelist in the American literary history. His famous novel, Sister Carrie, has vividly recurred the American life and their attitude toward women during the period from later 19th century to the early of 20th century. In this novel, the author portrayed a successful image of new women, Sister Carrie, who transferred from an innocent country girl to a woman full of desire for material things and emotions. She was brave and smart in pursuit of love and ambitious to be successful in career. Meanwhile, different from the traditional women, she dared to search for independence and freedom in her spirit and life. Besides, Sister Carrie was fashionable enough to challenge traditional ideas, and accept new things and ideas which seemed to be weird and unacceptable in that society. Though she knew that what she had done run counter to the social norms at that time, and would be mocked by people, she did whatever she could to realize her desire and got what she wanted.
Key words: new women；Sister Carrie；desire；independence
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摘 要
西奥多·德莱赛美国文学史上以为杰出的现实主义小说家，他在其著名的小说《嘉莉妹妹》中形象地刻画了19世纪末20世纪初美国的社会生活以及人们的女性观。在这部小说中，作者成功地刻画出了一个成功的新女性形象，嘉莉妹妹。本文从三个方面分析嘉莉妹妹的新女性特征。在小说中，女主角从一个单纯的乡下女孩转变成了一个对物质情感都充满欲望的女性。她不仅聪明，还勇于追求自己的爱情，并且不断努力，最求事业上的成功。然而，不同于传统女性的是，她勇于追求精神和生活上的自由和独立。同时，嘉莉妹妹敢于挑战传统，接受被当时人们认为很奇怪的新事物、新思想。尽管她知道自己的所作所为违反了当时的社会准则，会被人们嘲笑，但她还是尽一切可能去满足自己的欲望。
关键词：新女性；嘉莉妹妹；欲望；独立
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements.....................................................................................................i Abstract.........................................................................................................................ii 摘要...............................................................................................................................iii
I. Introduction..............................................................................................................1
II. Feature of New Women: Desire for Material and Emotional Things................3
2.1 Desire for Better Things in Daily Life..................................................................3
2.2 Spiritual Desire .....................................................................................................5
2.3 Ambitions to be Successful in Career...................................................................6
III. Feature of New Women: Searching for Independence and Freedom...........8
IV. Feature of New Women: Acceptance of New Things and Ideas...............11
4.1 Courage of Challenging Traditional Ideas..........................................................11
4.2 Courage of Accepting New Things....................................................................12
V. Conclusion............................................................................................................14
Bibliography.............................................................................................................15
Ⅰ. Introduction
Theodore Dreiser, a famous realistic novelist in the American literature history, suffered a miserable life in his childhood. He had worked as a newsboy, shop assistant and dishwasher to make a living when he was twelve, but later he went to a college, to which his great success had attributed. Other American writers had grown up in limited circumstances, but no major American author before Dreiser participated so fully in the new industrial and urban world of America in the late nineteenth century, a world which hosts of immigrant poor struggled to gain a foothold in these emerging metropolis(Pizer 2007: 1). Dreiser had portrayed the society and the American life in his novels vividly. Dreiser's work, and especially Sister Carrie, has been central to discussion of the nature of twentieth-century American life since his reputation as a leading American writer became established about the time of the First World War(Pizer 2007: 14).
During the period of 1880~1920, the first wave of Feminist Movement pushed the "new women" into the stage of history, fighting against the traditional women. "New women" were considered to have self-awareness and independent characteristic. Those educated women were free and were not fettered by tradition. What's more, they had their own jobs to support themselves(Jiang 2002: 222). Many writers had expressed their thoughts about women's liberation and rights through their works. The most influential Feminist, Simone de Beauvoir, announced in her novel that “I will never make my life controlled by other's will”. The famous novelist, Jane Austen, had clearly stated her view in Pride and Prejudice that women should break the tradition and pursue true love. What's more, Charlotte Bronte, in Jane Eyre, told people that women were equal to men. Dreiser has also presented his attitude supporting the “new 1
women” in his novel, Sister Carrie.
Sister Carrie, is a story about a pure, simple and beautiful country girl, who went to Chicago to make a living. She wanted to live a better life through her work, but what she confronted with was poverty and unemployment. Because of starvation and poverty, she cohabited with a salesman she met in the train. Afterwards, she left Drouet and became a mistress of a manager of a hotel, Hurstwood. However, when Hurstwood bankrupted, Carrie left him and became a famous and wealthy actress. This novel was full of disputes. Most people said that this novel would cause a negative effect to the society, and had been attacked “upon the score of morality”. Carrie should be punished for her behavior. Dreiser replied: “In ?Sister Carrie? all the phrases of life touched upon are handled truthfully."(Pizer 2007: 12)
Sister Carrie is a very successful image portrayed by Dreiser. She is a very distinctive woman who has her own thought and pursuit. She is a woman who dares to pursue all things which are regarded to be violating the traditional moral. Carrie has got ride of various traditional bounds, so she can pursue her independence from men, and finally get the success of her career. With these characteristics, Carrie is very different from traditional women. Therefore, Carrie is a "new woman" in the society.
In the present essay, I will analyze features of Carrie as a new woman from three aspects: her strong desire for material and emotional things, her pursuit of independence and freedom, acceptance of new things and ideas.
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II. Feature of New Women: Desire for Material and Emotional Things
Many women in the society during the period of later 19th century to the early of 20th century have thrown away the traditional thoughts that “women are born to be a good mother” and “the responsibility of women is looking after their children”. They held the belief that women should also enjoy their lives as well as men. Therefore, the pursuit of material and emotional things became a kind of fashion in that society. Dreiser has successfully depicted this kind of characteristic of "new women" in Sister Carrie.
2.1. Desire for better Things in Daily Life
At the beginning of the novel, it seemed that Carrie was an innocent country girl without any ambitious desires just like other people. Actually, it was not the case. She was no more satisfied with the tranquil country life, and wanted to live a better life, therefore, she went to Chicago. We should know that it was her strong desire that drove her to go to the big city. It was her continuous desires that penetrated the whole story and formed her main feature of her character. Living in her sister's house, because of poverty, she had to find a job to support herself. Even when she could not make enough money to live, the only thing she kept thinking was to use the limited money to buy her favorite clothes and shoes to meet her material desires.
When Carrie realized that she could not got what she wanted in her sister's family, and she was forced to go back home, she confronted Drouet, whom she met before in the train. Drouet gave her twenty dollars which was a great amount of money for Carrie. The money was of timely assistance, which meant that she could continue to 3
live in Chicago, she could buy beautiful coat to live through the winter. After received the money, her spirits sank. There was a voice in her heart telling her that “the taking of it now seemed dreadful”, “it was wrong to take it”. She began to be ashamed.(Dreiser 2002: 86). Carrie knew exactly that it violated the morality if she accepted the money. She had suffered the struggle between the traditional morality and her desire. She felt ashamed in part because she had been weak enough to take it, but her need for the money was so dire. She was still glad to take them(Dreiser 2002:
82). Carrie suffered a lot from the struggle between the traditional morality and the temptation of pleasure. Finally, her desires for material things prevailed the morality. Actually, she was not satisfied when Drouet offered her house, clothes and other things she had desired. Back from visiting the wealthy houses with Mrs. Hale, when she went into her own rooms, “Carrie saw their comparative insignificance. She was not so dull but that she could perceive they were but three small rooms in a moderately well-furnished boarding-house”(Dreiser 2007: 150). It was obvious that her desire for things was increasing.
After eloping with Hurstwood who stole a great amount of money from the wineshop, Carrie lived totally a different life. She met Mrs. Vance who was a fashionable woman, always dressing properly. They took Carrie to luxurious restaurant, which made Carrie realize that her life was not as good as Mrs. Vance's. She had not enjoyed all things they brought to her. Latter, Hurstwood bankrupted, and couldn't find a job for a very long time. They became very thrift in daily life, let alone satisfy Carrie's increasing material desires. Realizing that Hurstwood couldn't give her better life, she left him. She found a job and finally got her own career success. But as Carrie herself said “And yet they do say that no one is ever happy”(Dreiser 2002: 150), which implied that peoples' desires are endless. No one could ever satisfy what he has already owned. Carrie's continuous desire for better things played an important part in her change from a little girl to a successful actress.
As mentioned, many women in that society took it as a fashion that women should no longer be restricted by traditional morality and they should pursue what they wanted like men, so they dared to pursue material things in daily life. What 4
Carrie did actually is representation of what feminists advocated at that time.
2.2 Spiritual Desire
Traditional women in America in the period of 19th century to the early of 20th century were expected to take marriage as their career, and few businessmen showed any interest in training them for management positions. “The highest profession a woman can engage in,” One executive wrote, “is that of a charming wife and a wise mother.”(Wang 2003: 427) However, what Carrie wanted was not just being a wife. She was different from her sister or other traditional women, she desired more, such as love, ambition toward career and many other spiritual needs. All these Carrie's desires fully reflect the spirits of new women in that society.
Initially, Carrie lived together with Drouet for the only reason of satisfying her material needs --- She wanted to get material supports from him. Yet after a period of time, she realized that the feeling which she had to him was just gratitude. Drouet had nothing except for his kindness. He didn't understand Carrie, and he would never think of marrying her just like he had said. At that time, Carrie knew that what she wanted was not just material satisfaction, she also wanted spiritual enjoyment. Put it another way, Carrie's need for men always included marriage, which reflected her desire for responsibility as well as for security(Pizer 2007: 33). In that society, apart from the continuous material needs, new women also searched for the spiritual satisfaction. They wanted to get spiritual satisfaction from men, rather than restricted by men. Carrie wanted the man to understand her and share with her spiritual things. Thus, she fell in love with Hurstwood, whom she thought to be better and more considerable than Drouet. To pursue her love, she eloped with Hurstwood without regret.
Besides, Carrie enjoyed entertaining activities. One of her favorite things was to go to the theatre. Living in her sister's home, when she put forward this request, it was rejected by her brother-in-law, who was a traditional and hardworking man. They couldn't even offer daily goods, let alone any entertainment activities. But when she 5
cohabited with Drouet, she enjoyed having various entertainment activities. After Hourstwood went bankrupt, it was impossible for her to take part in entertainment activities any more. Not like these traditional women, she didn't just satisfy to be a housewife. She couldn't live a life without any entertainment. If she could not get it with man’s help, she could try to get it herself. Therefore, she became to antipathy the poor conditions, so she went to find a job.
Carrie's sister, Minnie was a traditional housewife. She did nothing every day except the housework. She didn't pay any attention to the social activities, not to mention any spiritual pursuits. In Carrie's eyes, Minnie was too busy scrubbing the kitchen woodwork and calculating the purchasing power of eighty cents for Sunday's dinner(Dreiser 2002: 37). Different from these traditional women, Carrie wanted more, no matter in her material or spiritual aspects. She was totally disagreed with her sister's life and thoughts. Just as described in the story, “Carrie, however, was not to be reduced to the common level of observation which prevailed in the flat(Dreiser 2002: 38).” Through comparison with her sister, we can easily recognize the features of new women in Carrie. As a traditional woman, Minnie was living in the traditional way. She was controlled by her husband and family. While Carrie could break all traditional shackles and pursue her desires. This has clearly shown the features of the new women in that society.
2.3 Ambitious to be Successful in Career
In that society women were supposed to work at home, only one who took family as her career could be regarded as a charming wife and wise mother. According to traditional opinion, women were not supported to work outside, because people thought that women didn't have the ability to work as well as men. What's more, men had to share housework if women worked outside, which would definitely lower men's position. While sister Carrie had totally thrown away these traditional values. She made great efforts to her job and finally succeeded, which has fully reflected the special feature of new women.
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After Hurstwood went bankrupt, he decreased the daily cost continuously. Carrie knew that he could on longer keep support their lives. She realized that she couldn't rely on any men to satisfy her desires, therefore she began to find a job again. Because of her hard-working and talent, she succeeded from a singer in a chorus to a famous actress. In fact, a woman with career ambitions had to make a choice between irreconcilable alternatives. She could either be “a woman and therefore less an achieving individual, or an achieving individual and therefore less a woman(Wang 2003: 428).” If she chose the second alternative, she took the risk of losing any opportunity to be “a loved object, the kind of girl men will woo and boast of, toast and marry.”(Wang 2003: 428) Therefore, most women in that period traveled the prescribed path and decided not to pursue careers, or continue to work after marriage. Carrie was supposed to be like her sister, Minnie, who just worked at home no matter how poor her family was. However, Carrie found a job and made a living by herself. She was brave enough to do what many traditional women dared not to do. This is an important difference between the new women and traditional women.
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III. Feature of New Women: Searching for Independence and Freedom
Till 1960s, the Feminist Movement began in the western country. Women were considered as independent individual and gained more and more respect. Feminist opposed the traditional women, advocating self-liberation. Sister Carrie reflected the Feminist ideas. Dreiser said that Carrie represented the need of Feminist revolution(Jin 2008: 30). In 1990, the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment has meant that the suffrage finally was granted to women(Zhou 2003: 37). In the history women's activities were confined to the family area, including the housework and religious activities. However, this condition began to change due to the social development. And many women chose to leave home and had their own work; they no longer lived in the traditional way. New women appeared. The industrial revolution created more opportunities for women to work outside. Meanwhile the prosperity of economy pushed forward the education, for the reason that women had a higher understanding and education(Zhang 2008: 69). They were educated that they should have equal rights to men. Women became more independent and began to search for freedom and equal rights.
Carrie was one of these new women influenced by the industrial revolution. The flourishing city made her realize the importance of money. Though for Carrie, books were beyond her interest, and knowledge was a sealed book for her(Dreiser 2002: 3), but she was very smart and sensitive. She had been aware of the necessity of independence from bound of traditional concepts in order to satisfy herself.
At the beginning, Carrie distinguished herself from her sister's family. After living with them, Carrie realized their live was very thrifty and boring; they wanted to 8
accumulate wealth through hardworking and thriftiness. They even wanted Carrie to pay her rent to increase their income (Wang 2009: 38). Winnie's husband, Hanson who was silent and economical man, avoided any entertainment like Puritan. He never showed his feeling, and just like a vacant house (Liu 2008: 376). Minnie, as a traditional woman, lost herself in the housework and her family. As Dreiser presented, although all things were decided by her husband, she was a woman without any complain, and always adjusted herself to such surroundings as its industry could make for it(Dreiser 2002: 41). What's more, she had no conscience to challenge this tradition. Minnie knew it was wrong to take four dollars from Carrie as the board, she had a quaver of conscience as she took it, but did not know how to explain to Hanson if she took less(Dreiser 2002: 70). When Carrie invited them to go to the theatre, the first thing Minnie did was to ask for Hanson's permission. To Carrie, she couldn't understand Minnie's behavior. Minnie was always busy with the housework without freedom and desire. And she was not allowed to have these rights. As a new woman, that's what Carrie couldn't tolerant. Carrie had gained a very clear understanding of Minnie's way of life, which weighted on her(Dreiser 2002: 42). She had her own view toward life, unlike her sister, she was eager for freedom, abhorred to be controlled by men. Her success showed that women can also live a better life without men.
In this novel, Carrie made three choices in relationship with two men, each of which reflected her independence. When she was hesitating whether she should receive the money offered by Drouet, she knew exactly that her final decision would be disagreed by her sister and other people. However, she did not care about other people's opinion. To get her target, Carrie would not let anything or people to hamper her. Latter, she became aware of the fact that she relied on Drouet, and they were not in the same position. Therefore she refused to apologize and finished their relationship decisively. Departed with Drouet, “she wanted something, but man should buy her by false protestations or favour. She proposed to earn her living honestly”(Dreiser 2002: 314). With Hurstwood, she felt she was independent in personality, different from the relation with Drouet. When Hurstwood no more had the ability to support her, she decided to find a job and left twenty dollars to 9
Hurstwood,. Till then she became totally independent. Carrie had proved that women had the ability to take care of men and even do better than men. Independence of economy was the premise of independence of personality. Only when Carrie achieved independence in economy could she realize completely independence in personality. In terms of dealing with the relationship with the two men, Carrie had shown great independence, which reflected features of new women. Here put aside the question whether Carrie's choice is correct or not, what we want to highlight is every time Carrie made a choice independently and conscientiously, she was not ordered by any people. From this point of view, as a new woman, she had her own thought and could control her own fate.
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IV. Feature of New Women: Acceptance of New Things and
Ideas
One of the important features of new women including Carrie was that they could easily accept any new things and ideas, which was not supported by traditional morality. In that period, women began to have a different view toward traditional life. They were no more controlled by traditional values. Carrie was one of them.
4.1 Courage of Challenging Traditional Ideas
Carrie's success represents Dreiser's anti-tradition view. When Carrie became successful while Hurstwood became declining gradually, we could say that Dreiser confirmed the position of new women and subverted the situation of traditional women. It is a challenge of Patriarchal Society (Jin&Hu 2005: 87). As Simone de Beauvoir put forward in The Second Sex, women are not born to be inferior to men. It is caused by the traditional culture. Thus women should do anything possible to break the traditional law, and fight for their own rights.
To fulfill her desires, Carrie accepted the Drouet's money, and threw away the traditional morality. She knew that cohabiting with a man was immoral and would be mocked by people. When she looked into her mind, a mirror which represented herself and the world's opinions, she saw a “worse” Carrie(Dreiser 2002: 120). At first, Carrie suffered a lot from the tradition. Numerous voices told her:
“Oh, thou failure!” “Look at those who are good. How would they scorn
to do what you have done. Look at the good girls; how will they draw
away from such as you when they know you have been weak. You had
not tried before you failed.”(Dreiser 2002: 121)
Traditionally, women were supposed to work hard to realize their dreams. Women like 11
Carrie would be mocked by people. However, Carrie finally prevailed all these traditional rules. She was a woman brave enough to challenge these traditions.
When Hurstwood could not support the family, she did not put hope on that man any longer. She decided to go out to work. As has mentioned before, women in that period did not work after marriage. What they should do was to deal with the housework and religious issues. Carrie would never be satisfied to do the housework, she always wanted to have entertainment. Once Hurstwood could not satisfy her, she would break the traditional rules immediately. What's more, Carrie not only found a job, but also did better than men. When Carrie took a job and did well, she never worried about the traditions.
4.2 Courage of Accepting New Things
Carrie had the characteristic that she could change herself into new things quickly. At the beginning of arriving in Chicago, she changed herself quickly to become suitable to this big city. “her knowledge of grace doubled, and with it her appearance changed. She became a girl of considerable taste(Dreiser 2002: 136).” Unlike others, she dared to accept and learn new things. When lived with Drouet, she learned wealthy people's way of life. Decorated by beautiful clothes, she became more charming. At the same time, she became more elegant in her behavior. When Drouet talked about the charming look of the girl from neighborhood when she was walking, Carrie listened to him carefully and learned the girl's behavior. She practiced the elegant behavior in front of the mirror, “She looked in the mirror and pursed up her lips, accompanying it with a little toss of the head, as she had seen the railroad treasurer's daughter do(Dreiser 2002: 136).”, then saw a prettier Carrie. When Carrie became successful in her career, she realized actually money could not bring her happiness. However, Ames's opinion made Carrie's material desire increased to the pursuit of art and beauty. And Carrie began to read more books and decided to become a good actress.
All those changes showed it clearly that Carrie was sensitive to new things and ideas. What's more, she was always changing to accept these things, compared to 12
those women who would only comply with traditions. Meanwhile, Carrie was always moving forward. There was a voice in her heart telling her that “Oh, Carrie, Carrie! Oh, blind strivings of the human heart! Onward it saith, and where beauty leads, there it follows(Dreiser 2002: 645).” To pursue her desires, Carrie knew exactly that she should always change herself and accept new things and ideas. This is also a very important characteristic being a new woman in that period.
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V. Conclusion
Sister Carrie is an epoch-making work which breaks through the traditional thoughts, and shows people a real world in an audacious way (Jin 2008: 30). The heroine, Carrie, differed from the traditional women in many ways. She had strong desires toward material and spirit, she dared to show them and fight for them. In this aspect, she just cared about herself which was different from others who did everything for their families. Even if they had desires, worrying about being mocked, they dared not to pursue them like Carrie, not to mention the successful career. Carrie had done what those traditional women couldn't do, and what they disdained to do. It was a big progress as a new woman. Moreover, Carrie was not a person whose fate was controlled by men or the tradition. She dominated her life in dealing with the relationship with two men. And she became famous in career by herself. No women could make it in that society. There were too many “Minnies”, which made Carrie more outstanding as a new woman as the Feminist advocated.
After the analysis of features of Carrie, it is quit reasonable to say that Carrie is a person in that society different from these traditional women. Dreiser has vividly portrayed a new woman through delicate description. In this novel, Carrie imaginatively represents the image of new women in that society. What happened to Carrie is what these new women had experienced. As Carrie's changing and development, people have formed a better understanding of Feminist, and give an affirmation to new women. Undoubtedly, Carrie is a representation of these new women.
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Bibliography
Donald Pizer. 2007. New Essay on Sister Carrie[m]. Beijing: Peking University Press.
Theodore Dreiser. 2002. Sister Carrie. Hohhot: Inner Mongolia People's Publishing House. 蒋道超. 2002. 《德莱赛研究》[M]. 上海：上海外语教育出版社.
金寒丹. 2008. 女性自我意识的崛起[J]. 《文学语言学研究》, 30.
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安 徽 农 业 大 学
毕 业 论文（设 计）任 务 书
论文（设计）题目 专 业 名 称 学 生 姓 名 学 号 指 导 教 师
下发任务书日期 200 年 月 日
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