Pursuit and Disillusionment of American Dream On Sister Carries Tragedy

1、pursuit and disillusionment of american dream-on sister carries tragedy美國(guó)夢(mèng)的追求與幻滅 -試析嘉莉妹妹的悲劇abstract: the present paper concerns itself with a study of sister carries tragedy. since the publication sister carrie, there have been many critics who commented on this work, and its main character sister c

2、arrie is a controversial character. dreiser was criticized by many critics and readers because he didnt make any comment on carries degeneration. different from previous research, this paper aims to analyze the pursuit and disillusionment of american dream of sister carrie and the causes of her trag

3、edy. there are five parts in this paper, which paper starts with a brief introduction to theodore dreisers life experience and his work, with the situation of american society and the history of american dream mentioned, too. then in the second and third parts, the paper discusses the pursuit and di

4、sillusion of carries american dream. the causes of carries tragedy are analyzed in the fourth part. in the end, the paper draws the conclusion: the american dream looks beautiful, but in fact it is not reliable, just like the foam of soap. it only gives people an illusion. so carries tragedy is inev

5、itable. and indications for future research in the area of sister carries tragedy have been mentioned, too. key words: american dream; expectation; desire; reality; disillusionment; tragedy摘要：本文主要是研究嘉莉妹妹的悲劇。嘉莉妹妹這部小說(shuō)自出版以來(lái)，批評(píng)者不乏其人，其主人公嘉莉妹妹也一直是個(gè)頗具爭(zhēng)議的人物。由于作者未對(duì)她的墮落行為做出任何評(píng)價(jià)，也因此受到批評(píng)家和讀者的指責(zé)。不同于以往的研究，本文試圖分析嘉

6、莉妹妹對(duì)美國(guó)夢(mèng)的追求與幻滅，首先介紹了美國(guó)夢(mèng)的歷史及由來(lái)。在第二、三部分，分別討論了嘉莉妹妹美國(guó)夢(mèng)的追求與幻滅。導(dǎo)致嘉莉妹妹悲劇的原因在第四部分進(jìn)行了分析。最后得出以下結(jié)論：美國(guó)夢(mèng)看起來(lái)很美，其實(shí)就像肥皂泡一樣不可信，它僅僅給人以幻覺(jué)，因此嘉莉妹妹的悲劇不可避免。并且為進(jìn)一步研究嘉莉妹妹的悲劇指明了方向。關(guān)鍵詞：美國(guó)夢(mèng);期望;欲望;現(xiàn)實(shí);幻滅;悲劇 contentsi. introduction1a. dreisers reputation and his works.1b. the influence of dreisers life experience on his novel writ

7、ing1c. american dream and american society.2ii. carries pursuit of american dream.4 a. carries expectation of the future4 b. carries pursuit of wealth and position.4 c. carries pursuit of love.5iii. the disillusionment of carries american dream7 a. the disillusionment of wealth and high social posit

8、ion.7 b. the disillusionment of love .8iv. the causes of carries tragedy.10 a. the external causes of carries tragedy.101. the living environment.102. the life experience.103. the social background.11 b. the internal causes of carriers tragedy.121. carries endless desires for a better life.122. carr

9、ies defect character and limited capability.16 v. conclusion.18 work cited.18. introductiona. dreisers reputation and his workstheodore herman albert dreiser, an american great writer, is an outstanding representative of naturalism and one of americas foremost novelists. he was the first writer who

10、criticized the futility of the american dream in his novel so drastically. although he had never won the nobel prize, dreiser had an enormous influence on american literature during the first quarter of century. he is the only writer who is worth being talked about in the same breath with the europe

11、an masters. dreisers genius was recognized and applauded by h.l.mencken, but the general reaction to dreiser has always been negative .he has been called a “crag of basalt”, “solemn and ponderous” and “the worlds worst greatest writer”, but his influence is evident on some famous writers such as hem

12、ingway, james t. farrell, and others. sister carrie came out in 1900, followed by jennie gerhardt and two volumes of his cowperwood trilogy, the financier, the titan, and the stonic. the stonic was published posthumously. his other works include the genius and the bulwark. dreiser was left-oriented

13、in his views. he visited russian and wrote dreiser looks at russia and tragic america to express his faiths, tragic america became his best novel. b. the influence of dreisers life experience on his novel writingtheodore dreiser, the twelfth of 13children, was born in terre haute, indiana, in 1871.

14、his father, a devout german immigrant, lost everything when his large wool mill was burned down. by this time, his parents were poor and nomadic preachers. their nomadic lifestyle meant that dreiser did not have any companions outside his family. while traveling, his mother taught him to avoid degra

15、ding and destructive experiences. certainly his parents were failures because of their strong morals and their constant preaching, and he rebelled. dreiser had no friends, money, social status, or sex life, which he craved. for the most americans, these were collectively called “the american dream.”

16、 the effects of dreisers work are still rippling through american fictions. at fifteen dreiser fled from home and went to chicago, which is described in his novel and also the city sister carrie went to. he washed dishes in cheap restaurant, clerked in a store, and painted advertising signs. he drea

17、med of wealth and social success in the great metropolis. he embarked on series of menial jobs and wandered the city streets at night, storing up impressions of drunks, thieves, prostitutes, and beggars. finally, he got a job on a newspaper and began a career. eventually he went to new york city. he

18、 read widely the evolutionary theorizing of some philosophers as thomas huxley and herbert spencer, and as the last remnant of dreisers religious faith drained away, he was left with the deterministic belief that man was merely a mechanism moved by chemical and physical forces beyond his control. in

19、 1899, he began writing sister carrie. sister carrie did more to change writing styles of modern american fiction than any others. dreisers own experience in chicago and new york were the perfect material for the story of a poor country protagonist-sister carrie who comes to the city to seek whateve

20、r she can find. c. american dream and american societyin the first quarter of the twentieth century, the disparity between the rich and the poor became more serious. in that period, america developed very fast and created great material wealth owing to the industrializing progress. though it was in

21、an era of prosperity, it was impossible for every one who is in america to become wealthy. america practiced capitalism, and thus the prosperity only benefited the capitalists, while the working class still lived a poor life. as a result, the rich collected more and more money, and lived a luxurious

22、 life. on the contrary, the poor could not improve their living conditions. thus, the gap between the rich and the poor became greater and greater. this made people become easy to receive all kinds of debased values, most of which encouraged people to earn money without considering morals or consequ

23、ences. especially the poor, driven by the lacking of food or clothes, were easy to become envious of upper classs luxurious lives. thus, they dreamed of earning more money and entering the upper class, but the upper class never accepted them and just treated them as their objects to toy with. the pr

24、osperous america is just a heaven for the rich but a hell for the poor.whats more, there are series of debased values in the american society. the most important one is the american dream. american dream, existing in america for a long time, used to be a positive value to inspire people to develop t

25、heir lives. in the twentieth century, the american dream had become a pure pursuit of better materialistic lives and higher social positions, regardless of morals and consequence, which brought great hazards to the american society. many people hold this value as belief, and used all kinds of scheme

26、s to chase wealth and high social position, neglecting the kindness, honesty, loyalty and even love. driven by this value, most people lost the shining merits of humanity. moreover, money worship became more and more serious in that society and money became more and more important in american people

27、s opinion. the capitalists collected enormous amount of money, and controlled most important departments of the country. the upper class lived a luxurious life, for they had much money. as a result, the poor had such an idea that when they got enough money, they could improve not only their material

28、 lives, but also their social positions. with money, they could enter the upper class, and even gain some power. last, egoism was overflowing. encouraged by this sort of thinking, american people became more and more zealous in chasing material wealth and social positions, which could satisfy their

29、own desire for pleasure. in order to fulfill their ambition, they neglected other peoples feelings and even risked ruining other peoples lives. carries pursuit of american dreama. carries expectation of the futurecarrie meeber was a poor countryside girl of eighteen, impoverished not only physically

30、, but also spiritually. having just reached adulthood, carrie was full of the lofty dreams of youth. since never having had many beautiful things in her life, she moved to the city of chicago hoping to get a better economic situation. carrie hoped that this adventure would fill her spiritual need fo

31、r excitement. being young, she was susceptible to the attitudes of society, equating material happiness with self-fulfillment. liked many of other poor people of that time, carrie desired to accumulate as many signs of higher social status as she could. one of the prominent signs of the upper class

32、was being owner of a vast fortune. carrie thought that once she had acquired enough earthly possessions, she would live a happy and fulfilled life. yet since carrie did not seem to have known what true happiness was upon reaching chicago, her search for contentment in possessions was misguided. she

33、hoped to fill her spiritual emptiness with fleeting fancies of materialism. she had bought into the capitalistic attitudes of her time, that is to say, the thought of working for wages and spending her money which the tried her best to make on frivolities, such as plays and clothes, which excited ca

34、rries mind. she planed to stay with her sister and brother-in-law in the city and find a well-paying job to help her maintain her ideal cosmopolitan lifestyle.b. carries pursuit of wealth and high social position.as an old saying goes: “money: something everybody else has and i must get.” (dreiser 5

35、7) how to get money? especial like a girl like carrie, who on the one hand was weak and wouldnt like to do rough work, and on the other hand was not well educated, and had no skill. how can she get money? fortunately, she finally got a job in a shoe factory. but when her white-collar-like job turned

36、 out to be a woman labor in the gloomy and smelly shoe work house, she fell into pieces and got sick after several weeks of hard work. she had no clothes, lost work and was disregarded by her brother-in-law, so she felt so despaired. then she met drouet again who was the man she met in the train. he

37、 offered to take care of her and she accepted his offer because she didnt like staying in minnies small and gloomy and badly furnished house. carrie would have done better if she had not got a job before she had seen more of the city. “one of her order mind would have been content to be cast away up

38、on a desert island with a bundle of money.”(dreiser 57) so the poor girl thrilled as she walked away from drouet. she felt ashamed in part because she had been weak enough to take it, but her need was so dire, she was still glad. “in carrie-as in how many of our wordings do them not? -instinct and r

39、eason, desire and understanding, were at war for mastery. she followed whither craving led, she was as yet more drawn than she drew.”(dreiser 67) in effect, circumstances have driven her into the hands of drouet. she left her sisters flat to set up her own house at drouets insistences. although it w

40、as only a few days when she had been enduring a city life in chicago. she realized that she didnt like the simple life and in her view, her sister and brother-in-law lived a boring life. being young and curious woman, she yearned for more than what she had got. with the help of drouet, carrie was of

41、fered a role in a play, which her plays greatly appreciated by all. from her relationship with drouet, she managed to gain the experience and social skills to pursue american dream. of course, drouet helped her change her economic status. with drouets help, she was able to cast off her poor fate, an

42、d began to live a rich life. in this way, she got a chance to know hurstwood, who brought her an even better life. she was a woman that would never stop purchasing. she aimed at a better and better living condition. she was driven by her desire, her endless desire. she always has plans, goals in her

43、 mind. though she hasnt received much education, and was not able to think about life as drouet and hurstwood. she would not feel content with her present life and the things that she has got. once she has own drouets heart, she saw the shortcoming of him and compared it with husrtwoods advantages.

44、she, then, won hurstwoods heart, but later realized that he wouldnt marry her. because of the financial reasons she remained with hurstwood, they lived together for three more years in new york. hurstwood lost all he had and didnt go out to find or keep a job. hurstwoods financial decline forced car

45、rie to apply for a job in the theater and she became successful as one of the broadways stars.c. carries pursuit of lovecarrie, in order to live a better life, wouldnt go back to the poor country. though she lived with drouet, marriage was important to her. thus, it served as a way of making her lif

46、e morally acceptable. after living with drouet for some time, she found she didnt love him. she really was not enamored of drouet. she was cleverer than him, in a dim way. if it had not been for this, she had not been able to measure and judges him in a way. she would have been worse off than she wa

47、s. she would have adored him, because she was simple. she also believed drouet would like to marry her. in fact, drouet would never marry her; he just wanted to take possession of her. as drouets friend, husrtwood called in. “she met a man who was cleverer than drouet in a hundred ways.”(dreiser 82)

48、 now carrie has a sufficient amount of wealth to satisfy her physical needs. she beyond the material realm, searched for what she was lacking. carrie tried to complete her spiritual being in misconstrued ideals of love. of course, now carrie was living in a state of luxury. does she realize that mat

49、erial possessions are not the only things that can make a person happy? carries physical needs have been fulfilled, and now she can pay more attention to nourishing her spirit. when she fell in love with gorge hurstwood, she found a different sense of completion, though her sense of love was depende

50、nt on the social status of her lover. carrie delighted in the experience of meeting a man who tried to win her affections.carrie believed in hurstwood, who she thought would marry her, and his proposal to her was stronger when compared to drouet who has no intention of marrying her. the disillusionm

51、ent of carries american dreama. the disillusionment of wealth and positioncarrie came to the big city of chicago in order to pursue a happy life. the prosperous parties, lights, dinners, theatres attract her. deep in her mind, there was an unconscious desire for holding the prosperity. her view on m

52、oney was “money, something everybody else has and i must get.”(dreiser 57) drouet then became her first ladder. when drouet gave her money for the first time, she hesitated. she knew clearly that no deep sinister soul with ulterior motives could have given her fifteen cents under friendship, since “

53、nature has taught the beasts of the beats of the field to fly when some unheralded dangers threatens”(dreiser 59) here in her superego, she has a feeble instinct of self-production. however, deep in her mind, there was a strong desire for better clothes, jewelry, dinning in halls and plays in the th

54、eaters. at last, desire override the superego and carrie chose to live with drouet.her choice of staying with hurstwood and living with hurstwood was also determined by her desire. after she knows hurstwood, she notices that the managers clothes are more luxurious than drouets. hurstwoods shoes are

55、the skin of cur and drouets are tarnish. dreaming of improving her social status and leading a luxurious life, carrie easily throws herself into hurstwoods arms. this makes her sink deeper and deeper. after she realizes hurstwood is only a small fish in big pond, she is so sad and isolated. and the

56、same sequence occurs again, just as carrie lives with drouet in chicago. she is dissatisfied with hurstwoods economic condition again. as time goes on, hurstwoods business is becoming worse and worse. at last he loses his job, staying at home. now he cannot support himself, let alone carrie. this pr

57、oves that her dream of material comfort from man is broken.because of this, she has to earn bread and milk by herself. later she finds a job as an actress owing to her beautiful face and a good chance. she becomes a success star, and many suitors and much money come to her. but she is also dissatisfied with her life. moreover, carries success is only by a sweet little girl, with large eyes and a sad mouth. so her fame, like a tower built on the sand beach will collapse at any time.b. the disillusionment of loveat the beginning of living with drouet, carrie thought they would get married