Reading Report on Sister Carrie

【Abstract】Theodore Dreiser is a well-known American novelist from naturalist school. In 1900， his first novel， Sister Carrie， was published and its Chinese version came out in 2006 translated by Qiu Zhuchang. This novel has aroused various disputes. Nevertheless， it cannot be denied that his remarkable work has blazed a trail for the new trend of American literature. It has a high research value and considerable realistic significance.

【Key words】Sister Carrie； Dreiser； reading report

1. Sister Carrie

The Chinese version Sister Carrie is composed of two prefaces and fifty chapters. In the book， the author depicts that an 18-year-old poor country girl who was longing to go to a big city came to Chicago and lived in her sister （Minnie）s apartment. Minnie and her husband Hanson had a lower standard of living， but Minnie was busy with everyday household affairs， felt satisfied with the status quo， and accepted it without any complaint. After the arrival， in order to pay the rent， Carrie found a hard-working job in a shoe factory with low income. However， she did not like it and would rather use the money to enjoy the theatre. Generally speaking， it is wise for people from lower class to spend money on food and go sightseeing which was free for visitors. But Carrie was different and quite interested in citys recreational facilities and fashion clothes. Through comparison， it can be seen that she is an energetic girl who knows her own mind， has her likes and dislikes and has a pursuit in life regardless of its right or wrong.

Later she lost her job because of sickness， and one day she met the salesman Drouet again who gave her a help. Hoping to escape from the poverty trap， she agreed to move into Drouets apartment. And then she was introduced to a richer manager Hurstwood. She was deeply attracted by his abundant material property and self-indulgent and pleasant lifestyle， while Hurstwood was also captivated by Carries young and beauty. And then they became lovers and escape to New York. From the plot above， we know that her desire is becoming much bigger and has already adapted to the living of upper class. It shows that Carrie would spare no efforts to a better life even at the cost of her charity.

Their living standard there began to decrease gradually. And by coincidence， Carrie found a job in the theatre and lived independently on her own. And later she became a famous actress but still felt lonely. Inversely， lack of economic source， Hurstwood was abandoned by his lover and became a beggar， finally he committed suicide. In the book the author has forgiven Carries “moral fall” and gave sympathy to Hurstwood. Maybe at that time the fate of figures had been predestined by the evil society and hierarchy. Their fate was the choice that had to be chosen at that time. But in modern society， we face more opportunities and have more choices with better social and economic environment. We should follow ethical standards or practices and behave ourselves. However， we can still learn from Carries courage and be brave to live on our own. Everyone who works and lives independently should be given enough respect. Here we may also feel impressed with Dreiers description about people and living from the bottom of the society. Just as he says that any type of misery could arouse a deep feeling and thought in his heart as if he were there feeling the same. So his experiences and sensitivity help him a lot in the creation of the novel. It also contributes to expose the gloomy and decayed society and convey the voice of the public.

As a whole， Carrie wins in the pursuit of her dream considering her achievements， however， she is also a loser in that the material abundance is illusory and her desire will never be filled with， and she can never be knowledgeable and sensible like scholar Ames， so finally she lost herself. In other words， she will never achieve the true happiness. The characters can be regarded as victims of American capitalist society and industrialization， where they cannot control their destinies. That world was consisted of materials， commodities and properties， but the true love and care could not be bought with money and spiritual satisfaction could never be substituted with something else. It also proved the disillusionment of American Dream. It is the same with modern society that life should be meaningful and valuable and man should live with family and friends rather than commodities. In fact， it is understandable to seek for high quality and more comfortable life， but it cannot be the only objective or the supreme priority in ones life. Men who only care about money and materials are really pathetic and modern people should attach much more importance to family， friends and spiritual sublimation. In general， this book contains particular deep and complex meaning which should be studied carefully and it has high realistic significance which can provide much caution to contemporary people.

2. Studies or Reviews on Dreiser

Dreiser and his works have caught much attention from Chinese and American scholars and relative literary associations. Innumerable journals， academic papers and some conference papers and books are published on this topic. There are some collections or book reviews about Dreiser and Sister Carrie. Here three estimable books are recommended.

The first book is called New Essays on Sister Carrie published by Peking University Press in 2007. It is an English version written by Professor Donald Pizer. It gives an overall and comprehensive presentation of Dreiser and his work. This book mainly contains five parts. In the first section， background information， Dreisers personal experiences， his achievements and status are briefly introduced. And then four original essays are followed respectively in each section which display different research perspectives and reflect some hot discussions in literature review. The second section is written by Thomas P. Riggio， which centers on Carries blues. In this part， Dreisers family condition and his experiences are discussed to show his psychological complexity. We can see that Dreiser has experienced fully the industrialization and urbanization in the late 19th century. In the third section， Barbara Hochmans paper “A portrait of the artist as a young actress” is displayed and he considers that Carries career is the key to the understanding of character. Richard Lehans paper constitutes the fourth part， which shows Dreisers basic belief and naturalism. The final section is written by Aclan Trachtenberg who describes Dreisers narrative style in his paper. This book is of high value and all sections are written by authoritative critics. The authors put forward their opinions from different point of views separately. And the book is well organized and four essays are arranged following logical order of basic information， the character， perspective and writing style. In short， this book could contribute a lot to the comprehensive and integrated understanding and future new research of Dreiser and Sister Carrie in all aspects.

In China， many journals and academic papers study Dreiser and Sister Carrie from a perspective such as feminism， naturalism， psychology， etc. But since 1992， the number of core journals is less than seventy and most up-to-date researches are related to film literature. In addition， there are few literature reviews or comparative studies. So the quality and quantity of new papers that study literary text is a big problem challenging Chinese scholars. Therefore， these two Chinese works are introduced in order to give some hints to current research. One is called Collection of Commentaries on Dreiser， while the other is named as Study of Dreiser.

Collection of Commentaries on Dreiser consists of four parts and it can be regarded as a collection of opinions from foreign scholars and critics. The first part is made up of nine essays introducing Dreisers life and status. And in the second and the third part， comments or reviews from fifteen critics are given. The fourth displays some comments on Dreiers novels and background of writing. James Thomas Farrell gives us his opinion on Sister Carrie and thinks that the evil morality of society is embodied in the book that life means the pursuit of desires. Malcolm Cowley represents the difficulty of the publication and the final success of this book. This arrangement of critical essays can help to comprehend Dreiser and his achievements more objectively and generally.

Study of Dreiser is written by Jiang Daochao. It should be pointed out that Professor Jiang is an excellent Chinese scholar who has been engaged in research on American literature for long years and he is also a committee of US Dreiser Association. He has published almost twenty journals on Dreiser and his works since 1997. This monograph includes four sections. Five chapters are contained in the first section to introduce Dreisers life and career. The later three sections state the themes of Dreisers some famous works from different perspectives， including naturalism， desire， consumerism or materialism， his Christian belief and value. In Section 2 Chapter 3， Carrie and her endless desires are showed. This book gives a brief and systemic introduction of the author and comments on his works， which is really helpful to the understanding of American literature.

These three books can help scholars and readers come much closer to Dreiser and his brilliant works. The lifetime and experiences of Dreiser are introduced. While comments and opinions from scholars at home and abroad are given in logical order to make these books objective and impartial.

References：

[1]德萊塞.裘柱常，譯.嘉莉妹妹[M].上海：上海譯文出版社，2006.

[2]皮澤爾（Pizer，D）.嘉莉妹妹新論（英）[M].北京：北京大學出版社，2007.

[3]龍文佩，莊海驊.德萊塞評論集[M].上海：上海譯文出版社，1989.

[4]蔣道超.德萊塞研究[M].上海：上海外語教育出版社，2003.

作者簡介：孫千惠（1992.3-），女，漢族，武警后勤學院基礎部外語教研室，碩士學歷，大學英語助教，外國語言學及應用語言學方向。