AnanalysisofCarrie'scharacerinSiserCarrie_开题报告

Sister Carrie is Theodore Dreiser’s first novel and also one of the most famous literature writings. Since its publication, it has received extensive attention and evaluation.

（一）Domestic Research Status

Domestic researchers have analyzed this work from many perspectives, such as naturalism, consumerism and American dream and so on. Sister Carrie, the heroine of the novel, has always been regarded by critics as the female representative who paid attention to the material pursuit and lacked of independent consciousness in the American industrial era, but these studies were conducted on the basis of traditional social moral values. Tian et al. re-evaluated the heroine Carrie from the perspective of Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” principle, feminist literary criticism and the author dreiser’s fatalism in this novel. Ying et al. analyzed this work from the perspective of feminism, aiming to analyze the transformation of characters in the patriarchal society at that time.

（二）Overseas Research Status

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. This 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. 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”. 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 era 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 heron’s endless desire. The most powerful and influential attack toward Theodore Dreiser was from Stewart Sherman. In the book of Theodore Dreiser’s naturalism, he criticized that Theodore Dreiser didn’t 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.

二、Outline of thesis

1. Introduction

1.2.The introduction of Theodore Dreiser

1.3.The introduction of Sister Carrie

2. Carrie’s character

2.1.Carrie’s positive character

2.1.1.Carrie’s innocence and simplicity

2.1.2.Carrie’s diligence and gumption

2.1.3.Carrie’s independence

2.2.Carrie’s negative character

2.2.1.Carrie’s vanity

2.2.2.Carrie’s greed

3. Factors that shape Carrie’s character

3.1.External factors

3.1.1.The social reality

3.1.2.The influence of two men whom Carrie meets

3.2.Internal factors

3.2.1.Carrie’s understanding of life

3.2.2.Carrie’s growing of independent consciousness

4.Conclusion

三、References 

[1]Baldwin. Acting, Reading, Fortune's Wheel: Sister Carrie and the Life History of Objects[J]. American Realism: New Essays, 1982: 259-77

[2]Charles Baldwin, Burton Roscoe & F.O. Matthiessen. A Survey of America Literature[M]. Tianjing: Nankai University Press, 2008

[3]Kazin. Sister Carrie (1900)[M]. na, 1970

[4]Kain & Charles Shapiro. Sister Carrie[M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 2008

[5]Matthiessen. A History of American Literature[M]. Nanjing: Yilin Press, 1988

[6]Mencken, H.L. Sister Carrie's Desires and Motivations [J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2002, 3: 016

[7]Pizer, Donald. The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturlism[M]. Shanghai: Foreign Language Education Press, 2003

[8]Roscoe. American Literature Root and Flowers[M]. Beijing: Foreign Language and Research Press, 2004.

[9]Stewart Sherman. Dreiser Theodore ---- Sister Carrie[M]. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 2002

[10]龙文佩.《德莱塞评论集》[M].上海:上海译文出版社,1984

[11]宋国双.《嘉莉妹妹》中的对照手法[MA].河北大学,2006

[12]田丽.小说《嘉莉妹妹》中女主角性格剖析[J].长春师范学院学报(人文社会科学版),2013,32(09):117-120

[13]应璇.女性主义视角下的《嘉莉妹妹》人物形象探究[J].文学教育(上),2016(08):18-21