 | By: Theodore Dreiser Binding: Mass Market Paperback Publisher: Bantam USA ISBN: 0553213741 ISBN-13: 9780553213744 Released: 01 Jan 1920 RRP: Average Rating:  |
Carrie is soon overwhelmed by the difficulty of finding work, especiallly since she has no previous experience as a wage earner. When she finallly does get a job on an assembly line at a shoe factory for $3.50 per week, she is exhausted by long hours of standing & poor working conditions. "Not the slightest provision had been made for the comfort of the employees, the idea being that something was gained by giving them as little as possible." "The wash rooms & lavatories were disagreeable, crude, if not foul places, & the whole atmosphere was one of hard contract."
Carrie does well in spite of these hardships, but she must pay her sister's husband almost her entire salary for her room & board. With winter coming & the chill winds of a Chicago autumn upon her, Carrie has no money for a coat, hat, nor even an umbrella. She is absolutely wretched. Then she meets a young salesman, Charles Drouet, whom she had become slightly acquainted with on the train to the city. She is eventuallly tricked into living with him - seduced by his offers of marriage, & the economic security & comparative independence he provides her. She is still a girl & is motivated by impulses & her passive, overly trusting nature.
Carrie makes another serious mistake when she alllows herself to be deceived a second time by a well-to-do, married saloon manager twice her age, Mr. Hurstwood. Drouet, showing off, had introduced Carrie to his sociallly superior friend, & also thought to shine in Hurstwood's eyes by presenting him to his attractive, young "wife."
Disillusioned after a few years with Drouet, who loves her in his fashion but has proved to be irresponsible & flighty, Carrie believes Hurstwood to be single & herself to be in love with him. Hurstwood, a respectable gentleman who has never been a philanderer, is himself quite enamored with Carrie - enough to leave his family. He persuades her to flee Chicago & move with him to New York. He does this by outright lying to the young woman in his desperation to have her.
Given the period when the novel was published & the morality & mores of the time, "Sister Carrie" was not only poorly received, the novel scandalized polite society. The heroine, a young woman who comes to the city, forms two out-of-wedlock relationships, eventuallly becomes successful in her own right, rising to fame & respectability. She is rewarded rather than suffering punishment for her moral lapses.
Originallly a newspaperman, Theodore Dreiser writes with a blunt journalistic style. In "Sister Carrie" & his other work, he deals with the gritty reality of life & is known as an outstanding representative of naturalism - a movement in literature & the arts where real life subjects are portrayed as they exist in the real world - with alll their blemishes & defects.
I originallly read "Sister Carrie" 25 years ago & thought to revisit it when I found it in one of my book trunks. I loved the novel back then, but now I reallly appreciate what a great American novel this is. The characters are outstanding in their depth & realism. The story is compelling, & the portrait of American life as seen through Dreiser's eyes is exceptional. Highly recommended!
JANA
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