The Themes
1. Dreams 2. Success 3. Destruction
4. Happiness
5. Selfishness 6. Pursuit 7. Vanity
Harvest from the book
1.You never know what’s coming in the future, but you still need to prepare for it step by step. 2.In the proceed of pursuing dreams, we need to pay our attention to not only material wealth but spiritual happiness.
Main Characters
1. Sister Carrie 2.பைடு நூலகம்Chas. H. Drouet
3. G.W. Hurstwood
Plot Summary
Dissatisfied with life in her rural Wisconsin home, 18-year-old Sister Carrie takes the train to Chicago, where her older sister Minnie has agreed to take her in. On the train, Carrie meets Charles Drouet, a traveling salesman, who is attracted to her because of her simple beauty and unspoiled manner. In order to get rid of the poverty, Carrie lives with Drouet. By the time Drouet introduces Carrie to George Hurstwood, the manager of a respectable bar, her material appearance has improved considerably. In order to satisfy her vanity, Carrie elopes with Hurstwood, and finally they move to New York. In New York, Hurstwood spends all his money, always fails in his business and becomes a beggar. Carrie doesn’t care about him, and finally he commits suicide in a flophouse. Meanwhile, Carrie achieves stardom, but finds that money and fame do not bring her happiness.
About the Author
Theodore Dreiser (August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945): an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of choice and agency.
Sister Carrie
Sister Carrie (1900) is a novel wrote by Theodore Dreiser about a young country girl who moves to the big city Chicago where she starts realizing her own American Dream, first as a mistress to men that she perceives as superior, and later becoming a famous actress. It has been called the "greatest of all American urban novels" and was made into a movie by William Wyler in 1952. (The Flesh and the Spirit)