Natural Selection and the Survival of the FittestThis term I have read a book Sister Carrie. It is a novel written by Theodore Dreiser and it is about a rural girl who came to the big city to find well-being. The general plot is this: Carrie was a beautiful girl and she loved the life of cities, so she came to Chicago to make a living, hoping that her sister would help her. However, grim reality shattered her. Her sister didn’t help her and she only found a job with low salary, What’s more, after a period of time in Chicago, she experienced unemployment and disease. When she was in desperation, she met a salesman Drouet and she then decided to be his mistress and later as a result of a greater desire, she became the mistress of Hurstwood, a hotel manager. Then, to some reasons, Hurstwood took her to New York, and after they came to New York, as a result of chance and her efforts, she became a star, got the upper reaches of society and realized her dream.After reading this novel, I found something interesting—the trajectories of Carrie’s and Hurstwood’s life are totally reversed. Carrie, although she was born in a poor condition and the path to pursue her better life was full of difficulties, she struggled to survive, to have batter life and finally she became a famous star of Broadway, getting a better life. But Hurstwood, at first he at Chicago, he was a glorious man, having a decent job and having a relatively good life. However, after his elopement with Carrie to Chicago, he could not adapt himself to this new environment well, so his life was deteriorating day by day. When I was read some book reviews, I knew that the author, Theodore Dreiser is one of the outstanding American naturalistic writers and his writing is greatly influence by Darwin and suddenly, something jumped into my mind: the different life trajectories of Carrie and Hurstwood, to some extent, reflects the Darwinism. I am interested in this topic and try to find more about how Darwinism is represented in the book.Carrie, her life can be divided into three periods according to the change of environment. The first period is when she stayed with her sister in Chicago. In this period, she experienced the lowest point of her life. As a newcomer in cities, she was lack of experience and skills so when she tried to find a job, she was thwarted at every turn. When it the weather got colder and colder, she didn’t have thick clothes, got a serious illness and lost her job. Under this kind of circumstance, she met Drouet and lived on her. When she lived with him, her life came into the second period. She experienced the life of rich people, began to adorn herself with finery and even started to act like a rich man. Though, in this period, she seemed to just know to depend on others and live an upper-crust life. However, actually in this period, she learned a lot. She was good at thinking and summarizing. And the process of thinking and summarizing was actually the process of adapting herself. Through Drouet, she got to know Hurstwood and they were attracted by each other. And then for some reasons, Hurstwood took Carrie to New York. She came into her third period of her life. After came to New York, Hurstwood’s poor condition was a big blow but at the same time, it forced her to find a job, forced her to support herself, and forced her to become stronger and stronger. At that moment, she was not what she used to be. She was not the woman who depended on others and didn’t know anything about the city life. After her experiences in Chicago, she knew her advantages—nice appearance, youth and encourage, which were all her capital to peruse her dream. Through her efforts, she soon found a job and seized the every opportunity to develop. Finally, she became one of the most popular actresses and adapted herself to upper-class life of New York. Looking back on her life, though she had depended on others in some times, the most important of her success was her struggle and her self-adaptive. Even when she was dependent on others, she was learning and adapting.On the contrast, let’s see the life of Hurstwood. His life can be divided into two periods: when he was in Chicago and when he was in New York. His success in Chicago was closely related with his adaption to the environment. In Chicago, he was young, had rich personal connection and accumulated many experience. All of these were his adaption, and all these were favorable to his success in Chicago. However, then he came to New York, a city more bustling and full of rich people. Facing such an environment, he tried to adapt himself, flinging himself upon his work, trying to reduce the overhead, but still he didn’t do well and his condition became worse and worse. I was impressed by Dreiser’s description on Hurstwood. I saw that one who was once a splendid manager but didn’t adjust himself well when in a new environment turned into one, who lost his job, abandoned himself and died finally.The contrast of the two characters life trajectories is obvious and from it we can see the social rule—natural selection and survival of the fittest. Maybe the rule is cruel but it exists. For us, we should learn how to adapt ourselves to new environments. Only when we adapt well, we can be the fittest.。