The study of Carrie Meeber’s twisted American Dream and the women’s self-consciousness in Sister Carrie.doc

The study of Carrie Meeber’s twisted American Dream and the women’s self-consciousness in Sister Carrie Ⅰ. Introduction Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie was published in 1900. The main character of this book was Carrie Meeber, who ran away from home at the age of eighteen. She had typical characteristics of the American middle class, demanding to change her economic situation and status, pursuing the personality liberation. Sister Carrie remains vital for many reasons: as a historical marker for the turn away from sentimentality, romance, and moral rectitude in the American novels at the beginning of the twentieth century; as a text that influenced the succeeding American novelists over the next several decades; and as a conundrum that never ceases to provoke debate for readers both general and professional. While the first half of the twentieth century produced a diverse range of critical opinions on Sister Carrie by reviewers and essayists, the second half witnessed an abiding argument within academia regarding the quality, value, importance, and interpretation of the text. This novel made the volatility of the period concrete, vivid, and unforgettable by registering its effect on individual lives. The sweeping changes registered in the novel were the economys shifting from an agricultural to an industrial base, the erosion of traditional values following the Darwinian revolution, and the changing relations of men and women. This thesis reanalyzes Sister Carrie from a new angle, that is, the twisted American Dream and women’s self-consciousness displayed in the novel, which will help invoke readers’ considerations over Dreiser’s naturalism. What is the twisted American Dream? How is Carrie’s self-consciousness awakened? What is the inner relationship between American Dream, woman’s self-consciousness, and Dreiser’s naturalism? In American literature, there is a reappearing theme, American Dream, with different manifestation in different periods of time. First o