Abstract
Theodore Dreiser is one of the most famous American realistic writers in the 20th’ century. Sister Carrie, the first novel of him, describes the story of Carrie, pursuing her American Dream from a poor country girl to a famous Broadway superstar. To some extent, Carrie does possess what she has longed for but she fails in realizing her American Dream. As the representative of studying the disillusion of American Dream, Sister Carrie not only reflected the cruel reality but also reveals the tragedy life of ordinary Americans in the consumer society context of 20th century.
Based on Masloe’s theory of hierarchy of needs, the author tries to analyze the four essential choices in Carries life and the way to her “success”. Besides, from the perspective of consumer culture, the author aims to further analyze the causes of the disillusionment of Carrie’s American Dream except for her internal reasons.
This thesis firstly introduces American Dream. This part briefly introduces the definition of American Dream and the origin of American Dream. And then it introduces the development of American Dream in the consumer culture society influenced by industrialization in the 20th century.Next, it analyzes Carrie’s American Dream. It includes the formation, development and disillusionment of Carrie’s dream based on Carrie’s four essential choices in her life and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Next, the thesis introduces the consumer culture。This chapter firstly introduces the concept of consumer culture under the influence of industrialization and then introduces the reflection of consumer culture in Sister Carrie.
Then,the thesis mainly analyzes the causes of the disillusion of Carrie’s American Dream. It covers two parts: the eternal reasons from the perspective of consumer culture and the internal reasons of Carrie.
At last, there comes to the conclusion: in such a society, where people regard material possession as a kind of conspicuousness rather than a physical needs, the American Dream pursued by ordinary Americans can not come true.Sister Carrie gives today’s readers a warning as well as an inspiration that in modern society, people should not blindly pursue the material possession, but emphasis the significance of spirit satisfaction.
Keywords: the American Dream; Sister Carrie; hierarchy of needs; disillusion; consumer culture
Contents
Abstract
摘 要
Chapter I Introduction-1
1.1 Previous Studies on Sister Carrie at Home and Abroad-1
1.2 Aims and Significance of the Thesis-2
Chapter II Carrie’s American dream-4
2.1 The Formation of Carrie’s Dream-4
2.2 The Development of Carrie’s Dream-5
2.3 The disillusionment of Carrie’s American Dream-6
Chapter III Consumer Culture-7
3.1 The Concept of Consumer Culture-7
3.2 The Reflection of Consumer Culture in Sister Carrie-7
3.2.1 Carrie’s longing for beautiful clothing-7
3.2.2 Carrie’s longing for luxurious residence-8
Chapter IV The Causes of Carrie’s disillusioned American Dream-10
4.1 The external causes-10
4.1.1 Consumer Culture-10
4.1.2 Life experience-11
4.2 The internal causes-11
4.2.2 Carrie’s accepting the reality-12
Chapter V Conclusion-13
References-14
