Abstract：.Sister Carrie was the main female character of Theodore Dreiser’s first novel Sister Carrie. This novel was based on the background of American metropolis. The story was about how a female who was born in a poor family became a famous superstar gradually. From the perspective of feminism, I am going to analysis the living experience of Sister Carrie so that we may gain some enlightenment. I hope females are able to design our own lives and have a better understanding of life. This paper is going to analysis how Sister Carrie achieved the economic independence and to prove that she didn’t achieve the spiritual independence instead, and the reasons behind her failure. With both the research findings of predecessors and my analysis on Sister Carrie’s living experience, I have found the following points. As females, we are supposed to be economically independent, which is the foundation of the spiritual independence. Only when females become both economically and spiritually independent can we be called true independent females.

Key words：Sister Carrie; Feminism; economic independence; spiritual independence; reasons

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Introduction-1

I. Economic independence-1

1.1 Sister Carrie got her first job with 4.5 dollars a week-2

1.2 Sister Carrie failed to find a job when left by Derout-5

1.3 Sister Carrie achieved economic independence-6

II. Spiritual independence-8

2.1 Sister Carrie's spiritual independence from her family-8

2.2 Sister Carrie's spiritual independence from her lovers-10

2.3 Was Sister Carrie finally independent?-13

III. The reasons why Sister Carrie wasn't independent-14

3.1 Family background-14

3.2 Social background-15

Conclusion-17

Bibliography-18

Acknowledgments-19