Contents

Acknowledgements

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Dreiser’s Life Experience-1

1.2 Dreiser’s Main Works and Writing Style-1

1.3-Sister Carrie-2

1.4-Literature Review-2

Chapter Two Analysis of Male “Victims” in Sister Carrie-4

2.1 Hurstwood—a Representative of “Lost Generation”-4

2.1.1 The Fall and Degeneration of Hurstwood-4

2.1.2 Hurstwood’s Death-5

2.2 Drouet— a Playboy-6

2.2.1 A Playboy Wandering among Different Women-6

2.2.2 Tempting Carrie with Money but Later being Abandoned-7

2.3 Hanson—a Loser-7

2.3.1 Persecuted as a Cold and Selfish Man-7

2.3.2 Losing the Ability of Love and Survival-8

Chapter Three Deep Reasons for the Tragedy of the Male “Victims”-9

3.1 Money-oriented and Desire-filled American Society in the 20th Century-9

3.2 Confrontation and Indifference among People-9

Chapter Four Conclusion-11

References-12

Abstract

Theodore Dreiser is not only an outstanding novelist in America in the 20th century, but also a pioneer of naturalism literature. Sister Carrie, as one of his early works, exposes the social reality in the United States at the beginning of 20th century, by portraying the image of poor women who were in the inferior position in American society and by criticizing the darkness of capitalist society.

Although domestic and foreign scholars have studied Sister Carrie from different perspectives, they mainly focus on the analysis of Carrie, the effects of environment and desire on Carrie, etc., while seldom paying attention to the analysis of the male characters. Therefore, on the basis of previous study, this thesis will put its emphasis on three males: Hurstwood, Drouet, and Hanson in Sister Carrie, interprets the deep reasons for their distorted personality and alienation, as well as explores the fact that they are victims like the female, so as to criticize the cruel social reality, such as confrontation between the rich and the poor, people’s crazy pursuit of money, and so on.

This thesis will first introduce Dreiser’s life experience and writing styles, and the main idea and literature review of Sister Carrie. For the second chapter, it will dwell on the analysis of the three male characters and analyze their distortion and alienation to draw a conclusion that they are also “victims”. The third chapter will elaborate on the deep reasons why their personality is distorted and alienated from the perspective of historical and social background. The last chapter is the conclusion of this thesis.

Keywords: Sister Carrie  male “victims”  distortion and alienation  capitalism