The Analysis of the Symbols of Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie
The Analysis of the Symbols of Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie
Li Ma* East China Jiaotong University
Abstract: Theodore Dreiser is one of the most influential American novelists during the first half of the 20th century. His first and one of the best novels is Sister Carrie. And this paper gives a brief analysis of an illustration of symbolism—one of Theodore Dreiser’s writing skills applied in it. The application of symbolism provides some suggestive effects to this novel, that is, it helps to establish the elements, reveal the reality and strengthen the theme.
Key words: Dreiser; Sister Carrie; symbolism
1. Brief Introduction to Theodore Dreiser
During the first half of the 20th century, there are many literary stars, such as Jack London, W. C. Faulkner, E. M. Hemmingway and J. Steinback. Among these writers, Theodore Dreiser is one of the most influential novelists. Although he was not awarded with the Nobel Prize for literature, he is “deservedly regarded as a leading exponent of naturalism in American fiction”(Elliot, 1991: 1571), and a powerful writer who described the 20th century America vividly and realistically. With the publication of Sister Carrie in 1900, Dreiser became the first American author to step into the 20th century, rejecting the old Victorian morality for what was considered to be a shocking new form of descriptive realism.
Herman Theodore Dreiser was born in Terre Haute, Ind., on August 27, 1871. He was the ninth of the 10 children in his family. Dreiser’s childhood was spoiled by t he failure of his successful father, John Paul, the manager of a cotton mill. A series of unfortunate happenings sent the family into poverty. In 1864, the mill caught fire, and during the mill’s rebuilding, a beam hit John Paul on the head, an injury from which he never fully recovered. After that, Dreiser’s father became extremely religious and was easily cheated by his business partners.
At the age of 15, Dreiser moved to Chicago where he found work at many low-paying and unrewarding positions, such as washing dishes, clerking in a hardware store and tracing freight cars. His working life was interrupted when a former teacher offered to send him to Indiana University for a year. During this time, Dreiser developed an interest in writing. When he moved back to Chicago, he decided to have a try in journalistic writing, and several years later, he became a successful newspaper writer.
During Dreiser’s working time, Arthur Henry, a friend of him, encouraged him to write a longer work, and Dreiser turned his attention towards writing fictions. With editing help from Henry and his wife, Dreiser wrote what is now considered one of his best novels, Sister Carrie. Dreiser had a successful career in writing. Throughout his career, he wrote poetry, short fictions, travel books, philosophical writings, journalism, drama and many other kinds of works.
2. General Content of Sister Carrie
There are eight outstanding novels written by Dreiser. The first one is Sister Carrie (1900). Sitting in the * Li Ma (1980- ), female, assistant of Foreign Language School, East China Jiaotong University; research fields: English language teaching, linguistics; address: Foreign Language School, East China Jiaotong University, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, P.R. China, postcode: 330013.
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rocking chair, Carrier dreams her future. This is the deep impression the novel Sister Carrie gives us. Carrier is the heroine of Sister Carrier. She was born in a working family of the flour mill, but she dreams of the luxurious life of the big city and leaves her hometown for Chicago, a city full of dreams for happiness, fortune and material comfort.
The job she finds at first is too hard for her, and the wages are so low that she has to walk to work. Such a reality proves to be contrary to the beautiful life she dreams of. To make the matter worse, after her sickness, she loses her job. The hardship in finding the job, the cruel reality and the temptation of material life make her end up as the mistress of a salesman, Drouet. Meanwhile, a hotel manager, Hurstwood, is fascinated wi th her. Having accidentally stolen the money, he deluded Carrie into getting on the escaping train with him. They have a hard life as Hurstwood experiences many setbacks in doing business. Therefore, Carrie had to search for a job and earn her living. She luckily rises to a famous actress in New York while Hurstwood turns into the unemployed and a bagger committing suicide in the end. Carrie succeeds in becoming a member of upper-class, yet discovers that she is very lonely and empty.
It is a masterpiece of the naturalist movement, a realistic portrayal of the city and a humanistic view of its inhabitants. The novel was severely criticized for allowing Carrie’s amoral lifestyle to go unpunished.
3. The Symbolism of the Novel
The usage of symbolism is the main writing style in this novel. By probing into the usage of symbolism, we can understand and appreciate the novel better. Here are some main and important symbols in this novel. Let’s analyze this one by one.
3.1 The symbol of newspaper
The common theme in this novel is the use of newspapers to represent people who are no longer able to look forward. The newspaper represents old news and things that have already happened. People who rely on the newspaper therefore fall into the category of has-beens, who no longer look into the future and expect to rise to the top of society.
In chapter 20, Hurstwood is reading the newspaper for the first time. The paper symbolizes the past, and an inability to rise in the future. We already see his wife making the decision concerning future, their children’s future, and the future vacation. This contrasts with Carrie, who only reads the paper to see if she i s mentioned. Newspaper becomes an even stronger image and is used more frequently by Hurstwood than ever before. “Each day he could read in the evening paper….” (Dreiser, 1982: 261). Later Dreiser informs us that Hurstwood spends his time reading newspapers. This again represents that Hurstwood is only able to look at the past rather than forward into the future.
The significance of newspapers reaches the climax in chapter 35 during the storm. Hurstwood is so completely destroyed as a man that he now even gets the weather from the papers. He reads about how the storm is approaching, how it has arrived, and how it has cleared up. This tie in with windows for him, his life has gotten so bad that he cannot even look out the windows any more.
The newspaper symbolism reaches its final moment in chapter 43. Carrie is now in the newspaper, being written about much the way all the famous people are, while Hurstwood merely reads about her. This is the ultimate distinction between the forward moving youth and the backward looking aged.
3.2 The symbol of money and mirror
In this novel, money, clothing and mirrors symbolize social status.
In chapter 7, there is a very brilliant observation on the meaning of money. “The true meaning of money yet remains to be popularly explained and comprehended”(ibid: 51). Dreiser then proceeds to give a very good
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explanation of money. Central to his observation is that if a character has money, it must be spent. Both Carrie and Drouet fall into this category. Further, those who do not have money need to steal it or beg for it. Thus everyone in the novel depends on money to define who they are and what they do.
Social status is changed with money, but it also presented in the novel through two series. For example, Carrie rides in a train in the very beginning of the novel, then in a street car, and finally she is forced to walk. This chain marks the gradual lowering of Carrie’s status in the society until she reaches the lowest point, the point where she not only has no job but is also forced to walk around the city. Carrie is aware of the decline, especially while in the restaurant with Drouet. She not only observes that he can afford to ride in trains but when he mentions that she will have to return home if she declines his offer, she only notice a wealthy stagecoach passing by on the street. This serves as a visual reminder that only in Chicago can she hope to live that well, and is crucial to making her accept Drouet’s proposal. Her choice immediately raises her, and by the end of the chapter, she is already riding in a car.
Looking in the mirror is often a form of narcissism. This is the case in the store when Carrie looks at herself with the new clothes on. Her sense of well-being is enhanced, to the point where she starts to feel “a warm glow”creep into her cheeks. This is again show up in Chapter Eight, when she realizes that she is beautiful after looking in a mirror, Carrie’s use of the mirror now takes on a third meaning. Before, the mirror only represented vanity and the ability to imitate things. Now Dreiser remarks that the mirror is the mark of a good actress as well, a good actress serves as her own mirror to her audience. Carrie’s greatest ability is that she can reflect back to people that they want to see.
3.3 The symbol of theater
Dreiser remarks that the theater represents what Carrie longs for. Remember that there is not any kind of movies at that time, and thus the theater is the highest form of entertainment. It is also going to be Carrie’s future career, and thus each visit to the theater offers a unique stepping stone on her path to becoming an actress. In Chapter 9, the mention of theaters is not only done in a positive sense here, but also in a negative sense. Theaters serve as places of seduction throughout this novel. It is a seduction of the senses as well as a literal seduction. Thus we see Carrie being courted by Drouet at the M ikado while she is simultaneously able to escape from the real life for a while.
4. Conclusion
On the whole, Dreiser’s symbols appear throughout the story and are wonderfully used. Such would be Dreiser’s special genius which defines his great achievement in Sister Carrie. The novel and its artistry are worth our further reading and study.
References:
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(Edited by Wendy, Zoe and Flore)
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