理科专用
理科专用
Female Self-consciousness in Sister Carrie
By Zhong Mingyan
A thesis presented to
the School of Foreign Languages
China West Normal University
In partial fulfillment for the requirement for
the Degree of Bachelor of Arts
Under the supervision of Yang Xiaoyong
May 2008
Female Self-consciousness in Sister Carrie
Outline
Thesis statement: This thesis will mainly employ the view of western
feminism,especially Virginia Woolf’
s view of womanhood,to analyze Carrie’
s process of
self-consciousness and its significance.
I.
Introduction
A:
Brief introduction to Theodore Dreiser and his Sister Carrie
B:
The purpose of writing this paper
II.
A:
Female self-consciousness and relevant historical background
B:
Virginia Woolf’
s thoughts on feminism
III. The factors :
A.
internal forces:
B. external forces
IV .Analysis on Sister Carrie’
s self-consciousness
V .Conclusion
Female Self-consciousness in Sister Carrie
Zhong Mingyan
School of Foreign Languages, CWNU, Nanchong, China, 637002
Abstract:In the American literary history,Sister Carrie has always been a controversial
character. She is regarded as a “new woman”as well as a “fallen woman”by different
people. From a country girl to a successful movie star,she has a dramatic expericence. The
experience is also a journey of her self-consciousness. Actually, Carrie is unwilling to
accept her fate controlled by men and bravely strive to find the meaning of her existence.
This thesis will mainly employ the view of western feminism,especially Virginia Woolf’
s
view of womanhood,to analyze Carrie’
s process of self-consciousness and its significance.
Keywords: Sister Carrie
I．
Self-consciousness
Feminism
Virginia Woolf
Introduction
Theodore Dreiser(1871-1945) is one of the greatest American writers of critical realism
and naturalism. He is ranked as second only to William Faulkner among American
novelists. Sinclair Lewis who is a Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1930 made his
acceptance speech in which Dreiser and his achievements were highly praised. He said:
“Dreiser, more than any other man, marching alone, usually unappreciated, often hated,
has cleared the trail from Victorian and Howellsian timidity and gentility in American
fiction to honesty and boldness and passion of life”.1 A final tribute to Dreiser written by
H.L,Mencken in 1945 when Dreiser passed away made it more precise how great Dreiser
is:
… no other American of his generation left so wide and handsome a
mark upon the national letters. American writing, before and after his time,
differed almost as much as biology before and after Darwin. He was a man
1
of large originality, of profound feeling, and of unshakeable courage. All of
us who write are better off because he lived, worked and hoped.2
Dreiser’
s first novel “Sister Carrie”describes the social life comprehensively and
makes him one of the most significant American writers in the literature. Hussman
remarks: “He[Dreiser] shows us that even simple people can be bewilderingly
complex in their need to satisfy their own incompatible longings… We easily identify
with his characters because their search for substance in the modern world is our
own”.3 The protagonist of this novel,Carrie Meeber,leaves her rural home to seek
work in Chicago. She is penniless and “full of the illusions of ignorance and
youth”4(Dreiser1). In Chicago,she lives with her sister and brother-in-law,and finds
a work in a shoe factory. Terrible work condition and meager income make her sick
and accordingly lose job. Then,she accepts Drouet with whom she becomes
acquainted on the train and sinks to his mistress. After a period,she loves with
Drouet’
s friend Hurstwood,a saloon manager,and finally elopes with him. They live
together for more than three years in New York.Hurstwood steadily declines while
Carrie gradually becomes mature and independent both economically and spiriturally.
At last,she regards him as a burden and leaves him. Hurstwood, then ,is poorer and
poorer,becomes a beggar,and commits suicide in the end. On the contrary,Carrie
succeeds in career,becomes a star of musical comedies and earns a lot of money by
her own efforts.
At the very beginning of this book,Dreiser stated “When a girl leaves her home at
eighteen,she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes
better,or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes
worse”(Dreiser,1). Carrie is unwilling to accept her fate controlled by men and strive
to find the meaning of her existence. In the process of her struggle,it’
s not hard for us
to find her self-conciousness,to be exact,her unique female self-consciousness. This
thesis will mainly employ the view of western feminism,especially Virginia Woolf’
s
2
view of womanhood,to analyze Carrie’
s process of self-actualization.
II．Female self-consciousness
In order to study the female self-consciousness,we should clarify the concept of
self-consciousness in mind firstly. Self-consciousness is man’
s high-grade psychological
activity,which includes the awareness of his own existence and the relations with the
world. Then,what is female self-consciousness ? In the article “On the Female
self-consciousness of Sai Jinhua”,the author, Zeng Zhiyun, points out that it is a modern
concept based on humanism and is the starting point of the western feminist movement.5
From his explaination,we know that the female self-consciousness focuses on women’
s
dignity as human beings and regards the foundation of women’
s identity and the freedom
of their personalities as the highest values. It opposes the interference of external forces
with women’
s desires,will and actions, instead, it encourages women to make their own
choices and decisions according to their own thoughts,feelings and benefits. In
short,women should develop and realize their own personalities and potentials.
However,for the fact that the male-dominated society has controlled women for a long
history,it’
s not easy for them to realize the neccessity of their self-consciousness. However
difficult it is,there are some forerunners who opened a door for women to realize their
self-consciousness. Let’s learn some relevant historical backgrounds for further
discussion.
A.
Relevant historical background:
The study of female self-consciousness actually accompanied with the western feminist
movement which has a long history. The thoughts of woman’
s rights were formed and
developed based on the development of western bourgeoisie’
s democracy thoughts in the
18th century. There are two typical representatives who contribute a lot to the female
self-consciousness---Mary Wollstonecraft and John Stuart Mill.The former published her
work named A Vindication of the Rights of Women(1792) in which she pointed out that
women should be treated equally with men in education,employment,politics and so on.
3
The latter published The Subjection of Women (1869). He said in this book, the social
norm to standardize the relationship between male and female---one gender subordinates
to the other legally---is essentially wrong, and it’
s one of the main barriers for human
beings’progress.6
His words promote women to rethink their unfair situations compared
with men and, to some extent, help their self-consciousness.
The second surge of feminist movement which has greater influence on women’
s
self-consciousness happened in the middle of the 19th century.America, taking the place of
Europe,became the main battlefield.More and more works called on women to strive for
their own rights. In 1848,the first American women conference was held in Tannesy and
passed The Declaration of Women’
s Right. It acclaimes:every man and woman is equal.
God gives women equal rights of which should not be deprived of,including the right of
life,liberty and pursuing happiness.
In1963,Betty Friedan published Feminine
Mystique(1963) to attack the patriarchy’
s hypocrisy.
In addition, Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), an English novelist who is said to have laid a
foundation for feminist writing, raised her view of womanhood which has great influence
on female self-consciousness.
B. Virginia Woolf’s view of womanhood
Generally speaking,Woolf’
s thoughts includes: Firstly,she believes the basic rule for
women is to struggle for the ecomomic independence. Secondly,she reveals the veil of
patriarchy,and calls on females to resist the traditional value norm of patriarchy.
Thirdly,she suggests reconsidering the world and human civilization in the female’
s
perspective. The last but not the least,she raises an idea of “bisexuality”which indicates a
brighter future for male and female’
s development in harmony. It can be considered as a
way for the development of feminism.7
To some extent, Carrie’
s self-consciousness is consistent with Woolf’
s thoughts,which
will be analyzed specifically in this paper. Now it’
s necessary to discuss the factors for
Carrie’
s self-consciousness, which will help us better understand the coincidence between
4
Carrie’
s self-consciousness and Woolf’
s thoughts on feminism.
III．The factors for Carrie’s self-consciousness
According to Abraham H. Maslow(1908-1970), self-actualization depended upon an
incessant satisfaction of needs ranging from the physiological need for food to a need for
safety, love, self-esteem, and self-fulfillment. Each satisfied need released a new and
higher need,making desire insatiable.8
Carrie is undoubtfully has the nature of human--- the physiological need for food, a
need for safety, a need for love or be loved, a need for self-esteem, and the highest need
for self-fulfillment, all of which play an significant role in the process of her
self-consciousness. They are internal forces for Carrie’
s self-consciousness.
Besides,Carrie’
s unique character makes her different from other women in her society.
Her dissatisfaction with the situations she encounters, the contradictory personality of
fragility and firm, her ambition and contemplation,etc., all contribute to make her a
persevering dream-seeker, and consequently a forerunner of female self-consciousness at
her time. She used to depend on men because “at that time, he had represented something
which she did not have;but this she did not understand”(Dreiser383),once she is in a more
privileged position, she will soon discard these men and engender a higher target.
Apart from the internal forces as original factors for Sister Carrie’
s self-consciousness,
external forces are indispensable factors we shoud pay attention to.
The conflict of the development of the society and the old cage-like life is the first
external factor which draws Carrie out of home to Chicago for a better life. In the western
society of the 19th century, there were many conflicts between the old and new ideas. On
the one hand, in traditional culture,men-oriented society has being praised for a long time.
Men are authorities while women are regarded as men’
s subordinates and properties.
Under the protection of traditional value of patriarchy, a man with a fortune or certain
high social status may flirt with many women,and he needn’t worry that he would be
asked to take any responsibility or that he would be blamed by others. However, women,
5
in the same society, were required to keep purity. Otherwise,they would be regarded as
“bad”women and even be killed. On the other hand,with the development of Industrial
Revolution and the prosperity of economy, America has transformed from an argricultural
country into an industrial one. “The sound of the hammer engaged unpon the erection of
new structures was everywhere heard,Great industries were moving in”(Dreiser12),this is
what Carrie saw as soon as she reached Chicago. People’
s thoughts and views of life were
sharply striked by this change. In pace with the change,females’awareness of improving
their social status was awakening. More and more women dissatisfied with the cage-like
home and bravely went out of home to seek for a better life. Carrie is such a female who
is not satisfied with her situation and longs for a new life.
The cold reality is the second external factor which makes her ready for her dream.
The worship of money and self-interests was prevailing at that time. The life for poor
people was out of Carrie’
s expectation. She felt “cold reality taking her by the
hand”(Dreiser8). It’
s hard to find a job. “It was all closed to her that the struggle was too
fierce for her to hope to do anything at all”(Dreiser21). Even she found one in her first job
hunting, she quickly lost it because her physical condition couldn’t bear the hard working
condition. Then,she felt the indifference between people. Even her sister and
brother-in-law asked her to go home because she couldn’t afford her living expenses after
she lost job. But her character doomed that she couldn’t willingly allow herself to go
home. So,she accepted Drout’
s advice living in big city at the expense of becoming his
mistress.
Drout didn’t give Carrie love and care but treated her as a doll serving for his
libertinism, then Carrie followed Hurstwoold to New York where her sense of
self-consciousness gradually developed and became mature. After Hurstwood’
s
decline,his laziness and indifference annoyed Carrie. Her economical connection with
men became weaker and weaker. “Giving herself to each man in a physical sense alone,
she withdraws from him once he is no longer materially useful, as if his role in the drama
6
of her life has abruptly ended. At the end of the novel,her life of luxury and Hurstwood’
s
death in poverty, for all their outward contrast, equally manifest the profound aloneness of
ways of being based on ‘inauthentic’relations with others”(Orlov148).
Here,another factor for Carrie’
s self-consciousness appears,that is,she gradually
understands the weakness of men and her economical connection with men becomes
weaker and weaker. She realizes that men are actually not as strong as she ever thought.
They also can be befeated by life. “No longer the lightest word of a man made her head
dizzy. She had learned that men could change and fail”(Dreiser337). She believes there is
only one way which can help her out of difficulty---depending on herself and finding a
job to support herself. Here is a proof:
“She looked for nothing save what might come legitimately and without
the appearance of special favor.She wanted something, but no man should
buy her by false protestations or favor. She proposed to earn her living
honestly”(Dreiser 192).
IV． Analysis on Carrie’s self-consciousness from the perspective of
Virginia Woolf’s thoughts on feminism.
Now let’
s focus on the process of Carrie’
s self consciousness and see how it
corresponds with Woolf’s thoughts on feminism.
Just as I mentioned before,Woolf’
s first view is that women should struggle for
economic independence as a basic rule. The first step of Carrie’
s self-consciousness
corresponds with this rule. Although the process is very long and the expense is very
heavy, Carrie is unremittingly struggling towards the aim. At first,she wants to make
money from career,but she fails. Then the fate plays a trick on her,she “sinks” to “a
surbordinate”of Drout and later of Hurstwood. She pays heavy expense,but hope is still
in her heart. From her sister Minnie’
s life and her own experience as mistress of two
men,she finally understands it is the economic dependence towards men that results the
surbordination of women to men physically and spiritually. Women submit to be
7
housewives,do houseworks,flatter their husbandsand and serve for them. What’
s
worse,they gradually lose their ambition and even personality. This is not the life Carrie
wants to live. She seeks for chance to wave goodbye to old life.
Hurstwood’
s decline in NewYork provides such kind of chance. When Carrie’
s
acting talent provides her with an income in New York,she becomes independent,no
longer dependent on men for support,but a supporter instead. What’
s more important,
Carrie finds her voice in the family for the first time. She begins to criticize Hurstwood’
s
idleness and she is reluctant to supply Hurstwood with the money for rent and daily
expenses. Meanwhile,Carrie insists Hurstwood share some of the housework. As a
result,realizing his own situation,Hurstwood has to do almost all the housework,though he
feels humiliated.9 Carrie gains confidence and courage and she wants more.
Hurstwood’
s decline as well as his weak points pave a way for Carrie to fulfill her
dream for success and economic independence. “Timid as Carrie was,she was strong in
capability. The reliance of others made her feel as if she must,and when she must she
dared. Experience of the world and of necessity was in her favor. No longer the lightest
word of a man made her head dizzy. She had learned that men could change and fail.
Flattery in its most palpable form had lost its force with her. It required
superiority--kindly superiority--to move her--the superiority of a genius like
Ames”(Dreiser 337).
Unquestionablely,Carrie’s own efforts ultimately help her realize self-improvement.
She is “strong in capability”and she possesses “of that sympathetic, impressionable
nature which, ever in the most developed form, has been the glory of the drama… .She
possessed an innate taste for imitation and no small ability”(Dreiser124) .Years later,she
earns her first hundred and fifty dollars. “The one hundred and fifty! The one hundred and
fifty! What a door to an Aladdin’
s cave it seemed to be. Each day, her head almost turned
by developments, her fancies of what her fortune must be, with ample money,grew and
multiplied. She conceived of delights which were not— saw lights of joy that never were
8
on the land or sea”(Dreiser 357). She is no longer easily moved or lured by rich men and
has no interest in their flatteries.
Although Carrie succeeds in career and becomes a movie star with a good fortune,
she still feels unhappy. That’
s because she feels dissatisfaction spiritually. The more she
experienced, the more she understands the world and herself. She learns the pursuing for
material things and money is meaningless, because material things are as transient as a
fleeting cloud and they can’t bring her happiness but bring more spirtual emptiness to her.
Spirtual emptiness is the most terrible thing for a person. A sage once says that the most
frightening thing for one in the world is that he or she can not find spiritual home and a
sense of belonging. Carrie has experienced such kind of feeling. She feels lonely in the
society where the majority of her female fellows are still blind to the unfair situation
while she is awake but her little strength is too weak to change anything. She changes her
value of life. Walking on Broadway, Carrie no longer thought of the elegance of the
creatures that pass her. To Carrie,the materials are no longer as important as she thought
before. She pays more attention to others’bitterness and feelings. She has the desire to be
sympathetic towards poor people and is willing to help them. The following talk between
Carrie and her roommate Lola is an evidence:
“I hope it snows enough to go sleigh riding”,said Lola.
“Oh,dear,”said Carrie,with whom the sufferings of Father Goriot were
still keen. “That’
s all you think of.Aren’t you sorry for the people who haven’t
anything tonight?”(Dreiser388)
Accepting Ames’
s advice,Carrie realizes “how silly and worthless had been her
earlier reading”(Dreiser388) and starts to read more valuable books like Father Goriot,
rethinks her outlook on life, and decides to turn to dramatic field which can do valuable
things to others. The journey of her spiritual-seeking has set off.
Based on her praiseworthy self-examination and soul-searching, remould her value
of life, She strides forward a higher level of self-consciousness---seeking spiritual
9
satisfaction. As Woolf advocates, once women clearly identify the essence of patriarchy,
their will awaken sooner or later. Patriarchy fundamentally aims to serve for men and
exploit women instead. What women should do is making every effort to free themselves
from the value system promoted by patriarchy, and refix a new value system which can
help them raise their social status and struggle for the rights women deserve.
V．Conclusion
Wanting more,Carrie goes on living, dreaming of a happiness that she will never
know. We have no idea where the destination of Carrie’
s spiritual-seeking-journey is,but
the process of her self-consciousness is integrated and full of significance. The question as
to how to deal with the relationship between men and women to reach maximum win-win
situation for both human and society deserves our futher study. Anyway, it won’t work by
merely exploiting one gender while fostering the other. Woolf’
s idea of “bisexuality”may
be a possible way to this problem. She points out only if men and women harmoniously
coexist and develop can they embrace a brighter future. She has foresighted-eye and her
inference is meaningful till today.
Notes：
1
(http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/Lit RC? vrsn)
2
(http://oldsite.library.upenn.edu/special/mss/dreiser/td bio,html)
3
Hussman,Lawrence E.,Jr..Dreiser and His Fiction: A Twentieth-century Quest.
Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P,1983.pp.44
袁萍，论“嘉丽妹妹”中经济的作用，[D]南京师范大学，2005. pp37
10
[美] Theodore Dreiser 著，王晓红注释，Sister Carrie,世界图书出版社 2000 年 1 月.pp1.
4
文中其他引文只标注页码.
陈敬莲，An Ananysis of the Female Self-consciousness eflected in Henry James Early
5
Works,[D]东北师范大学，2006.Page4.
叶铭. 西方妇女社会地位的历史演变. 湖南工业职业技术学院学报 2007（4）.
西方女性主义思潮:（http://www.xinli110.com/xxlp/xwzx/200712/72055_6.html）
6
7
8
Donald Pizer, The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturalism,pp.179.
Abraham
H.
Maslow,
Motivation
and
Personality,(New
York:Harper
Row,1970;1954),pp.98 and xvi-xvii.
袁萍，论“嘉丽妹妹”中经济的作用，[D]南京师范大学，2005. pp27.
9
11
and
Work Cited
Theodore Dreiser，Sister Carrie,王晓红注释，世界图书出版社 2000 年 1 月.
Abraham H. Maslow,Motivation and Personality, (New York:Harper and
Row,1970;1954),pp.98 and xvi-xvii.
Donald Pizer, The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturalism,
ShangHai Foreign Language Education Press,2000.pp.179
Hussman,Lawrence E.,Jr..Dreiser and His Fiction: A Twentieth-century Quest.
Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P,1983. pp.44
Orlov,Paul A. “On Language and the Quest for Self-Fulfillment: A Heideggerian
Perspective on Dreiser’
s Sister Carrie.”Gogol,Miriam(edited).Theodore Dreiser:Beyond
Naturalism.New York:New York UP,1995.
《德莱塞》蒋道超著，四川人民出版社 2003 年 8 月.
《嘉丽妹妹》[美]德莱塞著，诺亚主编，世界文学名著精读，远方出版社 2001
年 12 月.
《弗吉尼亚.伍尔夫与女权主义》吴庆宏著，中国社会科学出版社 2005 年 3 月.
《女性主义》李银河著，山东人民出版社 2005 年 1 月.
叶铭. 西方妇女社会地位的历史演变. 湖南工业职业技术学院学报 2007（4）.
李旭. 时代新女性---嘉丽妹妹形象评析. 大庆师范学院学报 2006（3）.
嘁怀芳，胡宗峰. “新女性”的背后---从女性主义的角度看《嘉丽妹妹》.浙江
万里学院学报 2005（1）.
陈敬莲，An Ananysis of the Female Self-consciousness eflected in Henry James Early
Works,[D]东北师范大学，2006.Page4.
袁萍，论“嘉丽妹妹”中经济的作用，[D]南京师范大学，2005.
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