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A brief analysis of Sister Carrie's character
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I think it is very difficult to define the exact character of Dreiser’s "Sister Carrie", and his original intention. I would say, "as many eyes, so many opinions", so no wonder there are different approaches and interpretations towards the novel which is influenced not just by the reader’s reading or personal experience, but also by their particular philosophy of life as well as knowledge about the historical background. "Sister Carrie" can be read as a novel of desire, seduction, or the critique of capitalism and consumerism. It’s definitely not the plot or characters which are dominant elements of it. The taste and the literary value of Dreiser’s novel is shaped and created by its setting and the author’s tone. Chicago and New York have almost as organic and important role in the novel as the characters. They do not just form the simple environment for the novel, but they influence its character and a very strong impression. Chicago’s character is kind of more "positive", it is a city of promise, luck, rise (Carrie). We can say that in Chicago, Hurtswood means something. New York ‘s character is different. It’s a city of lies, fall, impersonal isolation of "walled city where surviving is much more difficult than in Chicago. In New York, Hurstwood means nothing. The setting creates different expectations to people. During the reading of "Sister Carrie", I was interested in searching and revealing the different kinds of desire. Generally we can say that Dreiser deals with the desire of wealth, social status, material things which are represented by money. Within this generalization, we can find and identify many other faces and forms of lust and longing. Carrie, as an ambitious and strong woman embodies the social values of the consumer culture. All she longs for is a material wealth, which represents power. She can be seen as a symbol of money. But Carrie lives in a world of prices. Her labor costs $4.50; board $4 a week; car fare $.60; cheap lunch $.10; etc. She imitates everything perfectly and that’s why she is becoming what people want her to become. Her desires come from other people’s desires. It is exactly Drouet, who introduces her to the world of wealth, to materialism. He gives her money, flat even "name when she enters the world of theater. She plays her role according to Drouet’s desires – once acts as his mistress or "wife".
In the exposition of the story, Minus immediately delves into the characters, introducing us to both and young Carrie Johnson and Mrs. Cado P. Clark, the main characters in the story. She also gives us a physical description of Carrie, as well as a beginning presentation of Mrs. Clark’s character. Of Carrie, Minus writes, “…Carrie had come out of the South, the red clay clinging to her misshapen heels, made migrant by the disintegration of a crumbling age” also “Carrie’s wide brown nostrils...”(Girl, Colored 1940). Of Mrs. Clark’s character as person from the upper class; she writes “A pale blonde woman opened the door. Wisps of inoffensive hair strayed from the leather thongs of a dozen curlers set at variance on her head.”Minus instantly offers a feel for how each character will shape up to be, and presents a chance for us (the reader) to attach ourselves to these perhaps not-so-unique individuals. Without further ado, Minus expounds on her both her characters initial descriptions of throughout the remainder of the story. We learn that Carrie has a quick temper and she easily angered but manages to keep of her emotions under control, Mrs. Clark ha...
The major idea I want to write about has to do with the way Mrs. Hale stands behind Mrs. Wright even though it seems like everyone else especially (the men) would rather lock her up and throw away the key. We see this right away when she gets on the County Attorney for putting down Mrs. Wright’s house keeping. I find this to be wonderfully symbolic in that most women of this time usually allowed the men to say whatever they wanted about their sex, never standing up for themselves or each other
Frances (Fannie) Perkins was an amazing person that represented a strong image for the female race. She was the first female cabinet member in the United States. Frances Perkins was the most influential person in American history because if she hadn’t been the first U.S. female cabinet member, females may not have a role in the U.S. government.
This book has many strong characters who you are going to emphasize while there will be others who are dis-likable. The way characters in the book are given action, I never would have imagined what one has said or ever done. During my readings, I never noticed that this book Mrs. Stockett wrote was fiction due to the part that everything seemed believable during the time of the events. Even when I read from the viewpoints of the League ladies suchlike Miss Hilly, to the maids who work for them people. Though, The Help, could have veered into violent representation, Mrs. Stockett does not take it there by giving life intimacy along with inter household connections.
Characterization: as Carrie hopelessly looks for work she can’t help but keep her eyes off of all the expensive and valuable things in life, the readers later learn that Carrie looks at these things as necessities instead of wants. Motif: Dreiser’s showing that in this point of time, Carrie and others soon to come all have this idea where the less important things in life are needed to maintain a high status, confidence, image, etc.
An American city seemed extremely attractive from afar. Big city pleasures such as electricity, indoor plumbing, and telephones created jealousy from the rural farmers, who did not possess such things. Also, cities lured many people with architectural marvels such as the skyscrapers with their fancy elevators. Rural farmers started to think their lives as dull when compared to the late night glitter of the cities. Jobs were also another lure of the big city. Industrial jobs presented jobs for both men and women. Not only did these jobs provide an income in which the employee could spend at city department stores (such as New York’s Macy’s) but also the income provided greater equality for many minorities as well as women. Theodore Dreiser’s further encouraged the glamorous city life belief when he wrote Sister Carrie (1990).
Within Tennessee Williams's story about love and abuse within marriage and challenging familial ties, there lie three very different characters that all see the world in vastly different ways. These members of a family that operate completely outside of our generation’s norms, are constantly unsure of themselves and their station within the binary not only of their familial unit, but within the gender binary that is established for them to follow. Throughout the story of the strange family, each character goes through a different arch that changes them irrevocably whether it is able to be perceived or not by those around them. The only male, Stanley is initially the macho force in the home who controls everything without question. He has no consequences for his actions against his wife and is never held accountable for treating the people around him poorly; this lasts until Blanche arrives. Blanche is an outwardly demure, but spirited young woman who after experiencing untold misfortune breaks mentally and decides to no longer care what others may think of her. She lives her life lavishly and foolishly by having dalliances with younger or richer men who shower her with gifts and attention to get sex from her all too willing form. Her effect on Stanley is one of temptation and challenge; she continually tries to convince her sister that she is too good for the man and in turn fosters a resentment for her in him. Stella acts as the antithesis of Stanley and Blanche’s extreme personalities. She is innocence and purity where they are the darkness that threatens to overtake her life. Throughout, Stella is a pawn that they both try to use against the other to no real avail as she is determined to make the best choice for herself. In th...
Sister’s perspective is very self-centered and designed to manipulate the reader for selfish purposes. When the story first begins, Sister is trying to get the reader to see that “Of course [she] went with Mr., Whitaker first…and Stella Rondo broke [them up].” Sister wants the readers to know this piece of information so we will think she is a victim in the story. This is a way of getting us, the readers, on “her side” so we will begin to think like her and dislike the person or people that she dislikes.
Throughout the Novel F. Scott Fitzgerald establishes gender roles through women being seen as the second sex. The female characters throughout the novel follow the pattern of being unspoken, plain and proper, proving true to the social dynamics of the 1920’s and therefore further influencing men to be the greater sex:
The four title characters are Carrie Bradshaw, who writes a sex column, Samantha Jones, who is a PR rep and is know for her many sexual partners, Miranda Hobbes, an attorney, and Charlotte York, an art curator. Sex and the City is an ensemble show with Carrie as the main character but story lines being divided evenly among all the four women with focuses on the issues they face. The women are liberated because they are free to have sex and are not forced to remain in the private sphere while their male counter parts get to work. However, simply because these women all have jobs it does not mean that their roles in the public sphere is the central aspect of the show. The show is actually centered around the relationships the four women have with men and with each other. The four women on this show are not able to escape the gender roles and expectations that are put on women. On the show not much of the story is devoted to the work lives of these women, besides Carrie's column that is actually about her life, even though they all have very nice clothes and apartments and that is obviously paid for some how. These women are all focused primarily on their personal relationships with men and the hope of some like Charlotte to find the
The book uses fictional documents, such as book excerpts, news reports, and hearing transcripts, to frame the story of Carietta "Carrie" White, a 17-year-old girl from Chamberlain, Maine. Carrie's mother, Margaret, a fanatical Christian fundamentalist, has a vindictive and unstable personality, and over the years has ruled Carrie with an iron rod and repeated threats of damnation, as well as occasional physical abuse. Carrie does not fare much better at her school where her frumpy looks, lack of friends and lack of popularity with boys make her the butt of ridicule, embarrassment, and public humiliation by her fellow teenage peers.
When Zora Hurston wrote this novel, she wanted to explain how a young women search for her own identity. This young woman would go through three relationships that took her to the end of the journey of a secure sense of independence. She wanted to find her own voice while in a relationship, but she also witnessed hate, pain, and love through the journey. When Logan Killicks came she witnessed the hate because he never connected physically or emotionally to her. Jody Starks, to what she assumed, as the ticket to freedom. What she did not know was the relationship came with control and pain. When she finally meets Tea Cake she was in love, but had to choose life over love in the end.
Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie is a simple tale of a young, pretty eighteen year old girl Caroline Meeber also know as Carrie.
This entire novel is about an identity crisis. At the start of the novel, Edna Pontellier is a wife who barely accepts the constraints
When she tries to find a job, she is scared. Carrie has no skills to offer an employer, no job experience, and her clothing was of poor quality. Chicago was a large city, but society at that time did not have many job opportunities for working women. The only jobs that Carrie could possibly get were in the factories that, paid low wages, had poor working conditions, and long hours. She knew that after she paid rent to her brother-in-law, she would have very little left to buy all the beautiful things that she longed for. When Carrie took the job at the shoe factory, she did not like the hard work and considered the other women who worked there to be common. When winter arrived, Carrie got sick and stayed home from work which caused her to lose her job.