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Give an analysis of the protagonist Sister Carrie
Give an analysis of the protagonist Sister Carrie
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Recommended: Give an analysis of the protagonist Sister Carrie
The picture of the protagonist that Theodore Dreiser’s novel, Sister Carrie, portrays is only a half-truth. By examining Sister Carrie’s character, she is readily deemed as passive, weak, and full of superficial desires and yet in this profoundly inert nature lies the seed for the greater expression of an artistic soul. However, this realization is only drawn out by Ames’s archetypically scholarly eyes (the intelligent but withdrawn engineer); bringing forth the powerful and intimate beauty that Carrie possesses, which without a photograph, the reader would forever remain blind to. Nevertheless, as Ames draws out the riches of Carrie’s humanity, he delineates yet another ideal, the ideal of the artist, which lies far away from the comfort that Carrie covets, and consequently forever constrains her happiness to the heights of her own longing—something that she has never surpassed. Accordingly, as Carrie progresses towards decadence she falls deeper into alienation and loneliness, and through Ames, towards even greater passivity.
The novel steadfastly and in detail presents Carrie’s associations with her two lovers, Drouet and Hurstwood, citing her interactions with them as basis for her character. Hence, the idea develops that she is a weak and passive woman, guided only by a desire to attain an affluent life, where “self interest” is “her guiding characteristic” (p2). In other words, a personality that borders on the pathetic. What little individuality and uniqueness she exhibits as a young woman in search of work in the vast, ruthless city, quickly succumbs to the stylish wealth and passion of the two men. This takes no effort on the part of Drouet, where with his fine clothes and speech, instantly impresses on “her a dim world ...
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...d mouth,” or especially to witness her on the stage and see our own yearning reflected back at us from this small, timid form, would the reading of Carrie’s lonely rise be more agreeable (p116, p384). If we were granted but a glimpse of this lovely figure with her sad eyes then we would attain a deeper understanding, but as it is, we must rely on the vision of Ames to perceive a deeper poetic quality in her. Fittingly, we leave Sister Carrie at the end of the novel, once again heightened to a higher part of life, but no closer to this than ever before, condemned by the narrator to the static life of her “rocking chair by [the] window,” where “dreaming shall you long, alone. In your rocking chair, by your window shall you dream such happiness as you shall never feel” (p400).
Works Cited
Dreiser, Theodore, and E. L. Sister Carrie. Bantam Classics, 1982. Print.
Over the course of history there have been numerous works of literature which presented the reader with great descriptions of story characters and their overall personalities, and one of the most prevalent examples of such use of character depiction is shown in the story “A New England Nun,” written by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman. In this short story, Freeman is able to illustrate a woman who is struggling with the commitment of marriage after waiting fourteen years for her fiancé Joe Dagget to return from Australia while also maintaining a lifestyle that involves monotonous, domestic activities in her home. However, more importantly, Freeman is able to clearly establish the character Louisa as someone who is suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder by outlining her behavior as being precise, organized, and compulsive, as well as depicting her traits of perfectionism. One of these compulsive tendencies involves Louisa constantly sewing to the point of perfection, in the sense that she often rips out her sewing in order to remake it again.
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).
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.
The story initially deals with the interactions of three characters: Basil Ransom, Olive Chancellor and Verena Tarrant. The character of Basil Ransom, a Mississippian who has fought in the Civil War on the side of the Confederates, is presented to us as head-strong, determined, full of honor and tough in his own masculinity and as someone who is aware of the world and the society which he lives in but of which he is not fully accepting. Olive Chancellor, (Basil Ransom’s cousin), a Bostonian woman, on the other hand is a hard-hearted woman who is bitter and is quite opposed to the traditional notions of women and men. She believes that the times of traditional feminine and masculine nature is in the past and that women are as equal as men in the changing future of society; she fights against the brutal nature of men with her rugged character in the narrative. The historical context of the story is the Civil War and its influence on the society of the day, Basil who lost everything in the war has to seek new employment and does not see eye to eye with the new ideals of r...
Griffin strikes all of these aspects in her essay. What is most compelling about the essay, however, is the way Griffin incorporated personal, family, and world history into a chilling story of narrative and autobiography, without ever losing the factual evidence the story provided. The chapter reads like an entire novel, which helps the audience to understand the concepts with a clear and complete view of her history, not needing to read any other part of the book. Two other authors, Richard Rodriguez, and Ralph Ellison, who write about their experiences in life can possibly be better understood as historical texts when viewed through the eyes of Griffin. Rodriguez explores his own educational history in his essay “The Achievement of Desire” and Ralph Ellison depicts his own journeys and personal growth in his essay, “An Extravagance of Laughter”. Both essays, which when seen through Susan Griffin’s perspective, can be reopened and examined from a different historical view, perhaps allowing them to be understood with a more lucid view of history and what it is really about.
Another example of how Mrs. Mallard was more uplifted than brought down by the news of her husband?s death is the description of the window. As Mrs. Mallard looks out Chopin explains ?she could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all a quiver with new life?. This is telling the reader about the new life that Mrs. Mallard can see in the distance that symbolizes the new life she saw that lay ahead of her now that she was free of her husband. This thought being supported by Hicks in saying "The revalation of freedom occurs in the bedroom"
But as soon as Sethe understands who Beloved is, Beloved's claim on her is total. Sethe no longer goes to work; she attends to Beloved's wishes. Denver - who once was the most important person in Sethe’s life - tries to make claims on both Beloved as a sister and Sethe as a mother, but she is gradually shut out of the relationship. Sethe doesn’t want to tell much about her past to Denver, but to Beloved she tells nearly everything. “It became…incomplete reveries.” (p. 58)
Aristotle once claimed that, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Artists, such as Louise-Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun and Mary Cassatt, captured not only the way things physically appeared on the outside, but also the emotions that were transpiring on the inside. A part no always visible to the viewer. While both artists, Le Brun and Cassatt, worked within the perimeters of their artistic cultures --the 18th century in which female artists were excluded and the 19th century, in which women were artistically limited-- they were able to capture the loving relationship between mother and child, but in works such as Marie Antoinette and Her Children and Mother Nursing her Child 1898,
In order to discern between the Victorian and Romantic themes, Bronte selects certain characters to portray the perfect stereotype of each theme. Mademoiselle Celine Varens is the model of the Romantic attitude. Varens a “French opera-dancer” found herself as the “grande passion” of Mr. Rochester. The amour between Rochester and Varens started in a “complete establishment of servants, a carriage, cashmere, diamonds, dentells, etc.” and ended with Rochester “finding her out” with another man. Varens’ irrationality did not only affect Rochester, but also her child: “she abandoned her child and ran away with a musician or singer.” Celine Varens, a woman in a daring profession, led a life of passion, freedom and irresponsibility. Her life was ballad of adventure idolized by Romantics but frowned upon by society. Mrs. Reed is the perfect representative of Victorian realism. She had all the visual attributes found in a Victorian styled lady. She possessed gentry as the mistress of Gateshead Hall and her material wealth was made obvious by the luxuries found in her home –“a bed supported on massive pillows of mahogany, hung with curtains of damask”—and in her children “in their Muslim frocks and scarlet sashes.” Besides wealth and gentility, Mrs. Reed also maintained Victorian characteristics of insularity and censoriousness.
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James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man presents an account of the formative years of aspiring author Stephen Dedalus. "The very title of the novel suggests that Joyce's focus throughout will be those aspects of the young man's life that are key to his artistic development" (Drew 276). Each event in Stephen's life -- from the opening story of the moocow to his experiences with religion and the university -- contributes to his growth as an artist. Central to the experiences of Stephen's life are, of course, the people with whom he interacts, and of primary importance among these people are women, who, as his story progresses, prove to be a driving force behind Stephen's art.