Sister Carrie
Encyclopedia
Sister Carrie is a novel by Theodore Dreiser
about a young country girl who moves to the big city where she starts realizing her own American Dream
by first becoming a mistress
to men that she perceives as superior and later as a famous actress. It has been called the "greatest of all American urban novels."
home, 18-year-old Caroline "Sister Carrie" Meeber takes the train to Chicago
, where her older sister Minnie, and her husband Sven Hanson, have agreed to take her in. On the train, Carrie meets Charles Drouet, a traveling salesman, who is attracted to her because of her simple beauty and unspoiled manner. They exchange contact information, but upon discovering the "steady round of toil" and somber atmosphere at her sister's flat, she writes to Drouet and discourages him from calling on her there.
Carrie soon embarks on a quest for work to pay rent to her sister and her husband, and takes a job running a machine in a shoe factory. Before long, however, she is shocked by the coarse manners of both the male and female factory workers, and the physical demands of the job, as well as the squalid factory conditions, begin to take their toll. She also senses Minnie and Sven's disapproval of her interest in Chicago's recreational opportunities, particularly the theatre. One day, after an illness that costs her job, she encounters Drouet on a downtown street. Once again taken by her beauty, and moved by her poverty, he encourages her to dine with him, where, over sirloin and asparagus, he persuades her to leave her sister and move in with him. To press his case, he slips Carrie two ten dollar bills, opening a vista of material possibilities to her. The next day, he rebuffs her feeble attempts to return the money, taking her shopping at a Chicago department store and securing a jacket she covets and some shoes. That night, she writes a good-bye note to Minnie and moves in with Drouet.
Drouet installs her in a much larger apartment, and their relationship intensifies as Minnie dreams about her sister's fall from innocence. She acquires a sophisticated wardrobe and, through his offhand comments about attractive women, sheds her provincial mannerisms, even as she struggles with the moral implications of being a kept woman. By the time Drouet introduces Carrie to George Hurstwood, the manager of Fitzgerald and Moy's – a respectable bar that Drouet describes as a "way-up, swell place" – her material appearance has improved considerably. Hurstwood, unhappy with and distant from his social-climbing wife and children, instantly becomes infatuated with Carrie’s youth and beauty, and before long they start an affair, communicating and meeting secretly in the expanding, anonymous city.
One night, Drouet casually agrees to find an actress to play a key role in an amateur theatrical presentation of Augustin Daly’s melodrama, “Under the Gaslight,” for his local chapter of the Elks
. Upon returning home to Carrie, he encourages her to take the part of the heroine, Laura. Unknown to Drouet, Carrie long has harbored theatrical ambitions and has a natural aptitude for imitation and expressing pathos
. The night of the production – which Hurstwood attends at Drouet’s invitation – both men are moved to even greater displays of affection by Carrie’s stunning performance.
The next day, the affair is uncovered: Drouet discovers he has been cuckolded, Carrie learns that Hurstwood is married, and Hurstwood’s wife, Julia, learns from an acquaintance that Hurstwood has been out driving with another woman and deliberately excluded her from the Elks theatre night. After a night of drinking, and despairing at his wife’s financial demands and Carrie’s rejection, Hurstwood stumbles upon a large amount of cash in the unlocked safe in Fitzgerald and Moy's offices. In a moment of poor judgment, he succumbs to the temptation to embezzle a large sum of money. Under the pretext of Drouet’s sudden illness, he lures Carrie onto a train and escapes with her to Canada. Once they arrive in Montreal
, Hurstwood’s guilty conscience – and a private eye – induce him to return most of the stolen funds, but he realizes that he cannot return to Chicago. Hurstwood mollifies Carrie by agreeing to marry her, and the couple move to New York City.
In New York, Hurstwood and Carrie rent a flat where they live as George and Carrie Wheeler. Hurstwood buys a minority interest in a saloon and, at first, is able to provide Carrie with a satisfactory – if not lavish – standard of living. The couple grow distant, however, as Hurstwood abandons any pretense of fine manners toward Carrie, and she realizes that Hurstwood no longer is the suave, powerful manager of his Chicago days. Carrie’s dissatisfaction only increases when she meets Robert Ames, a bright young scholar from Indiana and her neighbor’s cousin, who introduces her to the idea that great art, rather than showy materialism, is worthy of admiration.
After only a few years, the saloon’s landlord sells the property and Hurstwood’s business partner expresses his intent to terminate the partnership. Too arrogant to accept most of the job opportunities available to him, Hurstwood soon discovers that his savings are running out and urges Carrie to economize, which she finds humiliating and distasteful. As Hurstwood lounges about, overwhelmed by apathy and foolishly gambling away most of his savings, Carrie turns to New York’s theatres for employment and becomes a chorus girl. Once again, her aptitude for theatre serves her well, and, as the rapidly aging Hurstwood declines into obscurity, Carrie begins to rise from chorus girl to small speaking roles, and establishes a friendship with another chorus girl, Lola Osborne, who begins to urge Carrie to move in with her. In a final attempt to prove himself useful, Hurstwood becomes a scab
driving a Brooklyn
streetcar
during a streetcar operator’s strike. His ill-fated venture, which lasts only two days, prompts Carrie to leave him; in her farewell note, she encloses twenty dollars.
Hurstwood ultimately joins the homeless of New York, taking odd jobs, falling ill with pneumonia, and finally becoming a beggar. Reduced to standing in line for bread and charity, he commits suicide in a flophouse
. Meanwhile, Carrie achieves stardom, but finds that money and fame do not satisfy her longings or bring her happiness and that nothing will.
Dreiser had difficulty finding a publisher for Sister Carrie. Doubleday & McClure Company accepted the manuscript for publication but it was withdrawn after the publisher's wife declared it too sordid. Dreiser insisted on publication and 1,008 copies were printed on November 8, 1900. The book was not advertised and only 456 copies sold. However, Frank Norris
, who was working as a reader at Doubleday, sent a few copies to literary reviewers.
Between 1900 and 1980, all editions of the novel were of a second altered version. Not until 1981 did Dreiser's unaltered version appear when the University of Pennsylvania Press issued a scholarly edition based upon the original manuscript held by The New York Public Library. It is a reconstruction by a team of leading scholars to represent the novel before it was edited by hands other than Dreiser's.
In his Nobel Prize
Lecture of 1930, Sinclair Lewis
said that "Dreiser's great first novel, Sister Carrie, which he dared to publish thirty long years ago and which I read twenty-five years ago, came to housebound and airless America like a great free Western wind, and to our stuffy domesticity gave us the first fresh air since Mark Twain
and Whitman
".
In 1998, the Modern Library
ranked Sister Carrie 33rd on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Sister Carrie went against social norms of the time with its supposed immorality, as Dreiser presented his characters without judging them. Dreiser fought against censorship of Sister Carrie, a main issue being that the titular character engaged in affairs and other “illicit sexual relationships” without suffering any consequences. This flouted the norm of the time that should a character practice such sinful behavior, they must be punished in some way throughout the course of the plot in order to teach a lesson.
Dreiser has often been critiqued for his writing style. In 1930 Arnold Bennett said, “Dreiser simply does not know how to write, never did know, never wanted to know.” Other critics called his style “vulgar,” “uneven,” “clumsy,” “awkward,” and “careless.” His plotlines were also decried as unimaginative, critics citing his lack of education and claiming that he lacked intellectualism.
However, Alfred Kazin—though criticizing Dreiser’s style—pointed out that Dreiser’s novels had survived through the ages and remained influential works (Lydon). Michael Lydon, in defense of Dreiser, claims that his patience and powers of observation created accurate depictions of the urban world and the desires and ambitions of the people of the time. Lydon said that Dreiser’s intent was to focus on the message of Sister Carrie, not on its writing style.
Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie was not widely accepted after it was published, although it was not completely withdrawn by its publishers, as some sources say it was. Neither was it received with the harshness that Dreiser reported. For example, the Toledo Blade reported that the book “is a faithful portraiture of the conditions it represents, showing how the tangle of human life is knotted thread by thread” but that it was “too realistic, too somber to be altogether pleasing”. This review shows an example of an average review of Sister Carrie at the time it was released, and even though there were some completely negative harsh reviews, they were not many in number. This shows us that Dreiser was his own worst critic, exaggerating the negative report about his book to one of complete rejection. There is also the receipt of sale that was sent to Dreiser that shows that Sister Carrie was not withdrawn off of the shelves. This report from DoubleDay, the publishing company, reports that 456 copies of the 1,008 copies printed were sold. This evidence dispels the rumors that all copies of Sister Carrie were pulled off the shelf right after their release.
Sister Carrie evoked many different responses from the critics, and although the book did not sell well among the general public, it often received positive reviews. Part of the reason for its lack of sales came from a conflict between Dreiser and his publishers, who did little to promote the book. Despite this lack of promotion, many critics did praise the book, and a large number of them seemed most affected by the character of Hurstwood, such as the New Haven Journal Courier, which proclaimed, “One of the most affecting passages is where Hurstwood falls, ruined, disgraced”. Edna Kenton in the Chicago Daily News said in 1900 that Sister Carrie is “well worth reading simply for this account of Hurstwood”.
Another common praise among reviews was for the novel’s realistic depiction of the human condition. A 1901 review in the Academy said that Sister Carrie was “absolutely free from the slightest trace of sentimentality or pettiness, and dominated everywhere by a serious and strenuous desire for truth”. The London Express claimed that this realism is what makes the book appealing: “It is a cruel, merciless story, intensely clever in its realism, and one that will remain impressed in the memory of the reader for many a long day”. The novel has also been praised for its accurate depiction of the protests in New York and the city life in Chicago.
There was a fair amount of negative response to the novel as well, arising largely from the book’s sexual content, which made Sister Carrie, in the words of the Omaha Daily Bee in 1900, “not a book to be put into the hands of every reader indiscriminately”. Another review in Life criticized Carrie’s success, and warned “Such girls, however, as imagine that they can follow in her footsteps will probably end their days on the Island or in the gutter”. The book was also criticized for never mentioning the name of God .
There was also a large amount of criticism for the title of the novel, which, several critics complained, makes the book sound as if the main character is a nun. The title of the book is considered by the Newark Sunday News to be the “weakest thing about the book” because it “does not bear the faintest relation to the story” Similarly, Frederic Taber Cooper in the Bookman declared it to be a “colourless and misleading title” (26). Other common complaints were over the length of the book and the fact that it is so depressing that it makes it unpleasant to read. Overall, Sister Carrie was not well received when it was first released due to its scandalous content and its bleak outlook on life and human efforts to change their condition.
Theodore Dreiser encountered both criticism and praise of his unique literary style. While some viewed his work as grammatically and syntactically inaccurate, others found his detailed storytelling intriguing. An avid supporter and friend, H.L. Mencken referred to Dreiser as “a man of large originality, of profound feeling, and of unshakable courage”. Mencken believed that Dreiser’s raw, honest portrayal of Carrie’s life should be seen as a courageous attempt to give the reader a realistic view of the life of women in the nineteenth century.
In opposition, one critic, Karl F. Zender, argued that Dreiser’s stress on circumstance over character was “adequate neither to the artistic power nor to the culture implications of Sister Carrie”. Many found Dreiser’s work attractive due to his lenient “moralistic judgments” and the “spacious compassion” in which he viewed his character’s actions. This toleration of immorality was an entirely new idea for the readers of Dreiser’s era. In fact, the novel and its modern ideas on morality helped to produce an untitled movement in which the literary generation of its time was found “detaching itself from its predecessor”. Yet there still remained some who disapproved of Dreiser’s immoral, atypical story line. David E. E. Sloan argued that Dreiser’s novel undermines the general consensus that hard work and virtue bring about success in life.
Though Dreiser has been criticized for his writing style and lack of formal education, Sister Carrie survived over a century and remains to this day an influential example of naturalism and realism. While it initially did not sell well at all (under 500 copies) and battled censorship after being deemed amoral, it is now considered one of the greatest American urban novels, and explores the gritty details of human nature, as well as how the process of industrialization affected the American people.
and Jennifer Jones starred in the 1952 film version, Carrie
, directed by William Wyler
.
Commentary
Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of...
about a young country girl who moves to the big city where she starts realizing her own American Dream
American Dream
The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each...
by first becoming a mistress
Mistress (lover)
A mistress is a long-term female lover and companion who is not married to her partner; the term is used especially when her partner is married. The relationship generally is stable and at least semi-permanent; however, the couple does not live together openly. Also the relationship is usually,...
to men that she perceives as superior and later as a famous actress. It has been called the "greatest of all American urban novels."
Plot summary
Dissatisfied with life in her rural WisconsinWisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
home, 18-year-old Caroline "Sister Carrie" Meeber takes the train to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, where her older sister Minnie, and her husband Sven Hanson, have agreed to take her in. On the train, Carrie meets Charles Drouet, a traveling salesman, who is attracted to her because of her simple beauty and unspoiled manner. They exchange contact information, but upon discovering the "steady round of toil" and somber atmosphere at her sister's flat, she writes to Drouet and discourages him from calling on her there.
Carrie soon embarks on a quest for work to pay rent to her sister and her husband, and takes a job running a machine in a shoe factory. Before long, however, she is shocked by the coarse manners of both the male and female factory workers, and the physical demands of the job, as well as the squalid factory conditions, begin to take their toll. She also senses Minnie and Sven's disapproval of her interest in Chicago's recreational opportunities, particularly the theatre. One day, after an illness that costs her job, she encounters Drouet on a downtown street. Once again taken by her beauty, and moved by her poverty, he encourages her to dine with him, where, over sirloin and asparagus, he persuades her to leave her sister and move in with him. To press his case, he slips Carrie two ten dollar bills, opening a vista of material possibilities to her. The next day, he rebuffs her feeble attempts to return the money, taking her shopping at a Chicago department store and securing a jacket she covets and some shoes. That night, she writes a good-bye note to Minnie and moves in with Drouet.
Drouet installs her in a much larger apartment, and their relationship intensifies as Minnie dreams about her sister's fall from innocence. She acquires a sophisticated wardrobe and, through his offhand comments about attractive women, sheds her provincial mannerisms, even as she struggles with the moral implications of being a kept woman. By the time Drouet introduces Carrie to George Hurstwood, the manager of Fitzgerald and Moy's – a respectable bar that Drouet describes as a "way-up, swell place" – her material appearance has improved considerably. Hurstwood, unhappy with and distant from his social-climbing wife and children, instantly becomes infatuated with Carrie’s youth and beauty, and before long they start an affair, communicating and meeting secretly in the expanding, anonymous city.
One night, Drouet casually agrees to find an actress to play a key role in an amateur theatrical presentation of Augustin Daly’s melodrama, “Under the Gaslight,” for his local chapter of the Elks
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is an American fraternal order and social club founded in 1868...
. Upon returning home to Carrie, he encourages her to take the part of the heroine, Laura. Unknown to Drouet, Carrie long has harbored theatrical ambitions and has a natural aptitude for imitation and expressing pathos
Pathos
Pathos represents an appeal to the audience's emotions. Pathos is a communication technique used most often in rhetoric , and in literature, film and other narrative art....
. The night of the production – which Hurstwood attends at Drouet’s invitation – both men are moved to even greater displays of affection by Carrie’s stunning performance.
The next day, the affair is uncovered: Drouet discovers he has been cuckolded, Carrie learns that Hurstwood is married, and Hurstwood’s wife, Julia, learns from an acquaintance that Hurstwood has been out driving with another woman and deliberately excluded her from the Elks theatre night. After a night of drinking, and despairing at his wife’s financial demands and Carrie’s rejection, Hurstwood stumbles upon a large amount of cash in the unlocked safe in Fitzgerald and Moy's offices. In a moment of poor judgment, he succumbs to the temptation to embezzle a large sum of money. Under the pretext of Drouet’s sudden illness, he lures Carrie onto a train and escapes with her to Canada. Once they arrive in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Hurstwood’s guilty conscience – and a private eye – induce him to return most of the stolen funds, but he realizes that he cannot return to Chicago. Hurstwood mollifies Carrie by agreeing to marry her, and the couple move to New York City.
In New York, Hurstwood and Carrie rent a flat where they live as George and Carrie Wheeler. Hurstwood buys a minority interest in a saloon and, at first, is able to provide Carrie with a satisfactory – if not lavish – standard of living. The couple grow distant, however, as Hurstwood abandons any pretense of fine manners toward Carrie, and she realizes that Hurstwood no longer is the suave, powerful manager of his Chicago days. Carrie’s dissatisfaction only increases when she meets Robert Ames, a bright young scholar from Indiana and her neighbor’s cousin, who introduces her to the idea that great art, rather than showy materialism, is worthy of admiration.
After only a few years, the saloon’s landlord sells the property and Hurstwood’s business partner expresses his intent to terminate the partnership. Too arrogant to accept most of the job opportunities available to him, Hurstwood soon discovers that his savings are running out and urges Carrie to economize, which she finds humiliating and distasteful. As Hurstwood lounges about, overwhelmed by apathy and foolishly gambling away most of his savings, Carrie turns to New York’s theatres for employment and becomes a chorus girl. Once again, her aptitude for theatre serves her well, and, as the rapidly aging Hurstwood declines into obscurity, Carrie begins to rise from chorus girl to small speaking roles, and establishes a friendship with another chorus girl, Lola Osborne, who begins to urge Carrie to move in with her. In a final attempt to prove himself useful, Hurstwood becomes a scab
Strikebreaker
A strikebreaker is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who are not employed by the company prior to the trade union dispute, but rather hired prior to or during the strike to keep the organisation running...
driving a Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
streetcar
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
during a streetcar operator’s strike. His ill-fated venture, which lasts only two days, prompts Carrie to leave him; in her farewell note, she encloses twenty dollars.
Hurstwood ultimately joins the homeless of New York, taking odd jobs, falling ill with pneumonia, and finally becoming a beggar. Reduced to standing in line for bread and charity, he commits suicide in a flophouse
Flophouse
A flophouse , doss-house or dosshouse is a place that offers very cheap lodging, generally by providing only minimal services.-Characteristics:...
. Meanwhile, Carrie achieves stardom, but finds that money and fame do not satisfy her longings or bring her happiness and that nothing will.
Characters
- Caroline Meeber, a.k.a. Carrie, a young woman from rural Wisconsin; the protagonist.
- Minnie Hanson, Carrie's dour elder sister who lives in Chicago and puts her up on arrival.
- Sven Hanson, Minnie's husband, of Swedish extraction and taciturn temperament.
- Charles H. Drouet, a buoyant traveling salesman Carrie meets on the train to Chicago.
- George W. Hurstwood, a well-to-do, sophisticated man who manages Fitzgerald and Moy's resort.
- Julia Hurstwood, George's strong-willed, social-climbing wife.
- Jessica Hurstwood, George and Julia's daughter, who shares her mother's aspirations to social status.
- George Hurstwood, Jr, George and Julia's son.
- The Vances, a wealthy merchant and his wife, who live in the same building as Hurstwood and Carrie in New York City.
- Robert Ames, Mrs. Vance's cousin from Indiana, a handsome young scholar whom Carrie regards as a male ideal.
- Lola Osborne, a chorus girl Carrie meets during a theatre production in New York, who encourages Carrie to become her roommate.
Publication history and response
At the urging of his journalist friend Arthur Henry, Dreiser began writing his manuscript in 1899. He frequently gave up on it but Henry urged him to continue. From the outset, his title was Sister Carrie, though he changed it to The Flesh and the Spirit while writing it; he restored the original name once complete.Dreiser had difficulty finding a publisher for Sister Carrie. Doubleday & McClure Company accepted the manuscript for publication but it was withdrawn after the publisher's wife declared it too sordid. Dreiser insisted on publication and 1,008 copies were printed on November 8, 1900. The book was not advertised and only 456 copies sold. However, Frank Norris
Frank Norris
Benjamin Franklin Norris, Jr. was an American novelist, during the Progressive Era, writing predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include McTeague , The Octopus: A Story of California , and The Pit .-Life:Frank Norris was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1870...
, who was working as a reader at Doubleday, sent a few copies to literary reviewers.
Between 1900 and 1980, all editions of the novel were of a second altered version. Not until 1981 did Dreiser's unaltered version appear when the University of Pennsylvania Press issued a scholarly edition based upon the original manuscript held by The New York Public Library. It is a reconstruction by a team of leading scholars to represent the novel before it was edited by hands other than Dreiser's.
In his Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
Lecture of 1930, Sinclair Lewis
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of...
said that "Dreiser's great first novel, Sister Carrie, which he dared to publish thirty long years ago and which I read twenty-five years ago, came to housebound and airless America like a great free Western wind, and to our stuffy domesticity gave us the first fresh air since Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
and Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
".
In 1998, the Modern Library
Modern Library
The Modern Library is a publishing company. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, it was purchased in 1925 by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer...
ranked Sister Carrie 33rd on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
General reception
Theodore Dreiser is considered one of America’s greatest naturalists, notable because he was part of the early stages of the naturalist movement. Sister Carrie was a movement away from the emphasis on morals of the Victorian era and focused more on realism and the base instincts of humans.Sister Carrie went against social norms of the time with its supposed immorality, as Dreiser presented his characters without judging them. Dreiser fought against censorship of Sister Carrie, a main issue being that the titular character engaged in affairs and other “illicit sexual relationships” without suffering any consequences. This flouted the norm of the time that should a character practice such sinful behavior, they must be punished in some way throughout the course of the plot in order to teach a lesson.
Dreiser has often been critiqued for his writing style. In 1930 Arnold Bennett said, “Dreiser simply does not know how to write, never did know, never wanted to know.” Other critics called his style “vulgar,” “uneven,” “clumsy,” “awkward,” and “careless.” His plotlines were also decried as unimaginative, critics citing his lack of education and claiming that he lacked intellectualism.
However, Alfred Kazin—though criticizing Dreiser’s style—pointed out that Dreiser’s novels had survived through the ages and remained influential works (Lydon). Michael Lydon, in defense of Dreiser, claims that his patience and powers of observation created accurate depictions of the urban world and the desires and ambitions of the people of the time. Lydon said that Dreiser’s intent was to focus on the message of Sister Carrie, not on its writing style.
Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie was not widely accepted after it was published, although it was not completely withdrawn by its publishers, as some sources say it was. Neither was it received with the harshness that Dreiser reported. For example, the Toledo Blade reported that the book “is a faithful portraiture of the conditions it represents, showing how the tangle of human life is knotted thread by thread” but that it was “too realistic, too somber to be altogether pleasing”. This review shows an example of an average review of Sister Carrie at the time it was released, and even though there were some completely negative harsh reviews, they were not many in number. This shows us that Dreiser was his own worst critic, exaggerating the negative report about his book to one of complete rejection. There is also the receipt of sale that was sent to Dreiser that shows that Sister Carrie was not withdrawn off of the shelves. This report from DoubleDay, the publishing company, reports that 456 copies of the 1,008 copies printed were sold. This evidence dispels the rumors that all copies of Sister Carrie were pulled off the shelf right after their release.
Sister Carrie evoked many different responses from the critics, and although the book did not sell well among the general public, it often received positive reviews. Part of the reason for its lack of sales came from a conflict between Dreiser and his publishers, who did little to promote the book. Despite this lack of promotion, many critics did praise the book, and a large number of them seemed most affected by the character of Hurstwood, such as the New Haven Journal Courier, which proclaimed, “One of the most affecting passages is where Hurstwood falls, ruined, disgraced”. Edna Kenton in the Chicago Daily News said in 1900 that Sister Carrie is “well worth reading simply for this account of Hurstwood”.
Another common praise among reviews was for the novel’s realistic depiction of the human condition. A 1901 review in the Academy said that Sister Carrie was “absolutely free from the slightest trace of sentimentality or pettiness, and dominated everywhere by a serious and strenuous desire for truth”. The London Express claimed that this realism is what makes the book appealing: “It is a cruel, merciless story, intensely clever in its realism, and one that will remain impressed in the memory of the reader for many a long day”. The novel has also been praised for its accurate depiction of the protests in New York and the city life in Chicago.
There was a fair amount of negative response to the novel as well, arising largely from the book’s sexual content, which made Sister Carrie, in the words of the Omaha Daily Bee in 1900, “not a book to be put into the hands of every reader indiscriminately”. Another review in Life criticized Carrie’s success, and warned “Such girls, however, as imagine that they can follow in her footsteps will probably end their days on the Island or in the gutter”. The book was also criticized for never mentioning the name of God .
There was also a large amount of criticism for the title of the novel, which, several critics complained, makes the book sound as if the main character is a nun. The title of the book is considered by the Newark Sunday News to be the “weakest thing about the book” because it “does not bear the faintest relation to the story” Similarly, Frederic Taber Cooper in the Bookman declared it to be a “colourless and misleading title” (26). Other common complaints were over the length of the book and the fact that it is so depressing that it makes it unpleasant to read. Overall, Sister Carrie was not well received when it was first released due to its scandalous content and its bleak outlook on life and human efforts to change their condition.
Theodore Dreiser encountered both criticism and praise of his unique literary style. While some viewed his work as grammatically and syntactically inaccurate, others found his detailed storytelling intriguing. An avid supporter and friend, H.L. Mencken referred to Dreiser as “a man of large originality, of profound feeling, and of unshakable courage”. Mencken believed that Dreiser’s raw, honest portrayal of Carrie’s life should be seen as a courageous attempt to give the reader a realistic view of the life of women in the nineteenth century.
In opposition, one critic, Karl F. Zender, argued that Dreiser’s stress on circumstance over character was “adequate neither to the artistic power nor to the culture implications of Sister Carrie”. Many found Dreiser’s work attractive due to his lenient “moralistic judgments” and the “spacious compassion” in which he viewed his character’s actions. This toleration of immorality was an entirely new idea for the readers of Dreiser’s era. In fact, the novel and its modern ideas on morality helped to produce an untitled movement in which the literary generation of its time was found “detaching itself from its predecessor”. Yet there still remained some who disapproved of Dreiser’s immoral, atypical story line. David E. E. Sloan argued that Dreiser’s novel undermines the general consensus that hard work and virtue bring about success in life.
Though Dreiser has been criticized for his writing style and lack of formal education, Sister Carrie survived over a century and remains to this day an influential example of naturalism and realism. While it initially did not sell well at all (under 500 copies) and battled censorship after being deemed amoral, it is now considered one of the greatest American urban novels, and explores the gritty details of human nature, as well as how the process of industrialization affected the American people.
Film adaptation
Laurence OlivierLaurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
and Jennifer Jones starred in the 1952 film version, Carrie
Carrie (1952 film)
Carrie is a 1952 feature film based on the novel Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser.Directed by William Wyler, the film stars Jennifer Jones in the title role and Laurence Olivier as Hurstwood. Carrie received two Academy Award Nominations: Costume Design, and Best Art Direction...
, directed by William Wyler
William Wyler
William Wyler was a leading American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.Notable works included Ben-Hur , The Best Years of Our Lives , and Mrs. Miniver , all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture...
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External links
Sources- Sister Carrie, restored text, 1981 Pennsylvania Edition. A reconstruction by leading scholars to represent the novel before it was edited by hands other than Dreiser's. Online edition, for print edition see "Sources" in "Bibliography" above. Plain text.
- Sister Carrie, available at Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
. Scanned illustrated original edition books. - Sister Carrie, available at The Online Books Page. HTML web and other formats and editions.
- Sister Carrie. Both Chinese and English ebook in HTML format.
Commentary
- Sister Carrie from the Dreiser Web Source. Commentary from the authors of the University of Pennsylvania edition (see Bibliography sources above).
- Shawcross, Nancy M. "Sister Carrie: 'A Strangely Strong Novel in a Queer Milieu". A virtual exhibition.
- "Why did they ever ban a book this bad?", by Garrison KeillorGarrison KeillorGary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...
, Salon Magazine, October 13, 1997.