At the beginning, it ‘s of importance to specify what naturalism is. As a affair of fact, that ‘s a troublesome inquiry, for there are assorted sentiments and consistent arguments about it. In my paper, I tend to specify naturalism as a particular originative current of idea which emerged in 1890s and came to a dominant place in 1900s in Europe and America. It originated in France in 1850s, represented by Zola. As the most influential realistic author in Europe, Zola declared in his celebrated The Experimental Novel that he wrote approximately life as it was lived in slums, that is, he aimed to show a true to life image in forepart of his reader. This bolder manner to depict worlds shortly caught the attending of many immature authors in America who found that Howells an pragmatism was to fennel and keep to picture the seamy facts in America society and discovered in Zola an effectual and new manner to depict the horrid side of America life. Against such a literary background, naturalism came into being in America. It is characterized by its great accent on fidelity and truthfulness in the authorship procedure, the starkest advocating of environment and heredity as those of import deterministic forces determining the destinies of persons, the amoral attitude towards the stuffs, pessimistic determinism, every bit good as its emphasis on the carnal side of human nature. The whole image depicted in realistic woks is dark and grave, and the general tone is incapacitated and pessimistic. Writers belongs to this genre, like Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, and Theodore Dreiser, tend to picture with fidelity and objectiveness the insignificance of human existences in a cold, apathetic jungle-like circumstance, the cryptic opportunities imposed upon adult male ‘s destiny, the brutalizing and oppressing forces of environment and heredity. The characters in their authorship are insect-like animate beings, devoid of moral consciousness, which are subjected to the mighty and cryptic forcesi??especially these of circumstance and unconditioned disposition. [ 1 ] Among those realistic plants, Dreiser ‘s Sister Carrie is good known as the 1 in which naturalism attained adulthood in America.

This thesis taking Sister Carrie as an illustration, attempts to analyze it from realistic point of position and explicate how environmental factors and heredity factors influence the hero and heroine ‘s destiny. Besides that, since it ‘s good understood that naturalism has several restrictions, the thesis aims to discourse naturalism in Sister Carrie with critical eyes, knocking pessimistic determinism and the construct of human animal as reflected in the novel. And states briefly the realistic significance of the paper that is under nowadays market economic chances and stylish, glamourous urban life, they move from the developing parts to the comfortable city. Some of them are led by their insatiate desir for material goods on bend to dishonest, illegl ways. They pessimistically complain about the deterministic consequence of degrading environmental and demeaning familial factors upon their destinies, and blam the amoral, apathetic attitude the society takes on their moral debasement. In fact one should non be so pessimistic: all of people must dignity and assurance and battle against for altering the inauspicious environmental factors and familial factors. Therefore, everybody can be a new adult male and the maestro of one ‘s destiny.

2. Naturalistic Environmental Factor for Carrie

One outstanding characteristic of naturalism is its emphasis on the influence of environment upon adult male ‘s destiny. Harmonizing to naturalism, adult male is a incapacitated pawn, at the clemency of the surrounding. For case, in Janie Gerhardt, a fresh written in 1911 and wildly considered as the twin sister of Sister Carrie, Dreiser has his wealthy and apparently inviolable hero-Lester declare those words, “ all of us are more or less pawns. We ‘re moved about like chess piece by circumstance over which we have no control ” . [ 2 ] This celebrated dictum is frequently regarded as the philosophical centre of naturalism, depicting the deterministic consequence of environmental factors. Most realistic novels depict in item the oppressing consequence of environment upon persons. However, in Sister Carrie, the environment, alternatively of oppressing Carrie down, even contributes to her rise.

2.1 The Living Environmental Factorsi??Luring Cities

Naturalism attaches great accent on one ‘s life environment, believing that one ‘s life environment influences one ‘s destiny tremendously. Therefore, the paper starts with discoursing the important function played by cities in Carrie ‘s lifting journey.

Cities, with their glittering theaters, enforcing hotels and deluxe eating houses, together with the wealthy in their stylish dress, represent the walled and glided metropolis to which Carrie seeks entryway. Described as the “ Elf — land ” , “ dream land ” , or “ the land of illustriousness ” [ 3 ] in the novel, they have been enticing a immense figure of dream-makers to pour in by assuring to fulfill those dreamers, every desire for wealth, for position, for influence. Carrie is merely one of them. Populating in the capturing metropolis, a materialist in the nucleus, she ca n’t get away the consistent seduction from the superhuman tempter, and is lead in consistent chase of her quenchless desire for perfect felicity. On the other manus, cities are so the natural and idealised home grounds for Carrie, for merely in those amusive and magnetising critics can she fulfill at least temporarily her insatiate desire for pleasance and expose her particular theatrical endowment. To be certain, large metropoliss, such as Chicago and New York, offer the needful environment for Carrie ‘s rise.

Chicago is the first metropolis that forms a suited life environment, necessary for Carrie ‘s rise. At the clip when the novel was written, it was the vivacious centre of concern, where the promise of lucks to be made hung in the air. To these green custodies and the countrified, the large metropolis is a shimmering mirage of, assuring non merely economic chances but besides a glamourous, exciting, and comfy societal life. However, this is merely one side of the metropolis. The other side of it is a instead and apathetic topographic point, a unmerciful jungle-like industrial society.

Carrie is a bright and beautiful miss of 18 old ages old. She is eager to bask assorted pleasances in the life, particularly ambitious to derive stuff good being. She looks frontward to Chicago with assorted feelings of ignorance and vernal anticipation. Dreiser depicts her as “ a half-equipped small knight “ , [ 4 ] who ventures to scout the cryptic metropolis and dreams “ wild dreams of some obscure, faraway domination, which should do it prey and subjecti??the proper penitent, fawning at a adult female ‘s slipper ” [ 5 ] . At the really beginning, Carrie dreams wildly that she can once more fame and fortune and take the large metropolis in her control. But the world turns out to be rather the contrary. Alternatively of playing the function of the vanquisher of the metropolis, adult male has been traveling approximately in the jungle-like metropolis like driftwood caught in the ocean ‘s side. The imagination of the over overpowering sea, another of import symbol, serves as an indispensable portion of the jungle image, and like the symbol of the prairie, reminds us of the barbarous jungle battle for being.

Harmonizing to rules in naturalism, adult male is capable to the environment he lives in. Under the permeant influence of the metropolis ‘s hypnotic power, it ‘s natural for one to fall as an easy quarry to the capturing dark in the metropolis. It ‘s in the city, with its boundless stuff trade goods and legion entertaining ways that the desire for material goods, for immediate pleasance provides adult male with the strongest urge to move, as Carrie does in the novel.

New York is another of import life environment which is instrumental in Carrie stuff rise. As an imperial city, it is the beginning of all wealth, power and celebrity, where the enigmas and possibilities of bewilderment are infinite. Dreiser opens Chapter30. “ The land of Greatnessaˆ¦.the Pilgrim a Dream ” [ 6 ] with a brief treatment of the particular atmosphere created by the ultimate city. The high and mighty atmosphere in New York is like a chemical substance: staying in the ambiance for one twenty-four hours will wholly impact and discolor one ‘s point of position and one ‘s desire which will thenceforth stay everlastingly dyed. One twenty-four hours of it to the ne’er tried head is equated with opium to the non-smoker. As a more powerful superhuman tempter, New York ‘s dreams are more destructive because they are more distant and unachievable than Chicago ‘s. New York is a topographic point which seems to assure wealth and celebrity for those fortunate new comers, like Carrie. This side of the metropolis is resistless, while the other side of the metropolis is instead seamy topographic point which bases everything on money, visual aspect, and repute. It ‘s in such a mighty ambiance that provides the proper environment for Carrie ‘s success.

Taking two great cities for illustration, this portion discuss the consequence of Chicago ‘s hypnotic power and capturing dark and New York ‘s mighty atmosphere upon Carrie destiny: they endlessly lure her and wake up her quenchless urban life. What ‘s more, the showy theatre, as the most resistless attractive force for her in the metropolis, non merely symbolizes her never-never land and serves as a beginning of her felicity but besides provides her with an first-class topographic point to expose her endowment and makes her rise to stuff good being. In a word, the luring city provides Carrie with a suited life environment, for merely in city can she fulfill at least temporarily her quenchless desire for material goods and amusement, every bit good as show her performing endowment.

2.2 The Social Environmental Factorsi??Association with a Group of Human Tempters

Environmental factors besides contain influence from one ‘s societal association. Zola has pointed out that adult male is non an stray animal ; he lives in a society, therefore the societal environment, like the life environment, besides plays decisive function in one ‘s destiny. In other words, the ubiquitous societal environment decidedly influences one ‘s value system and stimulates one to prosecute a certain sort of success. For case, Carrie ‘s association with a group of materialists helps her to accommodate to the cosmopolite environment rapidly and has her quenchless desire for wealth, for celebrity farther stirred up.

First, instructions on apparels and manners acquired from of a going salesman, eliciting Carrie ‘s desire by whispering besides her ear like the evil snake in the Garden of Eden. He describes the large metropolis as a huge section shop with legion intriguing goods, and his ain visual aspect affects Carrie as a sort of advertizement: the conceited bag, the glistening sunburn places, the smart suit, and the air with which he does things, construct up for her a subdued universe of wealth, of which he is the centre. On the train to Chicago, Carrie is instantly attracted by the drummer ‘s dashing garb and elegant visual aspect, which causes her to analyze her ain and is acutely witting of the lack of her ain apparels: the seediness of the frock and the worn province of her places. Bear in head, Carrie ‘s acute involvement in attractive apparels and the lack of her ain is an built-in and indispensable portion of the future result of the novel. Much of her narrative is presented in footings of the apparels she acquires. Apparels, normally considered as an index of gustatory sensation and societal place, for Carrie, have turned into a naif but urging desire for that which is elegant and pleasing in life. They besides constitute a well-understand linguistic communication of society, which indicates clearly one ‘s position and wealth. To larn this linguistic communication good, she becomes a willing pupil of her lover Drouet.

As a bang-up salesman qui vive to any differentiations in frock, Drouet regards good apparels as the first indispensable thing, things without which he is nil. Populating together influenced by Drouet ‘s doctrine about apparels. Besides teaching Carrie in footings of apparels, Drouet besides voluntarily assumes the function of he wise man in manners, and above all, make her aware of herself as an attractive adult female. After a long clip, she has become a miss of considerable gustatory sensations. Therefore when Hurstwood meets Carrie in her level with Drouet, he finds a reasonably, graceful immature lady who is much more refined than the provincial Carrie to whom Drouet has foremost spoken on the train. Hurstwood instantly develops an involvement in Carrie, at the same clip ; [ 7 ] she one time once more falls as an easy quarry to Hurstwood ‘s rich dress and ingratiating mode. She ca n’t assist but in secret compare those small inside informations, such as the dull radiance of Hurstwood ‘s glistening patent leather places, and she prefers the soft rich leather. This small episode indicates that Carrie has already grasped the category linguistic communication of apparels.

In the city, apparels and manners are marks of wealth, power, and position, and bit by bit Carrie grows more and more fluent in the metropolis ‘s linguistic communication. To set it short, her association with the bang-up salesman improves her gustatory sensation and instructs her to accommodate to the metropolitan environment.

Summary, Carrie ‘s lovers and neighbours in the city who work as the representatives for the seductive societal environment alteration her from an guiltless state girl into a smart and experient metropolis beauty. The association forms a needful societal environment, which non merely stimulates systematically but insatiate desire for a higher material enjoyment, but besides consciously and unconsciously helps her to accommodate to the metropolisi??her thought home ground.

2.3 Cryptic Manipulation of Opportunities

Therefore Dreiser was one time a strenuous pupil in reading woks written by Herbert Spencer, Charles Darwin, Balzac, and Hardy, from whom he comes to explicate his ain doctrine, that is, adult male is simply a alone atom like substance drown or blown here and at that place by mighty and cryptic forces which are perfectly beyond his control. He formulates his beliefs that human morality and motive are based on physiological and sociological desires and that the lone discernable Torahs are those of opportunity and opportunity. He farther widens his cognition on one ‘s destiny by accepting Spencer ‘s Principle of Unknowable: Life is bare incomprehensible, improbably accidental-luck or catastrophe, and the rise and autumn of single is capable to the cryptic, natural forces out of adult male ‘s control. From Balzac, Dreiser finds more sympathy on the working of cryptic opportunities, for Balzac declares in his plants that those hold oning, avaricious people ‘s destiny are determined by the die of opportunity: some, through a shot of luck, rise above the norm, While the others, beaten by lay waste toing opportunity, autumn, but all are hungry for the same glittering awards in life-wealth, celebrity and place. Here the die of opportunity is pull stringsing in great consequence by determining the inevitable rise of Carrie in the large metropoliss.

In short, Carrie ‘s success is, to a great extent, due to the cryptic use of opportunity. Thomas P. Riggio explains how Carrie raises to fame and fortune in his essay ” Carrie ‘s blues ” , like this: She rises “ fitfully, opportunistically to the surface merely when an external healthy seems to assure fulfillment “ [ 8 ] . Here the promising external world refers tote booming city at its forming stage which worships wealth and appreciates fine-looking visual aspect. Thus it provides first-class chances for such an outstandingly beautiful miss, like Carrie to win. In the same circumstance where Carrie rises to fame and fortune, Hurstwood, beaten by a sequel of bad luck, diminutions from a well-groomed, comfortably-housed director of an expensive barroom where he frequently rubs shoulders with famous persons, to a adulterate panhandler. Hard up and depressive, he commits suicide. What makes such a immense difference between the tow lonely atoms? It ‘s the cryptic opportunity, which is non merely one outstanding characteristic of the metropolis, but besides the enticing facet of the glittering city. It ‘s in the metropolis, as an aggregative whole of atom-like subordinates, that each independent unit of force and desire either meets obstructions which ruin them, or brushs with causeless currents which help them to make their ends. Behind all those, it ‘s the consistent and cryptic working of opportunities.

3. Naturalistic Hereditary Factors for Carrie

Besides its accent on environment, naturalism is besides character by its emphasis on heredity. As the innovator of naturalism, Zola comments in The Experimental Noveli??all the motives of one ‘s actions can be traced back to one ‘s heredity. To set it in another manner, one ‘s built-in character urges one to move in a certain manner. For case, in his chef-d’oeuvre, la Fortune Des Rouge ( 1868-1893 ) , a monolithic plant comprised of 20 long novels, Zola records the brutalizing and oppressing consequence of familial factors, such as alcohol addiction, reversion, strong sexual desire, natural desire for pleasance, ECT. Upon the tragic destinies of persons. Since traits of characters determine destiny, the evil temperament decidedly leads one to devastation, and the proper disposition will impel one to win. In Carrie ‘s instance, her familial temperament — -the endowed gift for pleasance prove her to be the fit 1 in the natural choice, and contribute to her success in the city.

3.1 Endowed Gift Guaranteeing Her Success on the Phase

As far Carrie ‘s success in the theatrical field is concerned, Donald Prize poined out in his The Novel of Theodore Dreiser: a Critical Survey: the phase provides about the lone ideal mercantile establishment for the artistic disposition of a gifted and beautiful adult female. Carrie chooses to be an actress non merely because it is the most ideal calling for a beautiful adult female to lift to a celebrity and luck quickly, but due to the ground that the phase presents the best topographic point to expose her indispensable natures. [ 9 ] Here her indispensable natures contain several points, such as her outstanding beauty, emotional illustriousness and endowed gift, all of which are resulted from heredity and contribute to her glorious theatrical calling.

First of wholly, her inherited outstanding beauty contributes to her rise in the city. Besides her congenital beauty, she has, as Dreiser tell us, the unconditioned quality of emotional illustriousness, a particular quality which is the necessary foundation of the executing lies non merely in her capacity to copy beauty, but besides in her alone ability to feel beauty in the worlds of life by exercising her imaginativeness power and to pass on it to the audience through her playing. Once standing on the phase, Carrie ‘s unconditioned emotional illustriousness enables her to catch the resentment of Laura ‘s state of affairs and wraps herself with the needed climb ideas, the feeling of being outcast by the whole universe falling upon her head.

During her playing, the radiating and perforating moving ridges of acrimonious feeling and earnestness seem to interrupt against and pierce the farthest wall of the theatre chamber. The thaumaturgy of great passion which will fade out the universe is here at work. ” All the attendings are riveted on Carrie, whose innate strong imaginativeness power helps her to convey down the house during her introduction and proves the fact that she is a born actress ” [ 10 ]

What needs indicating out peculiarly is that Carrie ‘s ability to stand for desires, ” her most cherished ownership and her most marketable plus, an eminently practical and yet an about charming resort ” [ 11 ] is a gift endowed by nature. It is safe to province that judging from her outstanding familial temperament, she is the fittest, the selected one by nature, therefore she is bound to last and do a hit in the jungle-like city.

3.2 Insatiate Desire for Pleasure Serving as a Propelling Force

A critic one time claimed that, the repetitive subject of Dreiser ‘s plant was the perennial, quenchless desire. Almost all of Dreiser ‘s characters are in the clasp of insatiate desire. In 1950s, psychologist Abraham Marlowe provided a scientific account for the perennial and quenchless desire: it is a familial, a biologically determined nature of an-individual driven to seek satisfaction, a sort of self-actualization, or set it in a simple manner, the human innate desire to go more and more what one is capable of going. It depends upon an ceaseless satisfaction of demands that are hierarchal, runing from the most basic physiological demand for nutrient to a higher demand for safety, love, self-esteem, and self-fulfillment. Each satisfied demand will be replaced by a new and higher demand, doing desire insatiate. Actually, the subject of the insatiate desire is non a new find made by Dreiser.

Dating back to the ancient clip, Plato one time described adult male ‘s inability to fulfill their every desire by pulling an analogy between their endless, bottomless desire and “ a pierced vas into which H2O is poured ” [ 12 ] ; Licentious defined one ‘s desire as the thirst for life and observed that “ is long as we have non what we crave, it seems to excel all else, subsequently, when it is ours, we crave something else, and the same thirst of life besets us as of all time, open-mouthed ” [ 13 ] . The two great ancient philosophers have already pointed out the truth that adult male ‘s desire is insatiate. What makes Dreiser ‘s intervention of the ageless subject of the quenchless desire so particular is its twentieth century context-the most absorbing stage of American metropolis life around the turning of the century. Dreiser intentionally sets America at the age of its budding imperialism of the early 1900s as the capturing background in Sister Carrie where Carrie ‘s assorted desires are contextualized.

Driven by the innate desire for pleasance, Carrie can non assist but woolgather to acquire keep on what she sees as symbolically association with felicity. Carrie desire for money, repute, beauty, things non for their ain, but for pleasance they seem to afford. Meanwhile, Carrie merely wants pleasance, but she is confused about what these things might be. Bewildered, she merely associates felicity with money, celebrity, it even more intangible item-beauty. Believing in the semblance that the more she acquires those things, the happier she will be, and Carrie carries out relentless and unsighted chase of those things. Her desire for immediate pleasance works as an drift, impeling her to move. But one ‘s desire can ne’er be sufficiently and finally satisfied, for those material trade goods will instantly lose their value and attractive force every bit shortly as they are possessed, and the sense of religious fulfilment besides will shortly go through away and be replaced by a higher purpose for chase. After a period of felicity, exhilaration. And fulfillment come the inevitable feeling of taking it for granted, and so Carrie becomes ungratified and discontented once more, desire for something more.

Harmonizing to realistic rules, one ‘s character that is resulted from heredity determines their destiny. Taking Carrie for illustration, it ‘s non hard to come to the decision that her theatrical success is to a great extent due to her familial advantages. Without her nature-endowed endowment vouching her success in the phase and her quenchless desire for felicity helping as a consistent drift, she can be nil in the cold and indifferent city. Her congenital temperaments prove that she is the fit 1 in the natural choice ; therefore she is bounded to accomplish success in the jungle-like metropolis. This magnificently embodies the kernel of Social Darwinism, that is, the endurance of the fittest one through natural choice in the jungle.

4. Naturalism ‘s Limitations as Reflected in Sister Carrie

Presents, naturalism is badly criticized by bookmans both at place and aboard. In China, there are many important critics on Theodore Dreiser, such as Jiang Daochao, Fang Chen, ect. , who besides have made pertinent an in-depth reviews on the restrictions of naturalism. For illustration, they have pointed out that realistic authors worship fidelity, hence, they reproduce existent life in their plants without any choice, and that is, they record all the item of life without favoritism. Their plants frequently criticized for the overemphasis on the external visual aspect and the ignorance of the interior kernel of existent life, or in other words, they are missing in deepness. Further more, naturalism is characterized by its pessimistic determinism and its alone involvement on researching the carnal side of human nature. In the undermentioned portion, taking naturalism as it is reflected in Sister Carrie for illustration, I aim to transport out probationary critical remarks on the two points.

4.1 Critique of Pessimistic Determinism as Reflected in Sister Carrie

At the very reference of naturalism, it ‘s natural for one to tie in it with pessimistic determinism, which is a blue sentiment that adult male ‘s destiny is wholly at the clemency of environmental and familial determinism. Controlled by the two powerful forces, adult male is incapacitated and hopeless. How did pessimistic determinism come to being? There are chiefly two beginnings. First, the societal background of that specific age contributes to the formation of this pessimistic sentiment. The civil war ended in the triumph of the northern military personnels. Ever since that, Industry and commercialism developed at an unprecedented rate. American society was transforming an agricultural one to an industrial 1. With the inevitable procedure of urbanisation, a immense rural population rushed into the large metropoliss which produced the surplus of inexpensive labour forces and the high rate of unemployment.

Meanwhile, the increasing industrialisation resulted in the phenomena if societal polarisation, or extremes of wealth and poorness: on the one manus, wealth and power were more and more concentrated in the custodies of industrial giants and political figures ; on the other manus, the bulk were sing a hell-like suffering life, a survival-or-death day-to-day battle. Underneath the glistening surface of material prosperity lay the wide-spread and apparently contagious agony and sadness. Disillusionment and defeat were widely felt. The one time “ Aureate Age ” [ 14 ] turned out to be a “ Gilded ” 1. Besides that, the crisis of 1893 farther set the pessimistic tone in realistic plants.

Second, the realistic vision of adult male besides causes the coming into being of pessimistic determinism. Harmonizing to naturalism, human being is a incapacitated pawn, at the clemency of their biological and environmental determinism. He ever battles hopelessly against overpowering odds in a cold, rough and amoral environment, with his destiny predetermined by cryptic forces, which are wholly beyond his control. In forepart of the mighty force, adult male feels impotent. No affair how hard he tries, he rarely escapes his preset fate. Influenced by the pessimistic position of adult male, the images depicted in realistic plants are ever blue and the tone is inactive and pessimistic.

Dreiser ‘s Sister Carrie besides embodies the pessimistic determinism. Predetermined by environmental factors and familial factors, Carrie has become a affluent and popular actress. With her success in the theatrical universe. Carrie so enjoys a minute of felicity and satisfaction. Her one time achy appetency for stuff, societal, and artistic success is answered with dresss, passenger cars, abodes, hand clappings and reputes. But the pleasing temper shortly passes off, she rapidly feels disenchanted with those already in her manus and autumn into her accustomed melancholy once more. She feels discontented and unhappy, ever believing that the door to life ‘s perfect felicity has non unfastened to her yet.

She is lifting to the place of a esteemed star and basking a comfy being brought about her stuff profusion, but she is still experiencing unhappy. Now at the acme of her glorious theatrical calling, she tastes religious emptiness, which chiefly embodies in her disenchantment with her success. Money, apparels, and fame fail to supply the felicity that they one time promised. All these are unneeded points imbued with impossible dreams of felicity, therefore she becomes disenchanted with them. Her lifting journey to material profusion is the procedure of going disillusioned.

The city, to Carrie, has become a socially cold topographic point: although there are many alleged friends around her who will present complimentary comments on her success, she finds there is no warm, echt friendly relationship behind of the easy gaiety with which those affably approach her. All seem to progress and seek their ain pleasance, irrespective of the possible sad effect to her. Therefore, she shortly with draws from the accompany of those selfish chap and seldom goes out with them, which makes her go the apathetic and cryptic figure in the populace ‘s eyes and stirs up more of their involvement to near her. Actually she feels instead alone inside, and ever senses that she is deserted in a loveless, cold society. In footings of money, she finds to her great disappoint the fact that although its non necessary to utilize her 150 dollars per hebdomad wage to keep her present comfy life, the amount is far from adequate for her to populate a epicurean life as other affluent people do. If she wants to form her life in the same glorious manner, she must hold much more money. Her determination is to get down salvaging her money in the bank, and this makes her experience her wage which one time seemed to be a deluxe sum trivial. She becomes disillusioned with the power of money.

Dreiser summarizes Carrie ‘s letdown with her success about the terminal of the novel: ” now to Carrie, Chicago and New York-the universe of manner and the universe of the phase are nil but disenchanted dreams. What she is hankering for is non them, but what they represent, but clip has proved that their represent, but clip has proved that their representative is an semblance and false. Carrie has everything, yet she has nothingaˆ¦aˆ¦ . “ [ 15 ]

After reading the novel, I have been inquiring the inquiries: is one ‘s destiny perfectly determined by environment and heredity? Does one truly hold no power to alter one ‘s destiny? First of all, by analyzing Carrie ‘s destiny, we must acknowledge the fact that environmental and heredity factors so play decisive and indispensable portion in one ‘s destiny: the advantageous environmental factors and familial factors will doubtless lend to one ‘s success, while as the inauspicious environmental factors and familial factors will impede one ‘s development. To set it in other ways, confront with the malicious environmental factors and familial factors, adult male can still exercise his free will to get the better of those inauspicious factors and alter his destiny. Bearing the belief in head, we should non be pessimistic ; alternatively, we should follow an active an optimistic attitude towards our life and battle for a better hereafter.

4.2 Critique of the Concept of Human Beast as Reflected in Sister Carrie

Naturalistic plants frequently explore to great length the carnal side of human nature, sing human being to be a unusual combination of human ground and human animal. First, it ‘s necessary to race the beginning of the construct of human animal, influenced by Darwin ‘s theories, the British philosopher and sociologist-Herbert Spenser applied these nomenclatures, such as “ version ” , ” natural choice ” , “ the endurance of the fittest ” to warrant some societal current of idea known as Social Darwinism. In it, Spenser acclaimed that human society was non the working out of a Godhead program, about American had ever believed. It was a Rn procedure dominated by the fiercest or luckiest rivals. He justified the most natural phenomena the society must purge itself of “ its unhealthy, imbecilic, slow, hovering, traitorous members ” ( Brooks 775 ) , or in other words, the unfit, the weak will be crushed down. Furthermore, he announced that our human society really profit from the riddance of the unfit and the endurance of the strong and talented. The ferocious competition among work forces in commercial society was really similar to the rough battle for being between species, and the development of society was considered to be the consequence of free competitions among work forces.

Dreiser ‘s Sister Carrie besides explores the construct of human animal at length. For case, at the really beginning of Chapter8, there is a great auctorial remark which focuses on saying Dreiser ‘s chief philosophical thought and is frequently considered as his realistic pronunciamento by critics. Several sentences in the remark merit our careful speculation: ” In Carrie-as in how many of our dictions do they non? -Instinct and ground, desire and apprehension, were at war for the command. She follows whither her carving lead. She was a yet more drawn than she drew ” [ 16 ] . The sentence “ as in how many of our dictions do they non? ” non merely show the readers with the innuendo that everyone will make so without exclusion. In sums to state us that confronting the same circumstance, no affair who you are, you will do the similar pick as Carrie does, for to follow the carving is in conformity with our animalistic inherent aptitude. As Dreiser learns from Spenserian evolutionary theory, adult male, at the really phase of the development is a “ Manichaean animal ” [ 17 ] , that is, adult male is a unusual combination of human round and human ground. Within him there are tow frailties, inherent aptitude and ground, contending for laterality. At the early phase of evolutionistic frequently gets the upper manus and dominates adult male ‘s actions. The insect-like animal resounds instinctively to life because of his carnal heritage, at the same clip ; he is to same extent capable of utilizing his undeveloped rational proprietor. In Carrie ‘s instance, since she is more emotional than rational, her every action is more frequently than non motivated by her natural desires, which offers an apology for Carries apparently immoral life with Drouet in Chicago and Hustwood in New York. The two work forces represent at certain point the rich, gay urban life which Carries powerful imaginativeness has pictured out, and they supply shelter, nutrient and apparels, every bit good as grasp for her budding acting ability and a certain sum of love. Further more, they are “ on a degree commensurate with her craving for pleasance, ” that is, they are instrumental in her yearning for pleasance, therefore when Carrie is faced with the force per unit areas of want she accepts without much vacillation to populate with Drouet, so with Hurstwood, from whom she so finds her desire comfort and haziness for a certain clip. The quoted sentence frees Carrie from taking moral duty for her action by proposing that non merely Carrie but most work forces at this phase of evolutionary development are dominated by natural desires and are more led instead than taking. In a word, the realistic pronunciamento of human animal is purposefully used here to support Carrie ‘s amoral actions.

In my ain position, I do n’t hold with realistic construct that adult male is a beast-like animal, I believe that as the leader of all the animals in the nature, adult male has cardinal difference from animate beings, because of their intelligence and saneness. We should take duty for our every action. if adult male is brutalized, their saneness will besides be extinguished and their intelligence will be applied for war, secret plan, slaughter and greed. Furthermore, if adult male ‘s ferociousness combines with their intelligence, it will ensue in even more atrocious effects, for case, we should ne’er bury how 6 million guiltless people were slaughtered in German concentration cantonments merely because they were Jews ; We ca n’t bury what the Japanese did the Chinese during the 2nd universe war because they believed that they were the higher-ups race in Asian. Therefore, the construct of human animal should non be justified, or it will convey about the devolution of human existences and cause harm for the development of human society.

5. Decision

The thesis has made a probationary survey on assorted factors, particularly these of environmental factors and familial factors finding Carrie ‘s destiny and criticized naturalism ‘s restrictions as they are reflected in Sister Carrie. By using these of import societal currents of ideas, such as Naturalism and Social Darwinism to explicate Carrie ‘s destiny, the paper points out the environment and heredity have played indispensable and decisive functions in one ‘s life. But naturalism besides has its restrictions, such as pessimistic determinism and the construct of human animal. By knocking pessimistic determinism as reflected in the novel, the paper points out that we should non be so pessimistic. Confronting the annihilating environmental factors and familial factors, we can exercise the bravery, the intelligence and the doggedness to get the better of troubles and change those disadvantageous factors into favourable 1s. In add-on, the paper besides points out that the construct of human best should non be justified and the confining and modulating consequence of morality should non be neglected, otherwise our human society will turn into a helter-skelter jungle-like topographic point.

At present, our state is undergoing the ineluctable procedure of industrialisation and urbanisation. With such procedure on the manner, a immense population is hotfooting from little towns into the large metropoliss. For illustration, every twelvemonth, legion people in the relatively less developed parts, such as Sichuan, Hunan are hotfooting into those comfortable cities like Shanghai, Guangzhou to seek support and chances to do luck. Among the emigres, there are legion Carrie-like immature females who cherish the cosmopolitan desire for stuff wellbeing ca n’t get away the enticement of the city. Like the early twenty-four hours ‘s Carrie, they consider the accretion of money as their exclusive purpose in life, and carry out repetitive and unsighted chase of it. Some of them, trusting on certain environmental or familial advantages, achieve alleged success in the metropolis. But they shortly feel discontented and ca n’t disregard an unexplainable sense of emptiness and solitariness that is the disenchantment after their stuff success, for the money-oriented universe is a desire of love, where 1 ‘s chase for felicity is ever in vain. Others, entrapped in overtly and tempted by the comfortable metropolis life, turn to dishonest ways to hold their desire for material goods satisfied.

By analyzing naturalism in Sister Carrie, one can knock its restrictions and happen solution to those cosmopolitan societal jobs so as to supply some valuable experience for our socialistic buildings: the young person should be self-respected, self-assured and self-dependent and seek to get the better of the disadvantageous environmental factors and familial factors being the maestro of one ‘s ain destiny. This is the realistic significance of my paper which explains why modern-day people still like to read Sister Carrie, which was written over a century ago, and invariably appreciated by critics in other new positions and endowed with new intensions.

Notes

[ 1 ] Chang Yaoxin. A Survey of American Literature [ M ] . Nanking: Nankai University

Imperativeness, 2002: p.197-p.217.

[ 2 ] [ 16 ] Donald Pizer, The Novel of Theodore Dreiser [ M ] . New York: University of

Cambridge Press, 1976: p.382, p.56.

[ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 10 ] [ 12 ] [ 15 ] Dreiser, Theodore. Sister Carrie [ M ] . New York: Oxford

University Press,1991: p.25, p.254, p.59, p.35, p.241, p.127, p.391, p.37, p.431.

[ 9 ] P.Riggio, Thomas. Carrie, Blues [ M ] . London: Cambridge University Press,1991: 37.

[ 11 ] Hochman, Barward of Representation in Sister Carrie [ M ] . Cambridge University

Imperativeness, 1991: p. 55.

[ 17 ] Books, C. American Literature: The Makes and Making [ M ] . New York: St, Matins ‘

Print, 1973: 775.