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A PORTRAIT OF AMERICAN URBAN LIFE

IN THE LATE 19

TH

CENTURY

AS SEEN THROUGH DREISER’S

SISTER CARRIE

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

SONDANG MADUMA SIMANJUNTAK

Student Number: 074214032

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

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A PORTRAIT OF AMERICAN URBAN LIFE

IN THE LATE 19

TH

CENTURY

AS SEEN THROUGH DREISER’S

SISTER CARRIE

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

SONDANG MADUMA SIMANJUNTAK

Student Number: 074214032

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

iii 

iv 

THIS UNDERGRADUATE

THESIS IS DEDICATED

TO THE LORD JESUS

CHRIST, MYFAMILY,

AND ALL PEOPLE IN MY

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly, I would like to thank my Lord,Jesus Christ, for all His blessings in my life. I know that He always guides me to face anything in my life. Without His help, it is impossible for me to finish this thesis.

Also, I would like to thank my advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum.who gave me a lot of advice in writing this thesis. I also thank her for the time and the patience in giving me the guidance to make this study better.

In this chance, I also thank my co-advisor, Modesta Luluk Artika W., S.S. for her guidance after reading my thesis. I also thank her for her time and her guidance to lead me to finish this thesis.

I want to express my thanks to my family, my father, my mother, my sisters, and my brother. I thank them for theirprayers, supports and love in my life. I thank them for loving me even though I often make them all disappointed.I thank them for the supports when I was down and the patience when I gave negative responses to all of them.

I also want to thank all of English Letters’ lecturerswho taught me in the last four years in Sanata Dharma University. I thank them for all of their knowledge that theyhad given for me.

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always brings cakesto the class and becomes a solution for our hunger. I thank them so much.

The last but not least, I would like to thank my friends from Sekar Jepun Community. I thank them for being my friends when I was down and for practicing dance together to entertain and to relax my mind from my entireburden. I thank them for the supports and the prayers for me.

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LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH………. v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………..vi

C. Objectiveof the Study………. 4

D. Definitionof Terms……….. 4

CHAPTER II : THEORETICAL REVIEW……….. 6

A. Review on Related Studies……….. 6

B. Reviewon Related Theories………9

1. Theory of Setting………... 9

2. Theory of the Relation between Literature and Society……… 11

C. Review on the Condition of American Urban Life in the late 19th century………. 12

A. The Setting Described in Sister Carrie………. 21

1. Place………... 21

2. Time………... 26

3. Social Circumstances………. 27

B. The American Urban Life in the Late Nineteenth Century………. 34

CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION……… 47

BIBLIOGRAPHY……….. 50

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ABSTRACT

SONDANG MADUMA SIMANJUNTAK (2011). A Portrait of American Urban Life in the Late 19th Centuryas Seen through Dreiser’s Sister Carrie.

Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

Sister Carrie is a novel written by Theodore Dreiser which is based on his

own sister’s life.The novel talks about Carrie’s life after moving to a big city, Chicago. To guide the study, there are two questions that have to be answered which are how Dreiser describes the setting of the novel and another one is how the description of the setting portrays the American urban life in the late 1880s to 1900 especially in Chicago.

In order to answer those questions, the writer used theory of setting and the theory of relation between literature and society.The data of the study is related with history, therefore the writer use review on American urban life.Not only theories, the writer applied the socio-cultural-historical approach to analyze the novel. In collecting the data and the references, the writer used the library research method. The writer read many books as the references to know the history of America and the real condition of the urban society.

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ABSTRAK

SONDANG MADUMA SIMANJUNTAK (2011). A Portrait of American Urban Life in the Late 19th Century as Seen through Dreiser’s Sister Carrie.

Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

Sister Carrieadalah sebuah novel yang ditulis oleh Theodore Dreiser

berdasarkan kehidupan nyata saudarinya. Novel ini bercerita tentang kehidupan Carrie setelah ia pindah ke sebuah kota, Chicago. Sehubungan dengan penelitian ini, penulis telah memformulasikan dua pertanyaan yaitubagaimana Dreiser menjabarkan pelataran cerita dan bagaimana penjabaran pelataran cerita tersebut menggambarkan kehidupan masyarakat kota di Amerika pada akhir tahun 1880-an sampai tahun 1900.

Untuk menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan tersebut penulis menggunakan teori pelataran dan teori hubungan sastra dan masyarakat. Data-data yang diperoleh berkaitan dengan sejarah sehingga penulis menggunakan tinjauan kehidupan kota Amerika.Penulis menerapkan pendekatan sosio-kultural-historikal.Dalam mengumpulkan data dan referensi, penulis menggunakan metode penelitian perpustakaan. Penulis membaca berbagai buku yang terkait sebagai referensi untuk mengetahui sejarah Amerika dan keadaan masyarakat perkotaan yang sesungguhnya.

1 

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A.Background of the Study

The late nineteenth century was the time when America has many transformations in his life. The most influential one was industry. Current in his book, The Essentials of American History Second Edition, states “This was most apparent in industry – in these years America became the first manufacturing nation of the world” (Current, 1972:187). The most known issue in this era was steel industry and the electricity. They produced telephones, typewriters, machines, etc. America became a country where industry grew fluently because of their sophisticated technology. America started to produce steel which was new to the world and this made America as the first country of manufacturing nation. The railroads network spread to a bigger area including village. This bigger railroads network and the use of steel made America a rich country. The industry grew fast because the transportation was available.

As the growth of the industry, American economy was also growing fast especially in the city. The development of industry in the cities made people wanted to move to the city and taking a part in the industry.

 

In this century, a lot of people move from their own town to the city. Rural people worked as farmers in their town. While when there were so many factories were built in the city, people move to the city in order to get new jobs and work at the factories. By having dream of a better work in the city, they moved to the city which was called urbanization. However, not every dream comes true. Many rural people had the same life as in the village, even worst.

Based on the fact of American society in the late nineteenth century, this thesis will discuss the picture of urban life in the late 19th century which is portrayed in Theodore Dreiser’s novel entitled Sister Carrie. Sister Carrie is Dreiser’s first novel that is based on a true story of his sister. As Rene Welleck and Austin Warren said in their book, Theory of Literature, that:

Literature may function as a source book for the history of civilization because the readers may abstract some kind social reality from it. Indeed a literature is not simply a mirror or reproduction of life, but the readers of literature may obtain a chief impression of foreign societies. The readers may assemble some social pictures of other societies from literatures (1965: 102-103).

Even though a novel is a fiction book, somehow literature could portray the situation of the society in a certain historical event and through the story the readers could see the feeling of the society in facing the event.

 

her sister who has moved there before her. Through her life, Dreiser portrays the society in the city. Carrie meets the urban society and she starts to be one of them. Carrie first meets her sister family who represent poor people who come to the city to gain a better life, and then she meets the native of the city who has lived in the city since they were born and they are represented as rich people.

Dreiser only told one person’s life in order to show the society. The whole novel is only about the main character’s life Carrie, but from her experiences in meeting a lot of people in the city could help the reader see the society. The narrator also gives a good simple narration when he tells the story.

By analyzing the setting inside this novel, the writer wants to show that

Sister Carrie is one of the novels which portrays American urban life in the late

nineteenth century especially in the Chicago. This thesis will limit the discussion on the urban life of Chicago in the year of 1800s that is portrayed in the novel. The thesis will elaborate the setting of the novel and analyze it to reveal the portrait of the real society in Chicago such their habits, the occupations, and the lifestyle of the society.

 

condition of the society through his novel by giving many details on the description of the setting. Chicago was one industrial city in America at that time. This made it as one big city with its fast development. From this discussion, the writer wants to show the life in Chicago since it became a big city in 1800s.

B.Problem Formulation

The need of thorough and good order analysis is important. Therefore, in conducting this analysis, there are two questions that can be formulated. They are: 1. How is the setting described in the novel?

2. How does the setting portray the American urban life in the late 19th century?

C.Objectives of the Study

The aim of the study is to answer both questions stated in the problem formulation. Primarily, the writer will analyze all the setting; setting of time, setting of place, and setting situation, inside the novel. Then the writer will compare the setting with the history of American urban life in the late 19th century. This step is done to answer how the setting in the novel could portray urban life in the era.

D.Definition of Terms

  1. Portrait

Meriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 10th ed. define portrait as a

pictorial representation (Mish, 1993: 908). Portrait here does not mean the real picture in a book, but portrait means the representation of the situation the imagination that the readers get through the text in the novel.

2. Urban Life

Urban Life pertains to life in cities, hence to most phenomenon associated with areas characterized by relatively great population density, heterogeneity, social and spatial mobility, segmented social relationships, finely wrought division of labor, formal social control, frequent and swift social change, and the predominance of secular values (Hoult, 1969: 340). Based on the meaning above, urban are related to urbanization, which means moving from a rural to a city. Urban life means the life of the society in the city after moving from their village.

3. Setting

  CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL REVIEW

This chapter will be divided into three parts. The first part is the review on related studies which discussed the same novel related to the writer’s topic. The second part is the review on related theories that the writer uses in the analysis. The last part is theoretical framework where the writer shows the review on both studies and theories contribute in answering the problem formulation.

A.Review on Related Studies

In this part, the writer will show other people’s study about Sister Carrie. The first is Donald Pizer. In his essay entitled New Essays on Sister Carrie, he said:

Mirroring rather than initiating: this described not only Carrie’s condition but that of the entire milieu of persons who lives reflected more nakedly than that of traditional respectable burgher families (missing from the book) the daily fluxional workings of the marketplace-the sale of manufactured objects in Drouet’s case, of entertainment enhanced by social prestige in Hurtswood’s case, and in Carrie’s as a show girl in New York, the desired image of a desirable woman she mirrors back to her insatiable audience (including, at the height of her success the audience for her published photograph-yet another mirror) (1991: 95-96).

Pizer explains that this novel, Sister Carrie, is trying to mirror the society by telling one story of a character’s life. From the story, it will not show one chacarter’s life but from this life, the character will meet many people who can show the condition of the society. Sister Carrie is mirroring the society even though it only talks about the life of Carrie but the present of other characters

 

show the real condition of the people. The story talks about the marketplace, the desire of the society, and the high prestige of the society. Dreiser wants to show the condition of the real society by telling the story of Carrie’s life. What the story shows is the mirror of the society in the reality.

Eby, in her Journal Cultural and Historical Context for Sister Carrie, states the same idea with Pizer. She said “His novel makes the volatility of the period concrete, vivid, and unforgettable by registering its effect on individual lives (http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/rbm/dreiser/schulhist.html).” She explains that Dreiser records the real condition of the society by putting all condition in the real world on Carrie’s life.

Another journal related to the novel of Sister Carrie is written by Thomas P. Riggio. He wrote Biography of Theodore Dreiser. In this journal, Riggio explain about Dreiser’s biography and also talks about some novels which is written by Dreiser. One of them is Sister Carrie. He said:

Among other sources for the novel was the story of his sister Emma's affair with L. A. Hopkins, a married man who had run off with funds embezzled from his Chicago employer. In the pages of what is now considered the first great urban novel in America, Dreiser mixed philosophical speculations about the nature of existence together with scenes that presented much of the gritty details of city life (http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/rbm/dreiser/tdbio.html).

 

Another comment is written by Herbert Leibowitz. He wrote an

Introduction of Sister Carrie. In that introduction, he discusses about Sister

Carrie’s theme and relates it with the autobiography of Dreiser and also Dreiser’s

philosophy. He stated:

For Carrie, Chicago’s Vanity Fair, with its array of showy goods, promises unimaginable satisfaction. For Dreiser -and this is the solemn major theme of Sister Carrie- money confers neither freedom nor spiritual contentment.” (2005: xvii).

Leibowitz compares the way of thinking of Carrie and Dreiser’s. From that statement, it is clear that Dreiser has different philosophy of money. Carrie has her opinion of money. She thinks that money is the point in her life. When she gets money, she can have anything and buys anything she wants. Moreover, Chicago offers her many kinds of things. There are beautiful clothes, big flats to live, and enjoying plays in the theater.

 

money. All people try to get a lot of money in their life. Most of the society has the same philosophy of money as Carrie’s, nothing is more important than money.

Different from all these studies above, the writer in this study wants to show the life of American society in the city or called American urban life. The writer will not only discuss about working class society in the city but also luxurious class in America therefore it will show the American urban life.

B.Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Setting

M.H. Abrams, in his Glossary of Literature Terms Sixth Edition, states that “The overall setting of a narrative or dramatic work is the general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occur” (1993: 192). Setting always consists of three parts. There is location or place where the action occurs. This place will show a certain point or meaning in the novel. There is also setting of time which could present the time when the action occurs. This second part will make the story clear by giving certain time in order that the reader could imagine the situation and they could differentiate the characteristics of society from one period to another period. And last, there is setting of situation which is called as social circumstances by Abrams. This usually shows the habits and the condition of the whole characters inside the novel.

The other theory of setting is stated by Hudson in his book An

Introduction to the Study of Literature. He said that:

 

novels have their value to the portrayal of the life and manners of special classes, social groups or places” (1958: 158).

From Hudson’s statement, it is clear that every element in the novel is related to one another. Setting as the society condition, could affect all of the characters. The condition of the environment and the pressure from the others could shape the characters way of thinking. This influence shows that setting is important in the novel because it affects other elements in the novel.

Elizabeth McMahan, in Literature and the Writing Process states:

The setting includes the location and time of the action in the story, novel, play, or poem. Sometimes the setting conveys an atmosphere- the emotional effect of setting and events- that contributes to the impact or the meaning of the work (1986: 81).

This statement strengthens Hudson’s statement that setting has connection with others. Setting has its own contribution in every work. The atmosphere or the condition in the novel is affected by the setting. For example, a character is in the certain time and certain place. From this place and time, there is a certain condition or situation that probably strange. In order to adapt the situation, the character has to find the solution either uses her characteristics or find another solution that could change her characteristics. In other words, setting could affect or might be changing the characteristics.

In addition, William Kenney explains some elements of setting in his book, How to Analyze Fiction. He said:

 

He adds some things into setting. Besides location and time, he adds occupations, modes, religion, moral, intellectual, social, and emotional of the characters. Kenney states all of them because they could affect the characters to be someone. He also says that setting could be inferred from character’s actions or direct narration. The usual setting that is stated in direct narration is setting of time and setting of place. However, setting of situation is also sometimes stated in the direct narration. The other situation could be found from the actions of the characters.

2. Theory of the Relation between Literature and Society

Literature has a close relation with society because literature is made by somebody as a part of the society. Literature usually also imitates the society in producing a story. Other than imitates, literature usually criticize the society by imitating the real condition of the society in certain time. Literature will always tell something about the society because society influence literature. Wellek and Warren in Theory of Literature state that:

 

and imitates some of them then put it as the background of his novel. The expression of society means that literature record some ideas from society and this also means that society’s response to the life which is elaborate by an author through his work of literature.

C. Review on the Condition of American Urban Life in the 1800s

In the late nineteenth century, America became an industrial country. The industrial centre was mostly in the city as stated by Desantis in his book, The

Shaping of Modern America: 1877-1920 Second Edition that:

The rapid and vast economic expansion of the post-Civil War years brought far-reaching social and cultural changes. Probably the most important was the transformation of the United States from a rural and agrarian nation to an urban and industrial one (1989: 97).

Therefore, a lot of people from other countries and also from the villages moved to the city in order to have a better life by working in the city. Current in his book,

The Essentials of American History Second Edition, said that “During the years of

industrial expansion the population of the United States more than doubled, increasing from about 31 million in 1860 to almost 76 million in 1900” (1972: 193). This quotation could explain that in the late nineteenth century there is the growth of the population in the United States. A lot of people move from their country to The United States because America becomes the manufacturing country.

To respond this situation, America had city planning in order to control the society and the country. This is stated by Harvey Wish in Society and Thought in

 

charters, was emerging from mere decorative “city beautiful” ideas to broad development schemes controlling traffic as well as appearance and eventually other phases of urban well-being” (1962: 275).

Lana J Hunt said “Working conditions there was undesirable and often very unfit to work in the pay was low and even lower for women and children. The hours were very long, 10-12 at the most (http://www.angelfire.com/ar3/towne victorian/middleworkingclass.html). Hunt explains the situation of working class people in America. This is the condition of having no opportunity to get a better job because of having no education and skill. The workers were forced to work in long hours with low salary.

As the growth of the industry, consumerism also grew in America. All society wanted to have a beautiful dress, a lot of goods, because as Veblen states in his book, The Theory of the Leisure Class, “With the growth of settled industry, therefore, the possession of wealth gains in relative importance and effectiveness as a customary basis of repute and esteem” (1953: 37). In that time, possession was the measure of the social status. The more goods they had, the higher their status. Most people were struggling to have many goods.

 

they were rich or not. Therefore, the consumption of clothes and goods grew rapidly.

Veblen in his book, Theory of the Leisure Class, also states that “The dress of women goes even farther than that of men in the way of demonstrating the wearer’s abstinence from productive employment” (1953: 121). From what the people wore, other people also could consider what their jobs are. One example was women’s shoes. When they wore heels, it was difficult for them to work at farm or hard work. Therefore, people could know that it was impossible for them to work in a difficult area.

Not only had the consumerism on clothes, urban society also had another consumerism which was watching play at the theater. Harvey Wish wrote Society

and Thought in Modern America Second Edition. In that book, he states that:

Urban commercialization kept the theaters crowded and prosperous, especially by the nineties, when a centralized “booking” organization and highly advertised “star” system gave fabulous salaries to the few and a certain modicum of security and regularized employment to the many (1962: 282).

From the quotation above, it is clear that in that time, the theater was always crowded by the visitors. They watched the play inside the theater. Theater was not only a place to watch a play but when rich people had a meeting they would make an appointment in the theater. Then they would discuss their business there.

In The Shaping of Modern America: 1877-1920 Second Edition, Desantis

 

They were what they had since goods were measurement. People became so materialistic.

Current et.al said “The fast-growing American cities were places of violent contrast – of poverty and wealth, of palatial homes and dingy slums” (Current, 1972:195). In his book, The Essential of American History Second

Edition. Also, Desantis said that “In the nineties, according to the federal

commissioner of labor, one-tenth of the population of the sixteen largest cities in the country lived in these slums” (1989: 98). Their explanation shows that America differentiated better homes from the slums area. People who lived in the slums area were labors and they who lived in the good environment were upper class people.

Gutman in his book, Work, Culture & Society in Industrializing America sums America in his statement “Before 1850 relatively few Americans had direct contact with an industrial society, but after that date rapid industrialization altered the social structure, and the process left few untouched” (p.80). This statement shows that there were some changes in the society. One of them was the social structure in America even though none realize the process of the changing.

D.Theoretical Framework

 

related studies here also helps the writer to compare the data that the writer gets and their comment about the novel and also the author. It absolutely makes the writer easy to find something new in the novel Sister Carrie.

In order to show the portrait of American urban life with the theory of setting, the writer uses theory of setting. This theory could help the writer in answering the first question in the problem formulation about the setting inside the novel. This theory could boundary the field that the writer would analyze in order to get a specific and clear idea.

 

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A.Object of the Study

The object of the study is a novel entitled Sister Carrie. This novel is written by Theodore Dreiser in 1899 and was published in 1900. This novel is considered as a modern novel because it talks about a controversial life. Dreiser talks about a woman that started to break all the rules, such as; go outside the house when the other women are in the house to take care of their family.

Sister Carrie is Dreiser’s first novel. It, first, was only published in a few

copies because the society did not want to accept the controversial story. This novel is based on a real life. The main character (the woman, Carrie) is written based on Dreiser’s own sister’s life. The story itself talks about the life of a woman who leaves Columbia City for Chicago to visit her sister. In the city she has to earn money to fulfill her needs. She faces life and she finds that it is hard to have a good life. The characters use an economical principle to value their life. All of them want to be a rich person.

The novel is written in 445 pages with 47 chapters. Each chapter is related to the other chapters. The story is told in the third person point of view. There is a narrator that talks about Carrie Meeber’s life. Some parts of the story talk about the condition of America society while the rest of the story talk about the romanticism that Carrie’s has in her life.

  B.Approach of the Study

In this study, the writer used Sociocultural-Historical Approach to analyze the work of literature, Sister Carrie which was written by Theodore Dreiser. Rohrberger and Woods Jr. (1971: 9) in their book titled Reading and Writing

about Literature stated:

Critics whose major interest is Sociocultural-Historical Approach insist that the only way to locate the real work is in reference to the civilization that produced it. They define civilization as the attitudes and actions of a specific group of people and point out that literature takes these attitudes and actions as its subject matter.

From this quotation, we know that Sociocultural-Historical Approach is an approach that analyzes works of literature about the people and the relationship of the society. This approach wants to see the fact in the real world from how the imitation represents the world.

Every work of literature has setting in its intrinsic elements. From this intrinsic element, the readers can imagine about what happened and what the causes and the effects of the events and this intrinsic element a little bit represents the condition of the society.

 

some works, the authors do not realize that they are affected by their environment. What the authors see in the society is usually included in the novel whether it is the criticism toward the society or not.

Because of that, the works of literature show the development of the society or the civilizations. Moreover, this approach is used to examine what society’s actions to face their life. By using this approach, the writer can show the picture of the society especially the life of urban society. The writer can show the lifestyle, what values that they have and what dream that they want to get, how the condition of their life in the city. Therefore, it is the most appropriate approach for this study.

C.Method of the Study

In the process of collecting information related to the object of the study, the writer used library research method. By using this method, the writer collected many information related to Sister Carrie. In this phase, the writer had not classified and categorized into some good ordered patterns of information. What the writer done here was just collecting information.

There are several steps done by the writer. First, the writer read the novel. Second, as one reading is not enough, the writer reread and reread the novel in order to be better to grasp the message of the novel. All information gathered in the previous phase was proven to be helpful in the effort to understand Sister

 

available literary criticism about the work. This understanding helped the writer to choose what kind of problem formulations will be formulated.

 

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This chapter will be divided into two parts which are the answer of the problem formulation in the previous chapter. The first part discusses the setting inside the novel. Then the second part discusses how that setting portrays the urban life in America in the late nineteenth century.

A.The Setting Described in Sister Carrie

This analysis is based on the theory of setting by Abrams. “The overall setting of a narrative or dramatic work is the general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occur” (1993: 192). In other words, the setting in the novel will be divided into three parts. There are general locale or place, historical time, and social circumstamces.

1. Place

Sister Carrie takes place in Chicago, as stated in the novel “When

Caroline Meeber boarded the afternoon train for Chicago…” (p.1). Caroline Meeber or Carrie goes to Chicago from Columbia City, a village where she used to live. She comes to Chicago, firstly, to visit her sister who lives with her family in Chicago. However, Carrie enjoys the city and wants to live there for a while. Because Minnie’s family, Carrie’s sister, is not rich family, Minnie asks Carrie to

 

pay her room. This condition forces Carrie to earn money. Therefore she tries to find a job and then she works at a shoe factory.

Carrie uses train to go to Chicago from her town. A clear description of the city is mostly put in the first chapter. Also, the narrator provides several descriptions in every chapter to show in detailed explanation. Chicago is described as a big city, different from Columbia City while Columbia City is described as a village where the society work in the mills. The narrator said:

A gush of tears at her mother farewell kiss, a touch in her throat when the cars clacked by the flour mill where her father worked by the day, a pathetic sigh as the familiar green environs of the village passed in review, and the threads which bound her so lightly to girlhood and home were irretrievably broken” (p.3).

The description of working at the mill gives another information about the place which is there are huge field to be used for agriculture in the village. Different from the village, Chicago is a big city and has a lot of big buildings and factories. Drouet, one of the characters in Sister Carrie, said his opinion about Chicago. He said “You want to see Lincoln Park and Michigan Boulevard. They are putting up great buildings there. It’s a second New York- great. So much to see- theatres, crowds, fine houses- oh, you’ll like that” (p.7). According to this statement, there is a picture of the city. There are some places where many great things exist named Lincoln Park and Michigan Boulevard. Being compared to Columbia City, this city is bigger.

 

streets and houses were already scattered over an area of seventy-five square miles” (p.15). The description of the city could explain the situation of a crowded city. Chicago is only an area of seventy-five square miles while it has a lot of poeple. If it is calculated, there are about six thousand and six hundred people per square miles. It also mentions about the ambition of having a new and better life and the daring of the people to move to the city even though they have no guarantee on getting their dream. The quotation on the number of the population in Chicago strengthens that Chicago is a big city with big number of people.

There are a lot of buildings in Chicago. There are factories, shops, houses, and other buildings such as theatres and factories. In the same paragraph with the previous quotation, the narrator also described the condition of the city. The narrator says “The sound of the hammer engaged upon the erection of new structures was everywhere heard” (p.15). This quotation shows that there are factories in the city. The city was really busy in the day. People build a lot of buildings in the story.

 

Carrie and her sister’s family live in a flat in the place which is called West Side. It is shown when Carrie talks to Drouet inside the train, they exchange their address. Drouet lives in the north side and Carrie will stay at her sister’s flat in the west side. When Drouet shows her address, the narrator states a sentence that is “he went on, pointing to a picture on it, “corner of state and Lake.” There was pride in his voice” (p.8). This quotation shows that the place where Drouet stay is a place that could be meant as a special place that is connected to certain people or rich people. From the quotation, it is like there is a separation of living area in Chicago. There are north side and west side. The north side is the place where rich people live as has been mentioned before, Michigan Boulevard. The west side is a place where working class people stay. When Carrie informs her address, she said, ”Carrie Meeber,” she said slowly. “Three hundred and fifty-four West Van Buren Street, care S.C. Hanson” (p.8). This action could show that Carrie is a little bit ashamed by mentioning her address because she knows that her sister’s family is not rich. This area is described as an area where all workers live. The narrator described the area by describing Minnie’s flat. He said:

Minnie’s flat, as the one-floor resident apartments were then being called, was in a part of West Van Buren Street inhabited by families of labourers and clerks, men who had come, and were still coming, with the rush of population pouring in at the rate of 50,000 a year. It was on the third floor, the front windows looking down into the street, where, at night, the lights of grocery stores were shining and children were playing (p.14).

 

Hurtswood’s house also shows that he is a rich man. Hurtswood is a manager in a saloon. He lives in the North Side with his family. His house is big, and consists of ten rooms but it is only occupied by him, his wife and his two kids. The narrator describes it as:

Hurstwod’s residence on the North Side, near Lincoln Park, was a brick building of a very popular type then, a three-story affair with the first floor sunk a very little below the level of the street. It had a large bay window bulging out from the second floor, and was graced in front by a small grassy plot, twenty-five feet wide and ten feet deep. There was also a small rear yard, walled in by the fences of the neighbours and holding a stable where he kept his horse and trap (p.77).

Different from the West Side, the North side is only lived by people who can afford a house. People in that place will build such a big and beautiful residence for their family.

Another setting of place in the novel is New York. It is bigger than Chicago. After Carrie and Hurstwood gets married, they move to New York. The narrator described this city life as a harder life. He states:

In New York the roads were any one of a half-hundred, and each had been diligently pursued by hundreds, so that celebrities were numerous. The sea was already full of whales. A common fish must needs disappear wholly from view- remain unseen. In other words, hurstwood was nothing (p.260). The statement shows the condition of New York, a place where Carrie moves to when Hurstwood runs her away. From the quotation, it is known that New York is bigger than Chicago. When the narrator said that the sea was already full of

whales, it brings the imagination that everything in Chicago was nothing in New

 

people are there. The word sea represents New York, and the word whales represent the people who live there. New York is a city like a sea where a lot of whales lives. Because there are a lot of rich people even more richer people than in Chicago therefore a rich people in Chicago such as Hurstwood is nothing when he lives in New York.

2. Time

The setting of time of the novel Sister Carrie is around 1880s to 1900 or the late nineteenth century. The first time when Carrie arrives at Chicago was in August 1889 as stated in the first chapter by the narrator. The narrator said that “It was in August 1889” (p.1). From the quotation, it is clear that the novel talks about Carrie’s life in the late nineteenth century. The time that the author put in the novel represents the whole time in the late century because the story began in the year 1889. As the story told, when the life of the characters described, the time in the novel goes by.

 

The narrator also described the society’s life from the setting of time. At day time, the society are working in the offices or factories such Hanson and Carrie do. They work from the morning till the evening. The narrator says that “At the shoe factory she put in a long day, scarcely so wearisome as the preceding, but considerably less novel” (p.49). This shows that the society are working in the day time.

The narrator says “Why, hello, Charlie, old man,” said Hurstwood, as Drouet came in that evening about eight o’clock. ”How goes it?” The room was Crowded” (p.43). This description shows the businessmen do when they finish their job. They like to meet their friends and have conversation each other in a coffee shop. Businessmen do not go back home directly but they usually drop in that place.

 

not allow them to be absent. This forces the workers to go to work whatever they feel or being absent and lose their jobs.

3. Social Circumstances

Based on theory of setting in the Chapter II, setting does not only consist of time and place, but also social circumstances which describes about the society in the story. The society inside the novel live in the city where industry grows fast, Chicago. Since the time industry grows, the factories also exist. There are a lot of factories in Chicago. Therefore many people work at the factory especially poor people. A lot of people work at the factories and they are including the newcomers.

 

The people in the story work almost for the whole day long. Carrie and Hanson, Carrie’s brother-in-law, work from six o’clock till the evening. When the first time Carrie stay at Minnie’s flat, Minnie explains to her about Hanson’s job. She said “He works way down at the stock-yards,” explained Minnie, “so he’s got to get up at half-past five” (p.13). This continued to the other chapter when Hanson comes home from his work, the narrator states the time when he gets home. He said “When Hanson came home at seven o’clock, he was inclined to be a little crusty- his usual demeanour before supper” (p.28). From both quotations it can be concluded that Hanson works for twelve hours a day. This time of work also represents the other workers’ time of work. Carrie’s experience in the shoe factory also shows that she is not enjoy the job because the factory force the workers to work in a long hours without having some break time. The narrator said that:

As the morning wore on the room became hotter. She felt the need of a breath of fresh air and a drink of water, but did not venture to stir. The stool she sat on was without a back or foot-rest, and she began to feel uncomfortable. She found, after a time, that her back was beginning to ache. She twisted and turned from one position to another slightly different, but it did not ease her for long. She was beginning to weary (p.35).

This shows that the condition when the workers work at the factory. They feel uncomfortable because the backless chairs make them could not pad. Also, the workers at Carrie’s factory only have one break time to have lunch and to take a rest for a while.

 

When she looks for job, she is offered to work for three and a half dollars a week. Then she gets a job in the shoe factory that pays her for four dollars and fifty cents. The manager from the factory asks her:

Well, I don’t know as I have anything for you. Would you work for four and a half a week?” Carrie was too worn by defeat not to feel that it was considerable. She had not expected that he would offer her less than six. She acquiesced, however, and he took her name and address. “Well,” he said, finally, “you report here at eight o’clock Monday morning. I think I can find something for you to do (p.26-27).

Carrie has to accept this job because it is higher than the job she applies before. This shows how the factories do not pay attention to the workers welfare.

Other idea of the conversation when Carrie is rejected by some offices is that women are preferred in the story. The company said that they prefer young

women. This phrase could show that women are most of the workers inside the

office. Moreover, there are many women who work at the same factory where Carrie works. When she is led to her place, the narrator shows the place by saying, “He seemed rather annoyed at having to bother with such help, but put down her name and then let her across to where a line of girls occupied stools in front of clacking machines” (p.34). The narrator describes that there is a line of girls working in front of machines. That means that many girls work at the factory.

 

business therefore she could not be included. This also show that sometimes rich people in the big city use theatre as a place where they can talk about their business with their colleagues. It is also a kind of their social life. They will meet their friend there and talk to each other. The narrator shows it by giving statements when Hurstwood and his friends come to a theatre one night. He says:

He came with several friends directly from Rector’s in a carriage. In the lobby he met Drouet, who was just returning from a trip for more cigars. All five now joined in an animated conversation concerning the company present and the general drift of lodge affairs (p.157).

In the theatre they talk about their life and also their business. This shows many functions of theatres besides a place for play performance.

 

have to have a new dress. Some of the nicest girls in the school are going to be in it. Miss Palmer is going to take the part of Portia” (p.80). This shows that society in the novel have a high perception about property. Then when Hurstwood’s wife tells her husband about that, Hurstwood said that Jessica is spending a lot of money for dresses recently. He thinks that it is inappropriate for a school girl too often to spend much money only for clothes.

However, Hurstwood’s wife still defends her daughter and said that Jessica is going out more as seen through this conversation:

“I thought she just bought one,” he said.

“That was just something for evening wear,” returned his wife complacently.

“It seems to me,” returned Hurstwood, “that she’s spending a good deal for dresses of late.”

“Well, she’s going out more,” (p.82).

From that conversation it seems that when people wants to go out, they have to consider what they will do in order that they can show off to their friends in their social life. Therefore, it is important to be good looking in order that they can show their social status as a rich person.

 

kind of habit for the rich people since appearance is a significant problem in the society.

The last habit that is shown in the story is playing cards. It is called game of euchre. Drouet invites Hurstwood to his apartment to introduce Carrie to him. Then they play this game in order to be closed and relax while drinking champagne. The term euchre is introduced in the last chapter 8 in the novel. It is the conversation between Drouet and Hurstwood.

“We’ll have a nice game of euchre.”

“May I bring a nice little bottle of Sec?” asked Hurstwood. “Certainly,” said Drouet. “I’ll introduce you” (p.26).

The term Sec means a dry white wine or champagne. When they are drinking and playing cards, they are also gambling using ten-cent pieces.

Hurstwood was quicker. His fingers were full of new ten-cent pieces. “Here we are,” he said, supplying each one with a little stack.

“Oh, this is gambling,” smiled Carrie. “It’s bad.”

“No,” said Drouet. “only fun. If you never play more than that, you will go to heaven.”

 

people only use ten-cents but in New York they use more money in gambling. This shows that New York in the story is bigger and has harder life to be lived than Chicago.

Those are some description of the setting of Sister Carrie. The first is about the place; how the condition of the place such as the population and the decorations of the city such as buildings and houses. Second is about the time inside the novel which is in the late nineteenth century. Then the last is about the social setting which consists of the people in the city, the job of the society, and the habits that they usually do. The combination all of the setting could give the portrait of the American urban life.

B.The American Urban Life in the Late Nineteenth Century

In this subchapter, the writer will discuss the relation between the descriptions about the setting in the previous subchapter and the real American Urban Life in the late 19th century especially in Chicago. Urban life in this study refers to the society who lived in the city. In the mid-nineteenth century America became a great manufacturing country. There were a lot of factories in America. Those factories were mostly built in the city. Therefore America had a huge number of population. In this society, they had a certain lifestyle. This study will discuss about the lifestyle of the society including their job, interest, and manner, habits, values, and social class.

 

incorporated in 1833 and became a modern city in the late 19th century. At that time, there were some events that occurred such as industrialism and post-Civil War. These events influenced the society in America. Therefore, some things changed in America as stated by Desantis in his book entitled The Shaping of

Modern America: 1877-1920 Second Edition. He said that:

The rapid and vast economic expansion of the post-Civil War years brought far-reaching social and cultural changes. Probably the most important was the transformation of the United States from a rural and agrarian nation to an urban and industrial one (1989: 97).

From the analysis in the previous subchapter about the setting of Sister

Carrie, the writer found some points related to the American Urban Life at the

time. There are three main ideas about the American urban life that the writer found from the story and the analysis of the setting. They are the causes and the effects of urbanization, the changing of the society and the lifestyle in the city which is called urban life.

 

other buildings in the city such as theatres. The industry was also another reason why people moved to the city. Industry offered many things to the society such as jobs. People in the town usually worked as a farmer therefore when they were offered a job which was working at a buildings or offices and being paid, they came and took a part in this industrial world.

As the new comers, they usually only brought some money to the town. In fact, they needed much money to live in the city for a long time. Carrie for example, her sister asks her to pay her room four dollars in a week while she has no much money in her hands when she arrives at Chicago. This condition pushes her to earn money in order that she can live with her sister’s family. This also happened to the real condition of the new comers in Chicago at that time. People who came to the city had to fulfill their needs in the city. Therefore they had to earn money by working. However, looking jobs in the city was not easy. It is shown from Carrie’s experience in looking for job. She is rejected for many times because she has no experience. From this experience, the writer saw that the offices and the factories at the late 1800s needed experienced person to work. This was a difficult condition for rural people because they were farmers and did not have any experience on working at the factories. And it seems that factory was the only answer for them in looking for job since there were a lot of factories were built in producing many things.

 

were workers. Also, since they were unexperienced, they received low salary. As Carrie face when she works at the shoe factory, she is a worker there and is only paid for four dollars and fifty cents a week. Even though they were unexperienced, they worked for long hours. The factories still hired them to produce more products. The other reasons were a huge population. Since there were a lot of people moved to Chicago, the number of population grows. There were a lot of people lived in Chicago both in a good condition and poor condition. Current strengthens the writer’s idea in his book entitled The Essential of

American History 2nd Edition, said that “During the years of industrial expansion

the population of the United States more than doubled, increasing from about 31 million in 1860 to almost 76 million in 1900” (1972: 193). All of them needed money to live and therefore they also needed jobs to earn money. This also causes the number of workers increased and the workers received low salary. The factories could give them job but they have to receive low salary without any protest. The jobs were fewer than the population. This portrays the situation of Chicago in the late 1800s.

 

they felt because if they did not come to work, they will lose their jobs. Afraid of being jobless, they forced them selves to go to work. The writer concluded that at that season, many workers were sick even died. They were too tired of working and the weather, and they could be died because of that. They also could be absent when they got sick but then they lost their jobs and having no money. This also could cause them to die.

From this condition, the writer assumed that there was a symptom of the birth of capitalism in the industry. The workers worked for approximately twelve hours in a day but they received low salary. The company did not give much value on their energy and time. Moreover, they only had one break time to take a rest from their works. This made them uncomfortable with the situation. These entire situation shows that the company did not really pay attention to the workers’ welfare. They did not care of the workers. This could be one root why capitalism grew in the next century.

The urbanization also shaped the city life. There were a lot of people who lived in Chicago and worked as workers in the factory and also received low salary. The writer concluded that industry did not make the society better but worst. When the society tried to find a solution of their problem of having money, the industry was like offering many solutions. On the contrary they manipulated this solution in order to get the attention of the society. This causes the number of poor people increased.

 

Minnie’s flat, as the one-floor resident apartments were then being called, was in a part of West Van Buren Street inhabited by families of labourers and clercks, men who had come, and were still coming, with the rush of population pouring in at the rate of 50,000 a year” (p.12).

This was happened because the workers could not buy houses. They had to live in the apartment because it was cheaper to rent an apartment than to buy a house. With their low salary, they could only fulfill their daily needs and there was nothing remains to buy a house. Many people lived in the apartment even though the space in the apartments was small and all of them were workers. This condition could cause another situation to the people who live in the apartments. That is the people who lived in the apartment infected by disease easily. The cleanliness of the environment was unguaranteed. The unclean environment could cause disease around the society. People also contacted one another, and when one of them was sick, the other people will also be infectious. Not only because of the living area, was this disease problem also caused by the work. When people worked for long hours, they would be tired and when they were tired they would be easy to be sick.

 

Hurstwood’s daughter, wants to buy a new dress to attend an event even though she already buys a new dress recently. This shows that businessmen society liked to consume their money to buy insignificant thing such as dress. Women from businessmen class liked to buy new clothes to attend every new event. But this story shows that the way of wasting money was a kind of measurement in the society. When people were consuming their money easily to buy anything they wanted, they were considered as a rich person and belong to businessmen class. This caused the consumerism of the businessmen society was high. They liked to shop, having dinner with their friends in an expensive restaurant or watching drama in the theatre. This shaped the habits of the businessmen society of wasting money. Veblen said in the book of Theory of The Leisure Class that “The dress of women goes even farther than that of men in the way of demonstrating the wearer’s abstinence from productive employment” (1953:121). Veblen explains by giving an example when a woman wore high heels. Since the condition in the factory was not comfortable, it was impossible for women to wear high heels while working in the factory. Therefore, a woman who wore high heels in their everyday life might not work at the factory or as a worker or part of the working class society in the late nineteenth century. Veblen’s theory also strengthens the writer’s idea about the consumerism in the business society.

 

business thing. Not only was in playing cards as Hurstwood and Drouet do, the businessmen’s social life was also in the theatre when they watched a drama. They usually met their friends there and talked about their life or their business. After work, Hurstwood as businessman goes to the theatre whether to meet his friends or colleagues there. This portrays the habit of businessmen on their social life.

Another society outside the businessmen is included in working class society. This class consisted of workers in Chicago. Workers worked from morning till evening as what Hanson has in his life. After work, they went home. As the impact of the long time for working, the writer concluded that there was no enough quality time to spend with their family. In the story, Hanson works from morning till the evening. When he comes home, he only has dinner time with his family and this is the only time to have conversation and to share with his family. After having dinner, he has to go to bed because he is tired. Also, he has to take a rest in order to be fresh in the next day to prepare to work. This monotonous life portrays the real urban life that is people did not spend much time with their family. This is not only happened to the working class society but also the upper class society. For example is Hurstwood. Even though he is a manager, he is also going back home in the evening because he will have another appointment with his colleagues for business or having fun with his friends.

 

This also portrays the spiritual life of the society in Chicago in the late nineteenth century. They were too busy with their business to think about God and praised Him. In other word, the writer concluded that there was no existence of God and church in the late nineteenth century’s society. On the contrary, they were materialist society. They spent almost all of their time to earn money. On the day time, they worked and the night time, they took a rest or playing with their friends and having other activities. This shows that the people had the whole time for their own important. Material things were the most important thing in their life therefore they never prayed to God and had no time for their family.

As workers, the working class society has a monotonous life. They got up early and went to work till evening. After that they went home and never thought about anything else besides working to get money. This is the modes of the society. They only wanted to have a better life by working hard, cost their families’ needs, giving their children a better life and they were afraid to dream other than that. Desantis said in his book, The Shaping of Modern America:

1877-1920 Second Edition, that “They contended that the new workers from abroad

were degrading American labor standards by accepting lower wages, working longer hours, living in slums, and allowing themselves to be used as strike breakers” (1989: 102-103).

 

the story, when Carrie invites her sister to watch a drama, Hanson, her sister’s husband, tells her not to spend her money easily. He says “She oughtn’t to be thinking about spending her money on theatres already, do you think?” (p.31). From the tone that Hanson talk, it is known that he and his family are not usually watch drama at the theatre because they think that it costs a lot of money. It is also shown when Carrie wants to buy an umbrella her sister forbids her and wants to lend her broken umbrella. That was the only choice for working class people because the situation forced them to be.

That shows that there was the difference between businessmen and the working class society in terms of habits. Another difference was the living area between businessmen and working class people. In the story, Hurstwood as a businessman lives in the North Side while Carrie and her sister’s family live in the

West Side. North Side is described as an area where rich people live while West

 

the consideration of the social status in the society. The only consideration was the wealth that the society had. The color of their skin was not considered. There was separation between white people based on their wealth.

From the description of the separation area between two classes the writer concluded that there was a city planning in Chicago which was created by the government. The government built apartments in one place in order that the workers lived there together because the government knew that they could not buy a house of their own money. Also for the rich people or businessmen, government of Chicago built a space where the businessmen could bought house and lived there. City planning was needed because it would control the traffic in Chicago since it has a big number of population. Wish, in Society and Thought in Modern

America Second Edition, said that:

City planning, aided by hone rule urban charters, was emerging from mere decorative “city beautiful” ideas to broad development schemed controlling traffic as well as appearance and eventually other phases of urban well-being” (1962: 275).

 

condition in the society in the late nineteenth century in Chicago. They only physically exist without soul. The family relationship starts to disappear because of the industrial business. The workers were tired of their work therefore they did not pay much attention to their relatives. They had already many problems in their life which made them be like that. For the businessmen society, they also too busy in developing their business till never had a heart connection to their family which lost their close relation in the family.

 

material of food decreased. As the decreased of the material, the food in the Chicago became expensive.

  CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

The analysis in the previous chapter could explain how the novel, the setting of Sister Carrie which is written by Theodore Dreiser could portray the American Urban Life especially in the Chicago in the late nineteenth century. By analyzing the setting inside the novel, the writer could find the portrayal of the society in the real life.

In the novel, Chicago is described as a big city with a lot of buildings and city planning. The description of Minnie’s flat and Hurstwood house shows the separation of both classes. Minnie’s family as part of working class in the society lives in a small flat which they rent. They live in the environment which is a place for workers to live. While Hurstwood lives in a big house that portrays the house of business society in America.

Industrialism was taking a big role in the urban life. This was the main cause of urban life. In the 1800s, there was urbanization since Chicago became one of those industrial cities. People moved there in order to have a better life. Mostly, the people in that society worked at the factory. They were running machines in the factory like what Carrie does as a worker in the shoe factory. From the story, the narrator said that Carrie has a low salary even though she works for long hours and works uncomfortably in the factory. This represents the real working class society who had to work in many hours in the factories. This shows a symptom of the birth of capitalism in America.

 

Since the population in Chicago grows rapidly, the number of people was big. Those people needed jobs therefore they worked at the factories and their number caused them being paid low. As the impact of this long-hours job, the society in the late nineteenth century had a few time for their family. Usually, people spent their time in dinner or supper with their family and that was the only time to talk to their family. There was no time except having meals together with their family because they spent most their time working and to take a rest after working. Because of their business they also never thought about the existence of God in their life. This also shows that the American society in the 1880s to 1900 were materialist society since they had a high value on money and had no spiritual life.

The industry also caused the social classes in the society. They were businessmen class and working class society. The businessmen were they who were rich people and own companies. They lived in a special area for rich people while working class people lived in a slum area in some apartments with a lot of people that could danger them by its diseases. Working class people consisted of those who were workers and most of them were newcomers.

 

clothes because they were low paid and had no much money. Their salary was only enough for their daily life. This also shows that the price of the goods at that time was high. It was not appropriate with the low salary of the working class society.

Drama was popular in the late 1800s. Rich people used to watch drama at the theatres. However, theatres were not only a place to watch a play for rich people, it was also a place where they met their friends and had social life there.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Printed References

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Current, Richard N. The Essentials of American History Second Edition. New York: Alfred A. Knof Inc., 1972.

Desantis, Vincent P. The Shaping of Modern America: 1877-1920 Second Edition. Illinois: Forum Press Inc., 1989.

Dreiser, Theodore. Sister Carrie. New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc. 2005.

Gutman, Herbert G. Work, Culture, and Society in Industrializing America. New York: Random House Inc., 1976.

Hoult, Thomas Ford. Dictionary of Modern Sociology. Totowa: Littlefield, Adam & Co., 1969.

Hudson, W.H. An Introduction of The Study of Literature. London: Morrison&Gibb, Ltd., 1958.

Kenney, William. How to Analyze Fiction. New York: Monarch Press, 1966. Leibowitz, Herbert. “Introduction”. George Stade. Sister Carrie. New York:

Barnes and Noble Inc., 2005.

McMahan, Elizabeth. Literature and The Writing Process. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1986.

Mish, Frederik C. et.al Meriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition. Springfield: Meriam-Webster, Inc., 1993.

Pizer, Donald. New Essays on Sister Carrie. Cambrige: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Rohrberger, Mary and Samuel H. Woods Jr. Reading and Writing about

Literature. New York: Random House, Inc., 1971.

Veblen, Thorstein. 1899. Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Penguin, 1994.

 

Wellek, Rene and Austin Warren. The Theory of Literature. New York: A Harvest Book Harcourt, Brace and World Inc., 1965.

Wish, Harvey. Society and Thought in Modern America Second Edition. New York: David McKey Company, Inc., 1962.

Online References

Eby, Clare. “Cultural and Historical Context for Sister Carrie”. http://www.library .upenn.edu/collections/rbm/dreiser/schulhist.html (September 22nd, 2010) Hunt, Lana J. “American Working Class” <http://www.angelfire.com/ar3/towne

victorian/middleworkingclass.html> (September 22nd, 2010)

Riggio, Thomas P. “Biography of Theodore Dreiser”. <(http://www.library.upenn. edu/collections/rbm/dreiser/tdbio.html). (October 5th, 2010)

  APPENDIX

Summary of Sister Carrie

Sister Carrie was a story about a young girl, Carrie, who moves from a

village to a city, Chicago and is experiencing the changing of life from being apart in working class society to rich person. In Chicago, she lives with her sister’s family in an apartment. In order to fulfill her daily needs, she has to work at a shoe factory and receives four dollars and fifty cents a week. In this condition, she has to pay four dollars a week for her room to her sister. After a while, her friend, Drouet, whom she met at the train when she arrives at Chicago offers her to live in her own flat, and he will pay all of her needs because Drouet is interested in women’s looking and he thinks that Carrie is a perfect girl to be dressed up.

Then Carrie moves to her own flat with Drouet and they pretend as husband and wife. Drouet introduces Carrie to his friends, and one of them is Hurstwood, a manager of a saloon. Hurstwood is a married man but he falls in love with Carrie. When Drouet goes outside the city, Hurstwood often comes to Carrie and pretends that he comes to accompany her in order that Carrie does not feel lonely. Then Hurstwood has an affair with Carrie and lies to Carrie that he is single. They are dating by telling Drouet nothing.