A"New Woman"--Carrie

An 18-year-old girl without money or connections ventures forth from her small town in search of a better life in Theodore Dreiser's revolutionary first novel. The chronicle of Carrie Meeber's rise from obscurity to fame--and the effects of her progress on the men who use her and are used in turn--aroused a storm of controversy and debate upon its debut in 1900. The author's nonjudgmental portrait of a heroine who violates the contemporary moral code outraged some critics. A century later, Dreiser's characters continue to fascinate readers. The protagonist Carrie is still a controversial character. Many critics regard Carrie as a “fallen woman", and there are also some critics regard her as a "new woman".First, I really can't agree Carrie is a“fallen woman". Those who criticized that she is greedy for material gains and she loses her sense of morality when she pursues her desire, to me, they failed to understand the novel deeply and they failed to treat carrie equally as well. It's quite true that carrie had sexual relations with two men, which maybe the most unbearable thing for those who said Carrie is “immoral", but when we read the novel, actually we can say that Carrie's intention was to have a good husband. First she met Drouet who attracted her with his beautiful clothes and fine manners which represented he belongs to a high class. That is very nature, as I say. Carrie came from a poor peasant family and she wanted to search a better life in Chigago. When she met such a young man who was “ an experienced traveller, a brisk man of the world”(Dreiser 9) and was so courteous to her. “It disposed her pleasantly toward all he might do.”@(10)After Carrie arrived the Hanson's, she found things disappointing. She did efforts to search a job, but she failed at last. Drived by the desire for survival, she eventually accepted drouet. Here we should notice that though the main reason Carrie accepted Drouet is he had the money to support her, but on the other hand, Carrie did have some good feelings on him. Besides, Drouet promised to marry her. So at the beginning, the story went like lots of other love stories. Poor young beautiful girl comes to a big city and wants a “better life", then she meets a rich man who makes she believe that they love each other, inevitably she wishes a wedding with the man. That happens a lot now. but in the fact, the man didn't have a plan to marry her. And later, Carrie found another man who seemed worth her love. Hurtswood stands for a calss higher than Drouet's. He was more attractive and he knew women's heart better. Carrie once hesitated, but Drouet really couldn't touch her heart any longer. Drouet himself was not a guy who really wanted to get married. So Carrie didn't resist when Hurstwood lied to her and brought her to New York. That happened on a base that Carrie thought Hurstwood would marry her and gave her a happy life. That’s human's instinct. Carrie's instinct is to survive and to live better. That's all. She didn't have any intrigues like Mrs.Hurstwood. We still can say she is pure. She was just drived by the circumstances. So sexual relations with two men didn't make carrie a “fallen woman". Secondly, I don't agree completely that Carrie is a “new woman". When Carrie met the living crisis in New York, at the beginning, she still believed that Hurstwood could made all things right. But later, she found Hurstwood was falling rapidly. She tried to encourage Hurstwood to find a job to support the family, but he failed. He couldn't find his place in the bigger city New York at all. But Carrie didn't want to wait and die. She got a job in a theatre,not so easily, then she left him. Here we can often see many critics said carrie is “stone-hearted". To me, Carrie's behavior may be a bit cruel, but still can be forgave. Think what an enviroment she lives in! she needs to live! I also explain her action as a result of her instinct. Next, Carrie made herself successful on the stage by a small chance. She got money and fame gradually. But these can't make her a "new woman", because her success has much contingency. Her self-consciousness hadn't be aroused untill she met Ames, a young engineer. His influence causes Carrie to become disillusioned with her success as an actress in comedy and makes her desire to perform more dramatic works. He introduced some writers to Carrie, and also gave some astonishing views about the surrounding people, which made Carrie think he was a special man. From that, Carrie started to think about lots of other things deeply. I say, Carrie at this moment is still not a"new woman". She doesn't has her own understanding of the world. She still can't think and action as an independent woman. To sum up, I don't think Carrie is “immoral". When she is drived by her instinct to find a way to live, she has nothing to blame for. As Jerome Loving said, “For him(dreiser), man-all of humankind-was still halfway between animal instinct and ideal of human morality,and so alack of morality was to be expected.""(Jerome Loving 92 The last titan:a life of theodore dreiser)To some extent, I agree with Eby's opinion that Carrie is“a transitional figure, moving from the Victorian model of True Woman toward the recognizably modern New Woman".