讨论《嘉莉妹妹》中表现的American Dream
z海琳
在德莱塞的小说《嘉莉妹妹》中,"美国梦"这个主题贯穿故事的始终:嘉莉的性格和命运,都是当时充斥于社会中的美国梦造成的。本文通过阐述主人公对"美国梦"的追求以及现实和梦想的破灭,暗示了"美国梦"的虚幻性和幻想破灭的必然性。
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Chloethegoat
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ChloethegoatThe central theme of Sister Carrie is the effect of the misguided and misdirected American dream of success. The novel traces the separate but nonetheless individual stories of its characters in their efforts to realize the fabulous American dream. Carrie, seeking happiness and rising to stardom, reaches the verge of discovering personal fulfillment is an illusory dream. Money, clothes, and success fail to provide the happiness that they promise, but the darkest part of Carrie's tragedy is that she fails to understand this completely. Hurstwood, once having fallen from the "walled city" of the wealthy and influential, resigns himself too readily to failure and defeat. He also fails to recognize the shortcomings of a society whose values are based upon material things. Neither Carrie nor Hurstwood ever denies the values of the society that makes money its god. Charles Drouet, the "drummer," although he is relegated to the background midway through the novel, represents another important aspect of Dreiser's portrait. Drouet unconsciously assumes all the values of his day without a trace of rebellion. Thus, the figure of Drouet completes the picture by adding the tragedy of ignorance to Hurstwood's tragedy of failure and Carrie's tragedy of success.
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z海琳
After Ames mentions that he thinks art and “the theatre a great thing,” Carrie develops a desire to be on stage, not out a desire to be wealthier, but out of a desire to be an artist that “such men as he would approve of her.” While Carrie’s understanding of wealth and class changes as she flits from city to city and one social circle to the next, she ultimately desires not simply to be wealthier, but also of a higher class, so that she can walk in the same circles as intellectuals like Ames.
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