Abstract

Theodore Dreiser is regarded as an outstanding naturalist writer in American literary history. His masterpiece Sister Carrier tells a story about a country girl who comes to the big city to make a living. Hence, her fate is changed, from a pure and innocent girl to a singing star who lives luxuriously. This is a typical naturalism work. By analyzing naturalism in Sister Carrier, the thesis is aimed at discussing how Carrier is influenced and changed by environment, desire and heredity. Chicago is a big city and a new environment for Carrie. She is curious about everything in the city and yearns for owning them. Gradually, she is driven by endless desires. She desires for money, love, and higher status, but these seem not to be satisfied. Besides, social reality is cruel, and poor life forces her to become the mistress of Drouet and then of Hurst wood. It is surrounding environment that makes her change. However, she has some genetic advantages, such as good looking, imitation ability, and imagination. Heredity helps her achieve success in acting career. Being aware of environment, desire and heredity’s great influence on people is important. It is of great instruction for the people who live in a material society. 

Key words: naturalism; environment; desire; heredity

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction-1

   1.1 Background of the study-1

   1.2 Objective and methods of the study-2

   1.3 Overall structure of the thesis-3

2 Literature Review-3

3 Naturalism in the Novel-4

   3.1 Brief introduction to naturalism -4

   3.2 Environment-5

   3.3 Desire-8

   3.4 Heredity. 11

5 Conclusion-12

  References-14