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Context→Theodore Dreiser was born into a large German family in the American midwest in 1871. A journalist before he became a novelist, he began writing Sister Carrie in 1889. Many of the events in the novel are fictional representations of his own sisters' experiences. Dreiser submitted the work to Doubleday, where it captured the attention of Frank Norris, who offered him a contract for publication. Unfortunately, one of the wives of the men at the publishing house read the book and decided that it was thoroughly immoral. Her outrage led to a struggle between Dreiser and the publishers, with the author demanding that Doubleday fulfil its contract. Doubleday reluctantly published a small edition in 1900. Perhaps because of the challenge it presented to conventional morals and middle class values, it did not sell well.In the years since its inauspicious debut, however, Sister Carrie has come to be regarded as an American classic. Many call it the first modern American novel, a precursor to the works of Fitzgerald and Hemingway. It captures the exuberance and social transformation of turn-of-the-century America. Littered with the nation's slang and its distinctive personalities, the novel traces the vagaries of fortune in the developing capitalist society. Simultaneously a tale of rags-to-riches and riches-to-rags, the novel confronts the reader with a vision of both the comic and the tragic aspects of American capitalism.

Summary→Sister Carrie tells the story of two characters: Carrie Meeber, an ordinary girl who rises from a low-paid wage earner to a high-paid actress, and George Hurstwood, a member of the upper middle class who falls from his comfortable lifestyle to a life on the streets. Neither Carrie nor Hurstwood earn their fates through virtue or vice, but rather through random circumstance. Their successes and failures have no moral value; this stance marks Sister Carrie as a departure from the conventional literature of the period. Dreiser touches upon a wide range of themes and experiences in Sister Carrie, from grinding poverty to upper-middle class comfort. The novel dwells on the moment as it is experienced; the characters are plunged into the narrative without the reader being told much, if any, of their histories. Their identities are constantly subject to change, reflecting the modern American experience that had been ushered in by the developing capitalist economy. In the process of this development, thousands of rural Americans rushed to the cities to find jobs and to build themselves new lives and identities. Sister Carrie captures the excitement of that experience.

Characters→Carrie Meeber  -  Caroline (Carrie) Meeber, the protagonist of the novel, travels to Chicago to stay with her sister and her brother-in-law. The cosmopolitan consumer world of Chicago enthralls her, and she constantly wants to buy things. Her first job is a low-paid, arduous position in a factory. When she loses her job, her sister and brother-in-law cannot support her, so she becomes Charlie Drouet's mistress. Afterward, she becomes infatuated with another man, George Hurstwood. Carrie and Hurstwood run to New York, where they discover that married life is far less exciting than their affair. Carrie leaves Hurstwood because he fails to provide her with the lavish life she wants. She becomes a famous, high-paid actress in New York City.

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SISTER CARRIECharlie Drouet -  Charlie Drouet is a charming, flashy salesman with a strong appetite for romance. Although he is warm-hearted, he never takes any of his romantic affairs seriously. He provides Carrie with a place to stay after she is forced to stop living with her sister; he also promises to marry her, but he never really intends on following through. He loses Carrie to Hurstwood and then, years later, after she has become a famous actress, tries unsuccessfully to win her back.

George Hurstwood  -  George Hurstwood is the manager of Fitzgerald and Moy's, a saloon in Chicago. At the beginning of the novel, he is a wealthy, important man. He falls in love with Carrie after meeting her through Drouet. He tells Carrie that he loves her, but he fails to mention that he is married. After his wife discovers his affair with Carrie and files for divorce, he steals ten thousand dollars from Fitzgerald and Moy's and flees with Carrie to Montreal. There, he marries her before his divorce with Julia is complete. Although he keeps his theft a secret from Carrie, he is discovered by an investigator and required to return most of the money in order to protect his reputation. In New York, Hurstwood slowly descends into apathy and poverty. After Carrie leaves him, he becomes a homeless beggar and eventually commits suicide.

George Hurstwood, Jr.  -  George Hurstwood, Jr., is Hurstwood's son. He works for a real estate firm. After his mother sues his father for divorce, he refuses to have anything to do with Hurstwood.

Jessica Hurstwood -  Jessica is Hurstwood's daughter. She is a vain girl who hopes to enter elite social circles by marrying rich.

Julia Hurstwood -  Julia Hurstwood is Hurstwood's first wife. She is vindictive and extremely jealous, and she files for divorce after discovering Hurstwood's infatuation with Carrie.

Fitzgerald and Moy  -  Fitzgerald and Moy are joint owners of a popular saloon in Chicago. The saloon is named, appropriately enough, Fitzgerald and Moy's, and it serves as a gathering place for Chicago's glitterati. Fitzgerald and Moy are good to Hurstwood, the saloon's manager, first providing him with gainful employment and then choosing not to prosecute when he steals thousands of dollars from them.

Hanson -  Hanson and his wife Minnie are Carrie's first hosts in Chicago. Hanson is a quiet, stern man who disapproves of Carrie's whimsical nature.

Minnie -  Minnie is Carrie's older sister. She and her husband, Hanson, believe in hard work and frugal spending, mostly because they are too poor to do otherwise.

Mr. Hale -  Mr. Hale, a theater manager, is Carrie and Drouet's neighbor in Chicago.

Mrs. Hale -  Mrs. Hale is one of Carrie's friends in Chicago. She fills Carrie in on all of the gossip surrounding the Chicago theater scene, strengthening Carrie's fascination with the theater and the wealth associated with it.

Mrs. Vance -  Mrs. Vance is, for a time, Carrie's neighbor in New York City. She and Carrie become friends, and Carrie notices that she is a wealthy, well-kept wife. She is the catalyst for Carrie's dissatisfaction with Hurstwood's modest income.

Mr. Ames -  Mr. Ames is a New Yorker and a cousin of the Vances; Carrie becomes infatuated with him. She thinks of him as a scholar of sorts, and he represents for her the artistic taste she wishes to acquire.

Lola -  Lola befriends Carrie in New York because they work as chorus girls in the same show. Carrie moves in with her after leaving Hurstwood.

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The captain  -  The captain is a homeless man who lives in New York. Every day, other homeless men gather around him, and he asks passing pedestrians to donate the price of a bed for the night for each man. He persists in his effort until every man has a place to sleep.

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Chapters 1-4→SummaryIn 1889, eighteen-year-old Caroline Meeber boards a train headed for Chicago, leaving behind her small home town of Columbia City. She carries only four dollars, a few paltry belongings, and her sister's address in Chicago.As the train pulls out of Waukesha, Wisconsin, she becomes aware that a man is observing her. Despite her reserve, she strikes up a conversation with him. The man's name is Charlie Drouet, a traveling salesman, and his flashy clothing and talkative ways make a positive impression on Carrie.In the course of their conversation, Drouet guesses that she has never been to Chicago; he also learns that she is planning to stay with her sister. He offers to show her around the city. After some hesitation, she gives him her sister's address, and he gives her his card. They make a date for the following Monday. Drouet offers to carry her bags for her, but Carrie decides that she should be alone when she meets her sister. Drouet cheerfully acquiesces to her demands, offering to wait at a distance until he sees her meet her sister. Carrie agrees, surprised and grateful that someone would be so considerate of her safety. When the train arrives in Chicago, Carrie's sister Minnie is waiting for her at the station.Minnie introduces Carrie to her taciturn husband, Hanson, when they reach her apartment. Hanson is mostly indifferent to Carrie's presence, but he remarks that she should find work easily in Chicago. Carrie studies the apartment and quickly determines that Minnie, Hanson, and their infant son live a narrow, lean existence. Hanson goes to bed early because he has to wake up for work before five in the morning. Carrie decides that it would be inappropriate for Drouet to visit her at the apartment, so she writes him a letter, instructing him to wait until he hears from her again.The next day, Carrie walks to the wholesale district to look for work. Shy and fearful, she cannot bring herself to ask for a job at most of the places she passes. After a while, she works up the courage to inquire at a few stores. The owners are alternately kind and cold, but none of them offer her a job. One man suggests that she try to get a job as a shop girl in one of the department stores, but Carrie discovers that the stores are only looking for people with experience. Carrie feels ashamed when she compares her worn clothing to the sharp, neat apparel of the other applicants. Walking through the department store, she longs to buy the clothing and trinkets on display. Eventually, she finds a job in a shoe factory, where she earns four and a half dollars a week.Hanson and Minnie are pleased that Carrie has found work so quickly, but Hanson interrupts Carrie's wild dreams of the buying power of her wage when he asks if she will have to spend any on car fare. They suggest a tour of the city over the weekend, and Carrie immediately recognizes their emphasis on free amusements. Carrie is eager to go to the theater, but she senses disapproval from Minnie and Hanson when she mentions the idea. They expect her to pay for the food she eats at their apartment, and her notions of spending money on entertainment run counter to their plans to profit from her stay in Chicago. Carrie goes downstairs to sit on the stoop.On the following Monday, Carrie reports to her job, where she is made to sit at a stool and punch holes in pieces of show leather. She finds the work difficult and unpleasant, and her back and shoulders quickly begin to ache. Moreover, she dislikes the crude banter between the other men and women who work there, and she finds their drab clothing distasteful. At the end of the day, she hurries away from a young man who tries to make conversation.

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CommentarySister Carrie has been called the quintessential modern American novel. Through its characters and their story, it illustrates the effects of the changing economic structure on American culture. Carrie Meeber is one of thousands of wage seekers converging on Chicago during the economic boom that followed the Civil War. The novel introduces her in an unconventional manner for literature at the time: she arrives on the scene without a history. Except for a few sparse details, and a catalog of her belongings as she boards the train for Chicago, we know almost nothing about her.One of the biggest changes that capitalism brought to American culture was an overwhelming emphasis on "conspicuous consumption," or the purchasing of goods and services in such a way that one's buying power becomes immediately evident. Dreiser carefully catalogues in specific detail everything Carrie owns: a cheap imitation alligator-skin satchel, a yellow leather snap purse, and four dollars. Because Carrie cannot afford a real alligator skin satchel, but still wants the status that conspicuous consumption would give her, she owns the cheap imitation. In effect, conspicuous consumption of genuine luxuries produced a market for cheaper imitations.Because we know so little about Carrie's identity, our first impression of her is formed not by her actions or her opinions but by her belongings. Dreiser's description of her ends with the exact amount of money she holds. This emphasis on money will be a primary theme throughout the rest of the novel.In addition to representing consumerism, Carrie also serves as a symbol of the American middle class. Carrie is "ambitious to gain in material things." Her personality reflects the material desires of the growing American middle class. She wants to accumulate material possessions because she knows that it is the surest route to high status.In 1889 the United States economy was expanding rapidly. Because large cities were centers of intense economic activity, people looking for work converged on them. The need for labor was so great that not only men, but also large numbers of young, unmarried women entered the work force. However, although single women were now freer to move around, they were still subject to the conventional rules that governed their relationships with men.When Carrie notices Drouet's interest in her, she wavers between pleasure and reserve. Although she is no longer under the constant surveillance of her parents, her social conditioning still restrains her. She hesitates to give Drouet her address in Chicago, and she does not want Minnie to see her with Drouet at the station. Although she seems to want to pursue a relationship with Drouet, she feels compelled to hide her desire because such a relationship would be "improper" according to conventional values. Carrie's attraction for him lies largely in his buying power. His expensive, flashy clothing and adornments promise her the pleasures of material wealth. This is the first of many instances inSister Carrie in which we see a consumer's mentality govern characters' interpersonal relationships.Carrie's job search demonstrates the dehumanizing side of capitalist values. Employers eye her as they would any other sort of commodity, deciding whether or not she is worth her cost.Carrie's visit to the department store shows her fascination with conspicuous consumption. All of the trinkets and fancy clothing seem to call out to her, even though she cannot afford any of them; thus a capitalist economy manipulates the desire of the consumer without ever completely satisfying it. The unsatisfied desire drives the consumer to continue buying more material goods, and the desire to buy drives the consumer to work long hours at unpleasant jobs. Carrie's dreams of satisfying her desire for material things are abruptly disappointed when she realizes that she only has fifty cents of her weekly wage at her disposal. Most of her time is spent in thinking about the things she cannot afford to buy, such as clothing and car fare. The greatest irony of her situation is that she cannot even

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SISTER CARRIEafford to buy the shoes she produces at her job. The constant frustration of her consumer desires makes her miserable.Sister Carrie also shows how money and earning power can come to govern the relationship between family members. Minnie and Hanson do not invite Carrie to live with them out of desire for the presence of a close family member; rather, they hope to profit from her labor by charging her for board. Here, Carrie becomes a customer, not a person. Hanson and Minnie's commodification of Carrie is, however, somewhat pathetic; they are not gaining enough money from her stay to make much of a difference in their bare-bones existence, and their frugal lifestyle marks them as members of the crowd of people who are too poor to be serious consumers.

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Chapters 5-8→SummaryAfter receiving Carrie's letter, Drouet puts thoughts of her aside. He goes to Fitzgerald and Moy's, an upscale saloon frequented by the Chicago's upper class, to pass the evening. Drouet is on friendly terms with George Hurstwood, the manager of the saloon, who rubs elbows with the important businessmen, politicians, and actors of Chicago. Drouet and Hurstwood chat about Drouet's employers and his latest trip. Drouet mentions that he "struck a little peach"--that is, met Carrie--"coming in on the train Friday."Back at the apartment, Carrie irritates Hanson by informing him and Minnie that she hates her job. Carrie is disappointed that they offer no sympathy. Her board costs four dollars a week, and she has already seen enough to know that living with them will be gloomy and plodding. After dinner, she goes outside to stand on the stoop. This displeases Hanson, and he tells Minnie that her behavior looks bad. Carrie comes to realize that, after deducting the cost of living with Minnie and Hanson from her wage, she will not even be able to afford car fare.Carrie's second day at work is just as bad as the first. She thinks the other women are too common in their dress and their use of slang. Moreover, she dislikes the fact that they act so freely with the men in the factory. It bothers her that the men think that she is just like the other women; men on the street seem to be just as free with her. During the weekend, Minnie and Hanson take her to Garfield park, but Carrie is unhappy because she does not "look well enough." On Monday, she listens to the other women talk about their happy weekends with young men who took them out on the town. Carrie despairs at ever having enough money to have the things she wants.Winter arrives, and Carrie needs warmer clothing. Minnie allows her to keep some of her earnings for a hat. Carrie becomes too ill to work, so she loses her job. Hanson suggests that she go back home. During the fourth day of her unsuccessful search for another job, Carrie encounters Drouet on the street. He takes her to lunch. The high prices at the restaurant dismay Carrie, but Drouet orders a large meal for both of them. He learns that she has been ill and that she has been trying for several days to find another job. She states that she will probably have to leave Chicago and return home. She reluctantly accepts twenty dollars from Drouet to tide her over. He tells her to buy some new clothes and meet him for a matinee show the next day.Walking home, Carrie realizes she cannot buy clothing because she will have to explain to Minnie and Hanson where she got the money to pay for it. She resolves to return the money to Drouet. However, when they meet the next day he takes her to buy the clothing despite her protests. He also offers to rent a room for her so she can leave Minnie and Hanson's flat. She returns to the apartment and leaves a note for Minnie stating that she is going to live elsewhere in the city. Afterward, she leaves to meet Drouet under the pretense of going downstairs to stand on the stoop as usual.Carrie wonders anxiously whether she will be able to get a job. For several days, Drouet takes her out sight-seeing, to the theater, and out to eat. Her misgivings about leaving Minnie and Hanson are swept away. Minnie has a troubled dream that Carrie is slipping away from her toward some unknown danger. Drouet invites Hurstwood to his home one evening for a game of cards, wanting to introduce Hurstwood to Carrie because she has moved in with him.

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SISTER CARRIECommentaryAs a traveling salesman, Drouet is a symbol of the changing economic structure. He represents the mobility of the new worker. He also represents the commodification of the human being. He sells his goods with himself; it is his charming personality that makes his goods seem attractive to the consumer. Drouet is also an extremely conspicuous consumer, and he tries to appear wealthier than he really is by frequenting the restaurants and saloons favored by the rich. Here, the importance of image again comes into play: Drouet wishes to present his wealth as something greater than it really is.Carrie quickly learns that men treat her as a commodity as well. As a young, single wage-earner, she is not respectable; since she already sells herself to her employer, many men fail to see why she should not be available to them for other purposes. Her status as a wage-earner marks her as available, illustrating that the position of poor, unmarried, female workers in the new world of consumerism is tenuous at best.Despite her fascination with consumption, Carrie's concept of wealth is undeveloped. For her, there are "have's" and "have-not's," and nothing in-between. Hurstwood, long associated with the wealthy, is keenly attuned to the various degrees of wealth. He belongs to the upper middle class, not to the luxuriously wealthy, and his relationship with other people is governed by his relative wealth in comparison to theirs: people who have more money get more respect. As the manager of Fitzgerald and Moy's, a place where the wealthy citizens of Chicago go to show themselves in all their material glory, he has placed himself at a sort of nexus of conspicuous consumption.The moment Carrie no longer represents an opportunity for profit, Minnie and Hanson want her to leave their flat. Carrie resents the fact that they benefit from her labor while she herself cannot. However, she is unwilling to leave Chicago and go home; to do so would would be to leave behind the consumer world she is so eager to join.Carrie's impoverished situation incites genuine pity, but Drouet's offer of money is tinged with something other than simple compassion. Handing her the money gives him the opportunity to touch her hand, the first step in establishing physical intimacy with her. In essence, he is buying the opportunity for sex. The lunch and the loan are only the first step in getting it. Once he presses the twenty dollars into her hand, Carrie feels bound to him by a "strange tie of affection." Again, relations between individual people, especially between men and women, are shown to be governed by the consumer mentality. With his money, Drouet has purchased the right to initiate physical intimacy with Carrie.In this instance, and at other points in the novel, an exact dollar amount is named. Regardless of whether she is at work, out shopping, at home or on the street, Carrie lives in a world of prices. Her labor costs exactly four dollars and fifty cents per week; board costs four dollars per week; car fare costs sixty cents per week; a cheap lunch costs ten cents; and so on. By taking Drouet's money, Carrie implicitly sets her cost to him at exactly twenty dollars. Carrie's desire to hide her new living arrangements from Minnie and Hanson show that she is at least partly aware that she is selling herself.Drouet's follow-up installments seal the contract. He buys clothing for Carrie and takes her out for entertainment. In return, she moves in with him and becomes his mistress. Stripped of all the trappings, the relationship between Drouet and Carrie is one of prostitution. Note also that Carrie is paid far more for her body than she is for her labor; in this world, a woman's most marketable product is sex.Carrie serves as a symbol of the social values of the burgeoning American consumer culture. To her, money represents raw power; one almost gets the sense that she would be happy to be stranded on a desert island if only she had a large bundle of money. She has not yet learned the lesson that money alone is worth nothing. Only in relation to consumer goods does it represent anything of value.

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Chapters 9-12→SummaryHurstwood lives in a fashionable three-story home with his family. Hurstwood's wife, Julia, hopes that her daughter, Jessica, will marry rich and that her son, George Hurstwood, Jr., will prosper even more than Hurstwood has. She is not exactly dissatisfied with Hurstwood's success, but she still longs for something more. Hurstwood's life is his job, and he spends most of his time there.Hurstwood knows that an indiscreet affair would endanger his comfortable social position. He often goes out with his family in public to keep up appearances and to satisfy Julia. Hurstwood announces that he is going to Philadelphia on business and that he cannot take Julia along as he usually does. His real plan is to go with his male friends and "have a good time" where no one will recognize them. He dismisses the trip as insignificant, but Julia mulls over his failure to invite her.Drouet informs Carrie that he has invited Hurstwood to spend the evening with them. Drouet says that he has told Hurstwood they are married. Carrie asks why they cannot get married in reality as well, but Drouet puts her off, saying that he needs to wrap up a real estate deal first. Since Carrie does not really love Drouet, she accepts his vague promise without further questions.Hurstwood's elegant clothing and manners catch Carries attention. She compares him to Drouet and notices small deficiencies in her lover's personality and demeanor. Hurstwood entertains Carrie with a skilled flair, allowing her to win the card game. Although he is aware that Drouet and Carrie are not actually married, he is careful not to endanger the charade.Carrie takes care to imitate all the graceful motions Drouet notes in other women, and in the process she becomes a girl with "considerable taste." She befriends the wife of a neighbor, Mr. Hale, who is a theater manager. In her conversations with Carrie, Mrs. Hale imparts detailed gossip about the social world of the rich and famous. The music of a skilled piano player who lives across the hall awakens in Carrie a longing for something undefined. One evening Drouet finds Carrie in the dark with tears on her face. When he suggests they waltz to the music, Carrie realizes he cannot sympathize with her feelings.Hurstwood wonders how Drouet came to win Carrie. He feels a strong attraction for her, and he knows that Drouet, whatever he may say, has no plans to marry her. Hurstwood invites the two of them out to the theater. The atmosphere of the theater enthralls Carrie. Hurstwood is in fine form, entertaining both of them; Drouet seems dull in comparison.

Hurstwood, however, is unaware that his son is at the theater that very same night. At breakfast the next day, his son mentions that he saw him there. Hurstwood replies that he went with Charlie Drouet and his wife, friends of Moy's who are visiting Chicago. Julia understands that Hurstwood's job sometimes requires him to engage in social outings without her. However, he has several times declined to take her out because of work--including the previous night. Julia continues to pester Hurstwood to go on social outings with her, and Hurstwood who in reality finds his wife's company extremely dull, declines because he is "too busy." Julia becomes angry and notes that he has time for other people. Their mutual antagonism grows.Meanwhile, through Mrs. Hale, Carrie learns "to distinguish between degrees of wealth." She gazes longingly at stately mansions in Chicago, believing that certain happiness must reside therein. Hurstwood visits her while Drouet is away, and she notes that he does not patronize her like Drouet. Hurstwood tells her that he knows she is not happy, and she asks him not to stare at her so intently. He touches her hand, startling her. After agreeing not to talk about their new intimacy, Hurstwood departs in high spirits. Carrie wonders if she has done something wrong.

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CommentaryHurstwood represents the modern, capitalist man. His identity is largely derived from his role as manager of Fitzgerald and Moy's. His private, married life is subordinated to his public identity, not the other way around; he thinks of an indiscreet affair as a threat to his job, not his home life. Julia and Jessica serve to point out Carrie's naivete. They live a far more comfortable lifestyle than she does, but they are still not satisfied. Once again, we see the driving force behind consumer society: unsatisfied desire. Regardless of how much money one has, there are always more things to buy. While Carrie is unhappy because she cannot afford nice clothing, Julia and Jessica are unhappy because they cannot afford summer vacations in Europe. And while Carrie wants to belong to their social world, Julia and Jessica want to belong to the social world of the people who are even wealthier.Julia's unhappy marriage illustrates the position of married women. Hurstwood regards his wife largely as one of his possessions, an ornament that he can show off as proof of his success. Because he believes that she is susceptible to flattery, and because he has little faith in her, he knows "something might happen" if he does not keep close watch over her. Although it is not stated directly, it is clear that that "something" that Hurstwood fears is an extramarital affair.For Julia and George Hurstwood, the marriage contract serves as a different form of the transaction of sex for money. Julia receives a secure, comfortable upper middle class lifestyle in return for agreeing to give her husband the right of exclusive sexual access.Sister Carrie exposes the hypocrisy of the moral values of the middle class. For instance, Hurstwood does not disapprove of men's extramarital affairs in themselves; he only disapproves if they are carried out indiscreetly. Hurstwood and his friends travel to Philadelphia to engage in forbidden pleasures because no one knows them there. Should any of Hurstwood's friends get caught engaging in such pleasures in Chicago, the system of middle class morals would obligate him to either distance himself or lose respectability. The crime is thus, at least in Hurstwood's eyes and the eyes of his friends, getting caught in the act--not the act itself.This disjunction between people's behavior and the image they present is supported by a web of lies. Hurstwood lies to his wife, and Drouet lies to Carrie about his intent to marry her; Hurstwood in turn pretends that he does not know that Carrie and Drouet are unmarried. The more each character pretends to play his or her role, the harder it is to determine who or what is really genuine.Carrie's relation with Mrs. Hale is rife with symbolic meaning. As we have noted, playing various roles is an essential element of social relations. Through Mrs. Hale, Carrie gains an astute education in social relations. It is important to note that Carrie obtains this education through Mrs. Hale's gossip about the theater, a world in which role-playing assumes supreme importance. The theater will be a recurrent symbol for social relations throughout the novel.Carrie's exposure to Mrs. Hale and Hurstwood provides her with a more sophisticated relationship toward wealth. Before, she had thought of money in terms of extremes: either people have it or they don't. Now, she is able and eager to distinguish between people who have money and people who have more money. Because of her new ability to distinguish between the well-off and the truly wealthy, Hurstwood appeals to her more than Drouet does. Again, it is his clothing that catches her attention: although his manner and his dress are far more subtle than Drouet's, they unquestionably mark him as a wealthy, high status individual. The key difference between Hurstwood and Drouet is in the way they play their roles. While Hurstwood's performance is so good that it appears natural, Drouet fairly shouts that he is playing a role. His manner and dress are so flashy as to be almost obnoxious. Because Hurstwood consumes just as conspicuously, but with a good deal more taste, he enjoys higher social status. In short, Hurstwood looks like the genuine article and Drouet looks like an imitation.

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SISTER CARRIECarrie takes special care to imitate the mannerisms that Drouet compliments in other women, demonstrating the difficulty that Carrie has in establishing an identity of her own. By imitating whatever Drouet desires in a women, she becomes merely a reflection of masculine desire. Moreover, by playing her role so thoroughly, Carrie seems to support the conventional social belief that women are nothing but artifice and performance. Sister Carrie presents women's identity as virtually non-existent: men can be genuine, but women can only try to imitate.

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Chapters 13-16→SummaryHurstwood intends to make Carrie "confess an affection for him." His work schedule is flexible, so he takes an afternoon off to see her. They ride a horse-drawn carriage to the prairie outside of Chicago, where he declares that his times with her have been the happiest he has spent in years. He confesses that he loves her and asks that she declare her love for him. She replies with a kiss.Carrie rejoices in Hurstwood's love for her and agrees to meet again the next Sunday. Mrs. Hale notices that Carrie has been going out riding with another man while her "husband" is away, and the house-maid, who is fond of Drouet, wonders at Hurstwood's two visits while Drouet is out of town. Gossip spreads through the building.Hurstwood entertains fantasies of "pleasure without responsibility." He does not think he is doing anything that compromises his life. Carrie dines with him on Sunday evening, but she keeps him at a distance, which paradoxically incites his passion even more. They agree to exchange letters in care of the Post Office in order to preserve the secrecy of their affair. Drouet returns from his trip, and Hurstwood tells him that he had called on Carrie once during his absence because he thought she might be lonely.Drouet tells Carrie that Hurstwood wants to go to the theater with them. Carrie mentions that he called on her twice during Drouet's absence, contradicting Hurstwood's earlier story, but Drouet thinks nothing of it. Carrie and Hurstwood exchange letters and get their stories straight. Carrie is under the impression that Hurstwood plans to marry her as soon as possible. The evening at the theater goes well, and Drouet continues to suspect nothing. A beggar stands outside the theater asking for money to rent a room for the night. Drouet is the first to notice, and he gives the man some money. Hurstwood scarcely notices, and Carrie quickly forgets.Hurstwood begins to regard his home life with even greater indifference than before. Julia demands a season ticket to the horse races because she wants to show off her daughter. Hurstwood balks at the cost: one hundred and fifty dollars. After quarreling with Julia, he finally agrees to purchase one. However, his concession fails to heal the rift between them. Hurstwood notices that his family has stopped informing him of their activities. He begins to feel as though they are not giving him his due respect.Meanwhile, Hurstwood and Carrie frequently exchange letters. He urges her to leave Drouet, but she says they must leave Chicago first because she does not want to get married as long as Drouet is around. Her mention of marriage shocks Hurstwood. He tells her that he will take her on a trip soon and that they will get married somewhere else. He is considering marrying her without divorcing Julia.

Drouet's local Elk lodge plans to put on an amateur theatrical to raise funds for new furniture. They need a young lady for one of the parts, and they ask Drouet to find someone. Shortly before rehearsals begin, he asks Carrie to do it. She is nervous at the prospect of acting, but also intrigued, and eventually Drouet convinces her to do it. He informs him fellow lodge members of the actress he has found, giving her name as Carrie Madenda. He tells Carrie that he has given her a stage name to protect her reputation in case the play is a failure. Carrie studies the part and acts part of it out for Drouet. Her performance is surprisingly good for a beginner.

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CommentaryThe encounter between Hurstwood and Carrie highlights the conventional social attitude towards feminine desire. Carrie's relationships with Drouet and Hurstwood demonstrate a reluctance on the part of the men, and Carrie herself, to recognize the existence of female sexual desire. Carrie's habit of imitating the mannerisms that Drouet remarks in other women makes her the reflection of masculine sexual desire; she is never allowed to express any desire of her own--except for her desire for conspicuous consumption.Carrie's consumer mentality drives her to buy clothing, trinkets, and jewelry as a way of satisfying her desire. In her relationships with other people, however, she feels pleasure for being desired rather than for feeling desire of her own. When Hurstwood declares his love for Carrie, he begs her to state her own love for him. Instead, she kisses him. Although this implicitly answers Hurstwood's demand, it is also a way for Carrie to avoid asserting her own desire.Julia's dissatisfaction with her marriage to Hurstwood presents the reader with one vision of the fate of the married woman in a male-dominated, capitalist world. While Julia hopes to divorce Hurstwood, Carrie longs to be married, unaware that marriage might legitimize her relationship but will never give her the freedom she wants. Unsatisfied with her role as Drouet's false wife, she believes that marriage will free her of the web of lies that surrounds her. She wishes to stop imitating the role of Drouet's wife and become the genuine article. What she fails to realize is that Julia, Hurstwood's current wife, has lost her identity through marriage; when Hurstwood begins to neglect her, her marriage to him prevents her from taking any action to restore her access to the public sphere. In the end, Hurstwood's duplicity turns both of his relationships--his "genuine" marriage to Julia and his "false" marriage to Carrie--into imitations. Hurstwood's crucial role in determining the value of the relationships demonstrates one of the conventional standards that permeate the novel: a woman has social standing only when a man desires her.Interestingly, Julia's protest of Hurstwood's neglect does not take the form of sexual jealousy. Once again, a woman is denied the possibility of expressing her own sexual desire, even as a form of negative response to a man's neglect of her. She demands, rather, that Hurstwood show his appreciation for her by buying her a season ticket to the races. Like Carrie, she expresses her desire through consumerism. Moreover, she wants the ticket so she can take her daughter out in public and show her off; by displaying Jessica, she hopes to excite the desire of a wealthy young man who might provide the opportunity for social advancement by marrying her.Drouet's offer to secure a role for Carrie in his the play at his Elk lodge revives the theme of the theater. Carrie's assumption of a new name extends a theme that recurs throughout Sister Carrie: that women lack fixed identities of their own. Moreover, Drouet is the one who provides Carrie with the opportunity to act in the first place, and he even chooses Carrie's stage name, thereby demonstrating his power over her identity. Ever since meeting Drouet on the train to Chicago, she has played a role according to his desires, imitating the mannerisms he remarks in other women and acting as his mistress and "wife." Here, she again finds herself playing a role for him.

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Chapters 17-21→SummaryCarrie writes Hurstwood to tell him about her part in the play at Drouet's Elk lodge. Later, Drouet drops by Fitzgerald and Moy's and talks to Hurstwood, who mentions that he has heard that Drouet's lodge is putting on a play. Drouet tells him that Carrie is going to take a part in the play. Hurstwood replies that he would like see it, and he offers to get flowers for Carrie after her performance. Drouet thinks Hurstwood is a good-natured man to care so much for Carrie's happiness.Carrie attends the first rehearsal. Most of the participants are poor actors, and the director harangues them to put some expression into their parts. Carrie suggests that they run through the play once to make sure everyone knows their lines. She impresses the director with her performance. Meanwhile, she and Hurstwood continue to meet periodically in a park.Hurstwood, who is a member of another Elk lodge, has considerable influence among the Elks. He spreads the word among his own lodge and his friends, and he arranges to have a newspaper advertisement for the show. Partly due to his efforts, the tickets for the performance sell very well, and the show is filled to capacity. Carrie feels at home in theater and loves the entire affair. Hurstwood explains his wife's absence at the show by telling his friends that she is ill.Despite Carrie's enthusiasm, she and the rest of the cast suffer severe stage fright. The first few scenes are absolutely awful. When Drouet goes backstage to give Carrie encouragement, Hurstwood becomes intensely jealous. Carrie and the rest of the cast improve somewhat in the following acts, and Carrie finishes with a brilliant performance. Her performance revives Drouet's affection and intensifies Hurstwood's desire. At the end of the show, Drouet cannot wait until he and Carrie return home together, and he resolves to marry her as he had promised. Drouet, Carrie, and Hurstwood dine together after the show, and Hurstwood returns home that evening full of jealousy and unrequited desire.At breakfast the next morning, Julia irritates Hurstwood more than ever by asking when they are going to take their summer vacation. Hurstwood states that he is too busy to go for at least a month. Julia replies that she, Jessica, and George Hurstwood, Jr., will go without him. Hurstwood tells her that they will do no such thing.Drouet tells Carrie that he will marry her soon, but she jests that he is not serious. Drouet perceives that Carrie is no longer helplessly dependent on him, but has begun to feel her first inklings of independence. When he leaves, Carrie hurries out to meet Hurstwood. Drouet, however, returns to get some bills he had forgotten and discovers that Carrie has gone out. The chambermaid is there cleaning, and he flirts with her. She asks him what has become of Hurstwood; she is surprised because he has not called once since Drouet returned to Chicago. Drouet asks what she means, and she replies that Hurstwood had called a half dozen times while Drouet was gone. He feels the first inklings of suspicion and resolves to confront Carrie.

Carrie meets Hurstwood, and he urges her to leave Drouet. Carrie hesitates. Hurstwood asks why, and she can only say that she does not know. She asks him when they are getting married. Hurstwood is privately shocked at the idea, but he tells her that they can marry anytime she wants. She agrees to leave Saturday on the condition that he marry her. Hurstwood promises, trusting fortune to save him.

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CommentaryIf we take Carrie to be a symbol of feminine identity, her acute pleasure in taking part in the theater is a metaphor dense with meaning. In the theater, Carrie feels most at home; she seems to find her identity in the very act of role-playing. Here, we again see traces of the theme that conventional social attitudes do not allow a woman to be "genuine" or to have an identity of her own.Moreover, the role Carrie plays mirrors the conditions of her own life. In the theater, she plays the role of a woman who begins her life in poverty and rises to a higher social status. This is a strong reminder of Drouet's and Hurstwood's roles in elevating her from her initial lack of money and status. By bringing together the fictional play and Carrie's own life, the novel blurs the distinction between role-playing and reality and between imitation and the genuine.Carrie's opportunity to succeed in the performance of her role in the play comes about through Drouet's urging and support. Her stage fright disappears only after she receives a man's encouragement. Moreover, when she begins to perform her role with skill, Drouet cannot wait to go home alone with her after the play, so he can satisfy his renewed sexual desire for her. Carrie's value increases when she is the object of competition between men: she becomes desirable when she performs her role well, and when her skillful role-playing is on public display--and thus an object of competition among men--she becomes more valuable still.Carrie's first feelings of power and identity come as a praised performer. Hurstwood and Drouet shower her with gifts, flowers, and dinner after the play. She feels that her worth has risen, and after the play she feels freer to poke fun at Drouet's lies about marrying her. Drouet senses that he no longer has Carrie under control. Carrie's new position of power, however, is not entirely independent: she is able to manipulate Drouet through his increased desire for her, but without his desire she would be powerless.Julia's threat to go on vacation without Hurstwood angers him. As her husband, Hurstwood feels as though he has the right to make all of the decisions regarding the family's finances and activities. Julia's demands represent a challenge to his masculine power. He views marriage as a contract that gives him the right to control Julia without question. Drouet, in contrast, feels insecure because he does not have the claims of ownership offered by marriage. While he trifles with the chambermaid, he learns that Carrie herself has a budding affair on the side. His reaction reflects the double standard for men and women. He feels no qualms at carrying on with other women while in a relationship with Carrie, but he feels that the financial benefits he confers on Carrie give him the right of exclusive sexual access to her.

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Chapters 22-25→SummaryJulia resents Hurstwood's lack of attention toward her and becomes suspicious. She bitterly notes his sudden good humor and the special attention he has begun paying to his appearance. One of Hurstwood's friends sees him with Carrie in a carriage. However, he thinks the woman is either Julia or Jessica. When he encounters Julia, he jests that she is too good to talk to her friends. After some circumspect questioning, she realizes that Hurstwood has been seeing someone and finally understands the reason that Hurstwood has been so busy recently.Julia and Jessica go to the races and meet another friend of Hurstwood's. He expresses regret that she was too ill to attend the play at Drouet's Elk lodge. The fact that Hurstwood went out for the evening without taking her enrages Julia. Hurstwood returns home after his meeting with Carrie in a cheery mood. Julia behaves coldly with him. Hoping to mollify her, Hurstwood tells her that she can go on vacation if she wants. Julia replies that she does not intend to leave town and leave him free to fool around with another woman. Hurstwood denies her accusations.Julia demands that he give her the money for the trip to Waukesha the next morning. He refuses, and she asks him who has been keeping him so busy during the evenings. Hurstwood tells her that her accusations are false and that she will not be allowed to dictate the terms of their relationship to him. However, he cannot disprove her accusations, and he remembers with regret that all of his property is in her name. She threatens to get a lawyer if he does not submit to her demands.Carrie returns home and sits in her rocking chair, staring out the window. Drouet arrives, full of determination to confront Carrie about her affair. He asks her what is going on between her and Hurstwood, and Carrie denies that anything untoward has been happening. Drouet advises her to stay away from Hurstwood because he is married. Carrie is shocked and angry. Drouet accuses her of using him for his money. Carrie declares she will not live with him anymore, but Drouet says that she can stay and that he will leave.Hurstwood regrets putting his property in Julia's name. He wonders if she's going to publicize his indiscretions. He goes to meet Carrie at their usual place and time, but she never arrives. He checks to see if she has written him a letter, but she has not. Later, he receives a message from his wife demanding that he give her the money she asked for immediately. Hurstwood tells the messenger boy that there will be no reply. Soon, a second note arrives, in which she threatens to inform Fitzgerald and Moy of his indiscretion if he does not give her the money. Hurstwood finally relents and returns home to deliver the money, only to find that he has been locked out of the house.Hurstwood returns to his office and sends a messenger boy to deliver the money. He spends the whole weekend without word from either Carrie or Julia. On Monday, he receives a letter from a lawyer. Julia has retained legal counsel concerning her property rights and the support Hurstwood owes her as her husband. They request a visit from Hurstwood to discuss the matter. He calls on his son several times, but receives no answer. He still receives no word from Carrie, and he realizes that she must have discovered that he is married. On Wednesday, he receives a letter from Julia's lawyers stating that unless he comes to meet them by one o'clock the next day, they will file suit on Julia's behalf for divorce and alimony. If he fails to meet with them, they will assume that he is unwilling to negotiate any other terms.

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Commentary

Throughout Sister Carrie, a detached voice often enters the narrative to comment on the characters and their actions. This voice states that women naturally desire male admiration; that women naturally love performance, clothing, and adornment; and that women are naturally imitative, not genuine. It reinforces the conventional belief that the essence of woman is the performance of a role.Hurstwood's struggle with Julia perhaps redeems the book from completely re-enacting the conventional social values it portrays. Julia's struggle with Hurstwood contradicts the conventional belief that authenticity is a naturally masculine attribute. Hurstwood's outraged reaction at Julia's demands arises from his belief that his power and her submission are natural conditions. Even when he neglects his role as her husband, he believes that he has a right to his position as the head of the family. Hurstwood does not believe his identity depends on the performance of a role, and it is precisely this belief that leads him into trouble. By neglecting his role as Julia's husband, Hurstwood compromises his position of power. He assumes that the marriage contract is entirely to hisadvantage, but Julia's challenge teaches him that this is not the case. His affair gives her ample legal and social ammunition to enforce his submission to her demands: both his financial well-being and his social standing are at stake.Hurstwood's continuing belief that he deserves the absolute power to make decisions for his family leads to his downfall. He refuses to speak with Julia's lawyers because he is unwilling to recognize her claim to make demands on him. He chooses not to negotiate, so she sues him for divorce. We have seen ample evidence that conventional values construct woman's identity as entirely the performance of a role. The exposure of Hurstwood's power as the function of a role and not an intrinsic quality opens the possibility for reading masculine identity as a performance as well. Here, the novel seems to say that power is not a natural masculine right.However, we cannot read Hurstwood's predicament in an entirely feminist view. Although it does contradict the conventional social attitude that the genuine is a natural male attribute, Julia still upholds a conventional construction of femininity. By demanding money, she continues to express her desire in the form of consumer capitalism. In a sense, her demand also reinforces the construction of the marriage contract as a form of prostitution. She feels that Hurstwood has literally not paid his dues. She also feels that her value has been depreciated because he has not made the proper show of desiring her, a sign that she has still not established an identity independent of his desire for her.

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Chapters 26-30→SummaryNow that her support from Drouet is gone, Carrie realizes that she only has seven dollars. She begins looking for work as an actress. Two theater managers tell her that, as a beginner, she should start in New York. She writes Hurstwood to say that she cannot have anything more to do with him. She tries to get work in the department stores, but they are still looking for women with experience.Carrie returns to discover that Drouet has come to get some of his things. He had waited in the apartment, hoping to catch her there under the pretense of gathering his belongings and have a chance to make up with her. When she failed to arrive, he left, planning to call on her the next day.Hurstwood receives Carrie's letter and resolves to win back her love. He learns that Drouet is no longer living at the apartment with her, so he assumes they have argued and parted ways. He returns to work. After closing, he checks all of the cash drawers and the safe. He discovers that the safe has been left unlocked, leaving ten thousand dollars in cash unprotected.Hurstwood knows that Julia probably will get everything in the divorce. Even though he and Carrie could live for years on the ten thousand dollars he finds in the safe, he decides to leave it where he found it. However, the safe clicks shut while the money is still in his hands. Hurstwood has never been given the combination to the safe, so he will probably get in trouble for removing the money from the safe. He flees the saloon with the money.Hurstwood rushes to Carrie's apartment. He tells Carrie that Drouet is in the hospital with a serious injury and that he wants to see her. She hurries out with him, and Hurstwood takes her to the train station. Carrie unknowingly follows him onto a train headed to Detroit. She slowly realizes that Hurstwood has lied to her and demands that he let her go. Hurstwood pleads with her to run away with him to Montreal. He says that he is divorcing his wife and promises to marry Carrie right away. She agrees to go with him. He says nothing about the stolen money.Hurstwood rents a hotel room in Montreal under an assumed name. He notices a man surveying him in the hotel lobby. After taking Carrie out to breakfast, Hurstwood reads the Chicago papers. His crime is reported in a small article. Soon after, a detective accosts Hurstwood in his hotel room. He tells Hurstwood that he cannot be arrested in Canada, but that the Montreal newspapers will certainly have a field day with his story if they discover him. In order to prevent the scandal, Hurstwood sends back most of the money with a letter explaining that he was drunk when he stole it. He hints that he would like his job back. Hurstwood and Carrie marry under the name of Wheeler. Fitzgerald and Moy write back to say they bear him no ill will, but that they are not sure whether they are willing to take him back.

Hurstwood knows that Fitzgerald and Moy's indecision is a sign that they will not take him back, so he moves to New York with Carrie, who still knows nothing of his theft. They rent a comfortable flat, and Hurstwood purchases a third share in a small saloon. He finds that his partner is disagreeable and that the saloon is nothing like Fitzgerald and Moy's. However, he manages it carefully in order to earn $150 per month from it. He is forced to watch his household expenses carefully. Carrie recognizes that Hurstwood is no longer as free with his money as he had been in Chicago. He will not discuss his money matters with her, and the first seeds of trouble are sown in their relationship. Meanwhile, Hurstwood fears meeting old acquaintances in New York.

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CommentaryDrouet's break-up with Carrie further highlights the performative origins of masculine power. He has been playing a charade of planning to marry her all along. However, when his promise to marry is exposed as a performance, he loses his power over her. As with Hurstwood, when his power is exposed as a function of the performance of a role, Drouet loses control. He plans to win Carrie back with a performance, returning to their apartment under the pretense of gathering his remaining belongings. When he discovers that she is not home, he waits for her, planning to pretend as though he has just arrived when she eventually returns. However, Drouet never has the opportunity to put on his performance to win Carrie back; Hurstwood beats him to it. He lures Carrie away with a magnificent performance of anxious concern for Drouet's "injury."When she parts ways with Drouet, Carrie is once again forced to think about the means of her support. Her immediate thought is to work in the theater. She has learned that her value is determined through performance. Carrie's early days in Chicago represented the experience of the working poor. The most basic costs of food, transportation, clothing and shelter were matters of concern. Carrie's life was governed entirely by the prices of these things. Hurstwood's wealth, in contrast, allowed him to concern himself with only the prices of luxury items, and only seldom even then. In New York, although Hurstwood is forced to think about the prices of basic commodities, he is still able to keep up the show of luxury. Carrie maintains the illusion of him as someone who can free her from the need to constantly worry over the prices of things.In Montreal, Hurstwood does not realize the predicament he has gotten himself into until the detective tracks him down. He has ten thousand dollars that cannot be taken from him as long as he remains in Canada, but his reputation is at risk. By hinting at the publicity Hurstwood's theft would receive in Montreal's newspapers, the detective is threatening something almost as valuable as cash: Hurstwood's social respectability. No matter what the money might allow him to buy, it will not keep Carrie at his side in the middle of a scandal. Furthermore, the money will not even allow him to start a business, since no one who knew of the scandal would patronize it. He thus returns the money and avoids telling Carrie anything about the theft or his financial problems.Once he arrives in New York, the fact that he must think carefully about small expenditures like cab fare, rent, and small trinkets for Carrie hits him with full force. He has ample money to invest in another business, but he turns down many opportunities because they are too low-class or because they involve some measure of illegality. He does not want to risk another scandal by which he might lose his respectability in New York as he did in Chicago.However, once he settles on a business, Hurstwood resumes the old game of playing the husband role, taking complete control of the financial reins. He never consults Carrie about household expenses because he is eager to preserve the illusion that his buying power is as large as it has always been. His attempt to play the role of provider is not entirely successful, however, because Carrie notices that he no longer provides her with the kind of expensive entertainment he did in Chicago.

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Chapters 31-35→SummaryCarrie and Hurstwood live harmoniously in New York for two years. However, Hurstwood makes a few friends and begins staying out in the evenings. Carrie has no friends of her own, and Hurstwood, thinking that Carrie prefers the domestic life, rarely takes her with him during his evening entertainment. Mr. and Mrs. Vance move in across the hall, and Carrie becomes friends with Mrs. Vance. Carrie notices they are wealthy, and she begins to compare herself to Mrs. Vance. Carrie attends a show with the Vances, and the display of wealth at the theater enthralls her. When she returns to her flat, it now seems insufficient and commonplace. She remembers her old desire to work on the stage.Carrie attends an evening show with the Vances and their cousin, Mr. Ames. Carrie finds him extremely charming. They eat dinner in a fine restaurant where the exceedingly attentive service and well-dressed patrons give Carrie a taste of the New York high life. Carrie thinks of Ames as an educated man, and she is eager to be agreeable to him. He disdains the ostentatious display of wealth that impresses Carrie as a profound thing. After the show, he returns alone to his lodgings, disappointing Carrie. She wonders if she will ever see him again.Hurstwood begins to realize what he has lost. He is no longer an important man in important social circles. In the third year, business at the saloon drops off. He tells Carrie they must wait to buy some little things she wants for herself. He irritates her by not consulting her about the purchases he makes for himself. The Vances move out and go on vacation for the summer. The loss of her friend's company and Hurstwood's gloomy mood increase Carrie's restlessness and dissatisfaction.Hurstwood tells Carrie that he dislikes his current business partner and that he wants to save his money and buy a share in a different business, so they move to a smaller, cheaper flat downtown. She wonders if she has made a mistake in marrying Hurstwood. Meanwhile, the owner of the lot on which his saloon sits sells the building and the land to a new owner who does not want to extend the lease. Hurstwood's partner does not want to re-open the business elsewhere, so Hurstwood's need to get a share in another business becomes even more urgent.He searches for a new business in which to invest, but everything is either too expensive or too "wretched" for his tastes. The lease on his business runs out, without Hurstwood having found anything new. He has no connections in New York, and he cannot use any of his old ones because of the circumstances of his departure from Chicago. Often, he idles in hotel lobbies, reading the newspaper. During one heavy snowstorm, he spends several days at home reading the paper. He falls ill and loses more time. He also encounters a couple of his old friends from Chicago. Together, these incidents embarrass him and lessen his determination to look for work.Days pass into weeks. Hurstwood begins pestering Carrie to economize on household expenses. In order to ensure that they spend as little as possible, he begins running all the household errands himself. Carrie notices with dissatisfaction that he skimps on many expenses. She also loses her weekly allowance because Hurstwood does all the shopping. Hurstwood becomes apathetic. He ceases to dress well and neglects his daily grooming. Eventually, he even stops consulting the ads in the papers. Carrie makes a cutting remark about his idleness. They begin sleeping in separate rooms.

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Commentary

Hurstwood pays careful attention to Carrie during the first two years of their marriage. Carrie notices that Hurstwood cannot offer her the lavish entertainment and clothing he had in Chicago, but his care to show appreciation for her keeps her happy for a while. However, he repeats the same cycle of neglect he went through with Julia, forgetting to play his role as Carrie's husband. Carrie must depend on Hurstwood to give her money for entertainment. Her access to the public sphere is mediated through him, and he neglects to take her out in the evenings because he believes she enjoys her domestic role.Carrie's experience in New York symbolizes the impersonal modern experience in which families can live in the same building for years without speaking to one another. In a city teeming with people, it takes her two years to make her first friend. Her life is characterized by an intense isolation. Her only relationship is with Hurstwood; he comprises her entire world.Mrs. Vance's arrival changes everything. Before Carrie befriends her, she has no standard by which to measure herself. Once Carrie becomes acquainted with someone wealthier than she is, she becomes dissatisfied with her life. Mrs. Vance revives Carrie's consumer desire. Through the Vances, Carrie also regains contact with the theater. She re-enters the world of conspicuous consumption. Unlike Hurstwood and Carrie, the Vances do not have to worry about the prices. Hurstwood attempts to maintain the illusion that he can pay for things without thinking about their prices, but Carrie's demands on his money grow considerably after she meets Mrs. Vance.Carrie's first encounter with Hurstwood teaches her the difference between taste and flash. Drouet displayed his wealth obviously, but Hurstwood was more subtle. He managed to appear wealthy without drawing too much attention to the money itself. Carrie's encounter with Ames exposed her to a further refinement of wealth and prestige. Ames represents a world of discerning artistic taste that attracts Carrie. Whereas Hurstwood represented the wealth needed to regularly attend shows in the theater, Ames represents the artistic taste necessary to assume a critical attitude toward the entertainment.Hurstwood's fruitless search for a business incites Carrie's anger and contempt. His search mirrors Carrie's job search during the early days in Chicago. However, Hurstwood pursues an income thinking of everything he has lost, while Carrie pursued one thinking of everything she could gain. His inability and unwillingness to find a job is coupled with an obsession with money. His life will continue to be characterized by his obsession with the prices of things. He causes Carrie's to resent him by taking on all the shopping; by doing so, he is stealing away from her one of the few things over which she has control. Moreover, because he is no longer bringing in an income, Carrie feels that he has broken an obligation to her. Sleeping in another room is her way of refusing to fulfill her part of the marriage contract.

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Chapters 36-42→SummaryCarrie encounters Mrs. Vance and invites her to visit. Mrs. Vance senses that Hurstwood and Carrie are in difficult financial straits. The meeting with her old friend increases Carrie's resentment toward Hurstwood's idleness. Hurstwood turns to gambling and loses sixty dollars. Mrs. Vance calls one day when Carrie is out, but Hurstwood's disheveled appearance shocks her so much that she does not wait for Carrie's return. The news of the incident infuriates Carrie. During a quarrel, Hurstwood drives Carrie to tears by insisting that their marriage is illegal. Soon after, he loses more money gambling.Carrie decides to look for work as an actress. She finally gets a position as a chorus girl at twelve dollars a week. She uses "Carrie Madenda" as her stage name. Having found work so quickly, she resents Hurstwood's months of joblessness even more than she had before. She insinuates that he is not actually looking for work when he goes out. She resents her new position of having to support Hurstwood her small wage. Now that she is paying the household expenses, her desire for new clothing and small ornaments grows. Rather than paying rent, she buys a new pair of shoes, and Hurstwood begins buying groceries on credit. Carrie befriends another chorus girl, Lola, and they start spending evenings out together.Carrie receives a more important position and a six dollar raise, but she hides the news from Hurstwood. She buys more clothes and again runs short on rent. Hurstwood continues to buy on credit. She and Hurstwood quarrel over expenses. He knows that she is lying about her income because he sees the new things she has purchased. Once, she spends a whole evening out with Lola and her friends. They go to dinner, and Carrie is reminded of the Vances and Mr. Ames. She wonders whether she would make a good actress and what Mr. Ames would think of her.Carrie's show goes on the road, so she finds another position as a chorus girl for twenty dollars a week. Carrie realizes that Hurstwood was lying about the business opportunity at the end of the summer. She continues to pay expenses and keep the flat in order. Hurstwood's clothes have started to become worn, and he stops pretending that he is looking for work. However, the workers on the trolley lines begin striking for fewer hours and better wages, and to stave off his creditors Hurstwood decides to work as a driver on the trolleys--to become a scab.On his first day at work, two policemen accompany him on the car. People shout "Scab!" at him from the street, and some strikers block the tracks with debris. The policemen beat off the strikers. Hurstwood and the conductor clear the tracks. Hurstwood manages to drive away while the strikers toss stones at him. Soon, however, they encounter a larger, angrier mob. Someone hits Hurstwood and a pistol is fired, and Hurstwood quits the job then and there. He returns home and reads the newspaper. Carrie thinks he has quit out of laziness.Lola asks Carrie if she wants to get an apartment together and split the rent. Carrie replies that she is unsure. Soon thereafter, she gets a speaking part in a play when the original actress quits. She receives $35 a week for her role. She has to buy clothes for the part, but rent day is coming. She decides to move in with Lola because she will only have to pay twelve dollars a month for rent.Carrie borrows twenty-five dollars from Lola. When Hurstwood leaves for a walk, she writes him a note explaining that she is leaving him. She leaves twenty dollars for him and moves out of the apartment. When Hurstwood returns and finds the note and the money, he sits in the rocking chair for several hours, staring at the floor.

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CommentaryHurstwood's failure to keep up appearances is the beginning of the end of his relationship with Carrie. By neglecting his personal grooming and choosing to wear his old clothing, he signals an acceptance of their poverty. Mrs. Vance's choice to drop her friendship with Carrie because of Hurstwood's appearance reflects the dehumanizing nature of a consumer society. Carrie and Hurstwood have fallen below the level of wealth that Mrs. Vance considers necessary for her to associate with them.Carrie's relationship with Hurstwood during his decline comes to mirror her relationship with Minnie and Hanson in Chicago years earlier. Once again, she is working for a small wage and giving most of it to someone else, and her desire to spend it on herself is frustrated. The peculiar nature of her situation--a woman supporting a man--highlights the social relations between women and men. In return for a man's support, a woman gives her body. Carrie, however, feels that Hurstwood offers her nothing in return for her financial support. Carrie's inability to spend money on her consumer desires because of the needs of the household cause her to resent Hurstwood for not giving her what she had expected--enough money to become a conspicuous consumer. In fact, his tendency to spend more frugally than Carrie runs directly contrary to her desires.Hurstwood's dependence on Carrie robs him of his masculinity. Having to depend on his wife's income sharply advertises the fact that he has failed to fulfill his role as a husband. His desperate situation drives him to work as a scab during the strike. The strike is largely a protest of the de-humanized identity of the capitalist wage earner. By striking for higher wages and shorter work days, the workers are simply demanding to be treated like human beings. The company responds to this challenge to its authority by pitting the desperate workers against even more desperate scabs. The strike demonstrates the impersonal nature of social relations. The strikers, scabs, and company men are all faceless; they differ only in their position in the hierarchy of powerCarrie's rising success coincides with Hurstwood's steady decline. As she gains greater access to the public sphere, Hurstwood slowly withdraws from it. Carrie begins staying out during the evenings while Hurstwood waits at home for her. Their situations are now reversed, but since conventional social values do not require a woman to support her husband, Carrie can drift away from Hurstwood without the same problems Hurstwood faced when he neglected Julia. Her choice to leave him is almost entirely motivated by finances--as was her choice to marry him in the first place. Without the burden of paying for their household expenses, she can continue to purchase new clothing and small adornments to improve her appearance. And without his apathy and inability to keep up appearances, she may be able to make and keep high status friends like Mrs. Vance.

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SISTER CARRIE

Chapters 43-47→SummaryCarrie becomes completely absorbed in the life of the theater. She longs to be a renowned actress. One newspaper runs a small notice announcing that she has taken a speaking part. It is the first time her name is published in a paper. Her new wage of $35 per week gives her ample spending money. New clothes, trinkets, and decorations accumulate in her room. Soon her picture is published in the paper.

When summer arrives, Carrie gets a silent part as a Quakeress. Carrie's photo is published with the announcements advertising the show in the papers. The manager instructs Carrie to frown and scowl throughout the play.During the first performance, the audience does not notice Carrie during the first act. However, during the second act, they take notice. They find her scowl funny, and Carrie becomes an instant hit as well as the chief feature of the play. The reviews of the show make recurrent references to Carrie's name, and many critics praise her performance. Carrie receives a raise. She now earns $150 per week. Hurstwood reads of Carrie's success while staying in a dingy hotel.A crowd of ardent male admirers sends Carrie gifts, flowers, and letters. A representative of a lavish hotel asks her to take a suite there for $3 per week because her presence there will draw business. Carrie accepts the offer and takes Lola with her. Mrs. Vance, having discovered Carrie's success from the papers, calls on Carrie at her new home. They make an appointment for dinner. Despite her sudden fame and wealth, Carrie feels lonely.Hurstwood's small store of cash dwindles as he pays for lodging in the cheapest hotels. He follows Carrie's rising success closely, reading the newspaper reviews that praise her performance. For some weeks, he works at menial tasks in a hotel. His weary attitude and taciturn nature displease his co-workers, so they make work unpleasant for him. He catches pneumonia and spends three weeks in a hospital. He begins to beg for money.There is a homeless man in New York known as "the captain." Every evening, other homeless men gather around him. At the appointed time, the captain calls out to passing pedestrians, asking them to give money to rent beds for each of the men. Hurstwood seeks out the captain's peculiar charity and manages to sleep indoors for a night.

Drouet, having read of Carrie's success in the papers, pays her a visit, hoping to take up where they left off. He informs Carrie of Hurstwood's theft the night he fled Chicago. Pity and sorrow for Hurstwood overwhelm her. She brushes Drouet off after dinner. Soon after, Hurstwood catches her on the street and asks for money. Filled with pity, she asks him what has happened to him and hands him nine dollars. Insulted by her pity, Hurstwood gives her vague answers and shuffles off.Ames returns to New York. He tells Carrie that she should act in dramas rather than comedies. Carrie feels as if she has failed his expectations. They bond over music and her former fascination with him is revived. Hurstwood begins making regular rounds to various charities in order to survive. Drouet continues chasing after women, as always. Jessica marries a wealthy man, much to Julia's satisfaction. Hurstwood commits suicide by leaving the gas on in a cheap hotel room. Carrie's success grows, but she continues to suffer from an unsatisfied desire for something even she cannot name. Drouet gives up on trying to meet with her, and she never learns of Hurstwood's death.

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SISTER CARRIE

CommentaryCarrie assumes her old stage name when she first starts working as a chorus girl. The publication of her name and her photo in the newspaper signals the success of her new identity. Note, though, that her break-through role is a silent part; she is a success not because of what she says but because of the way she looks. Her pretty, scowling face incites the desire of the men in the audience; her sex appeal sells tickets, and her pay is raised accordingly.Carrie's success as an actress gives her an extremely marketable form of publicity. By offering Carrie a discounted weekly rate, the representative of the hotel is investing in a particular kind of advertisement. The hotel is banking on Carrie's consumer desires influencing the consumer desires of others.Mrs. Vance deigns to re-assume her acquaintance with Carrie only after she becomes a high paid, famous actress. Carrie senses that she is now in the position of greater power; it is Mrs. Vance who seeks her company rather than the reverse. Whereas Mrs. Vance had avoided Carrie while she lived with Hurstwood for fear of being seen with members of the lower class, she now stands to gain status through her association with Carrie.While Hurstwood is reduced to the position of having to worry about sums less than a quarter, Carrie enjoys a larger income than ever before. Despite hardly knowing what to do with all of her money, however, she still suffers from unsatisfied desires. She is aware that she is not a member of the luxuriously rich, even though extremely wealthy men offer her enormous fortunes in return for her love. Whereas she once sold herself to Drouet for twenty dollars, she now receives love letters from men worth a million. Unfortunately, she no longer takes as much pleasure in being desired by important, wealthy men as she once did.Ames tells Carrie that she should act in dramas because her face seems to naturally express unsatisfied longing. His praise pleases Carrie because it is "keen and analytical." His comments are the only moment in Sister Carrie when a man remarks on her individual features. Her other male admirers see her not as an individual, but as a symbol and as a commodity. Her sudden fame and fortune have alienated her from herself. Although she has now gained an identity that is independent of Hurstwood's and Drouet's desire for her, she is still dependent on the desire of the public. She gains success by playing a role, but her success requires her to play another role: that of Carrie Madenda, the famous actress. Ames realizes that Carrie does not really have control over her own public identity, so he encourages her to take an active role in forming her public identity by deviating from her role as a comic actress.Carrie's fame brings her a strange, impersonal isolation. Her theatrical success does not bring her any greater access to love, friendship, or satisfaction than she had had as a lonely housewife. She symbolizes the impersonalization of the rich and famous. The captain, in contrast, symbolizes the impersonalized, dehumanized situation of the desperately poor. The captain at first seems to represent the presence of human kindness in the midst of an impersonal metropolis, but it is important to note that his form of charity involves creating an entertaining spectacle of the misery of his fellow homeless men.Pedestrians who would having ignored each of the individual beggars in the captain's crowd donate money to the captain's cause because he offers them an interesting performance. His act is eerily similar to an auction; in a way, he is auctioning off the misery of each individual beggar to the interested spectators. As one of these beggars, Hurstwood takes part in a spectacle in return for payment. Like Carrie, he is playing a role--but his "wage" is far lower.Carrie's interest in Ames's opinion indicates her desire to gain artistic integrity; perhaps she wants to leave behind the cheap imitations of her shallow comedic roles and find a means to express genuine skill. However, in line with Ames's comment on her expression of unsatisfied longing, she remains unfulfilled at the end of the novel. She suffers from the chronic dissatisfaction that is the driving force behind consumerism; an economy based on consumption simply cannot function unless there is always something more to want. The meaning of Carrie's

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SISTER CARRIEdissatisfaction at the end of the novel is not, however, entirely clear. It may represent her desire to be free of the constraints placed upon her by conventional social expectations. In the end, it is difficult to tell; not even Carrie herself knows what she wants.

Questions for Study→What role does imitation play in feminine identity in Sister Carrie? Consider Carrie's relationship with Drouet, Carrie's fascination with the theater, and the role of masculine sexual desire.How does economic class govern the individual's relationship to money in Sister Carrie? Consider Carrie's early obsession with prices and Hurstwood's slow decline. Why is not having to think about money the true luxury of the rich?What role does Carrie's unsatisfied desire play in the novel? Consider the nature of consumer society, the distinction between imitation and the genuine, and the book's portrayal of conventional social attitudes toward women's sexual desire.What is the relationship between money and sex in the novel? Consider Drouet's relationship with Carrie, Hurstwood's relationship with Carrie, and Julia's reaction to Hurstwood's affair.What is the relationship between power and performance in the novel? How do the men of the novel--Hurstwood and Drouet, in particular--gain power over Carrie by performing certain roles? How does playing a role allow Carrie to assert her own power?What is the connection between role-playing and lying? How are they both connected to the satisfaction of desire? Consider Drouet's lie about his intent to marry Carrie, Hurstwood's lie to Carrie about his own intent to marry her, and Hurstwood's lie to Carrie about Drouet's "injury."Why does Carrie like Hurstwood more than Drouet? Consider the difference between gaudy conspicuous consumption and tasteful conspicuous consumption. Consider also the function of role-playing and the distinction between imitation and the genuine.How is Carrie's identity developed over the course of the novel? Consider the role of masculine desire, the role of imitation, and Carrie's lack of history.How does consumer society turn people into commodities or objects? Discuss the role of "the captain" as a symbol for the commodification of people.Why does Hurstwood fail? Why does Carrie succeed? Can any moral lessons be drawn from either of their fates? Why or why not? Consider Carrie's skill at imitation and her strong consumer drive, and Hurstwood's failure to perform his role as Julia's husband.

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