《嘉莉妹妹》中的自然主义分析_英语论文

Analysis of Naturalism in Sister Carrier 

摘要

西奥多.德莱赛被认为是美国自然主义文学的先驱，他在《嘉莉妹妹》中描述了一个农村女孩来到大城市谋生，命运发生改变，从一个天真无邪的小女孩到最后成为一名生活在纸醉金迷中歌星的故事，作品展现在读者面前的是一个典型的自然主义世界。本篇论文旨在通过分析美国自然主义在《嘉莉妹妹》中的体现，探究环境，遗传，欲望三要素是如何影响并改变嘉莉的. 芝加哥这个大城市对嘉莉来说是一个新的环境，她对里面的一切都感到好奇，她渴望拥有那些东西。渐渐地，她渴望金钱，爱情，更高的社会地位和社会认同，她被无尽的欲望驱使着，但是它们看上去永远不能被满足。另外，社会现实是残酷的，贫穷艰苦的生活迫使她先后沦为杜洛埃和赫斯五尔德的情妇。周围的环境改变了她。然而，她有一些与生俱来的优势：漂亮的外表，模仿能力和丰富的想象力。这些遗传优势帮助她获得了事业上的成功。所以，环境，欲望和遗传对人有巨大的影响，认识到这一点非常重要，这对处于当前物欲横流社会中的人们有着重要的指导作用。

关键词：自然主义； 环境； 欲望； 遗传

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

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