《嘉莉妹妹》中女性意识的觉醒_英语论文

An Study of Sister Carrie’s Awakening Self

摘要

西奥多·德莱塞是美国现代小说的先驱、现实主义作家之一，他的小说生动地刻画了19世纪末20世纪初资本主义迅速发展中的美国现实社会，为美国现实主义文学开辟了新领域，美国评论家认为德莱塞忠于生活，敢于创新，突破了美国文坛上传统的思想禁锢，并解放了美国小说。

《嘉莉妹妹》是德莱塞的第一部作品，也是他的代表作之一。但是在小说刚问世时，销量低迷，甚至惨遭封杀。其主人公嘉莉妹妹一直是一个有争议的人物形象，在当时被指责为是一位出卖灵肉、丧失伦理道德的人，德莱塞也受到了来自出版界、评论界和公众舆论的多方谴责，因此一蹶不振，在文坛沉寂了十年。直到20世纪80年代，一些评论家从女性主义角度重新解析了嘉莉勇敢坚强的新女性形象。这部小说通过描写农村女孩嘉莉来到大城市，从社会底层的女工到登上大舞台成为著名演员，从依附不同的男人到实现经济独立的过程，由此展现了她女性意识由萌芽到觉醒的过程。嘉莉在困难面前不低头，在失败面前不气馁的奋斗精神为当代年轻人树立了榜样，同时她女性意识的觉醒过程也是万千女性追求幸福的过程，为女性主义运动的发展提供了更多值得深入探索的方向，具有较好的现实意义。

同时，本文探讨了德莱塞所具有的独特的女性观，他渴望颠覆传统的女性意识，但受到了主流思想的抑制，并从社会背景、家庭背景、思想意识三个方面对其成因进行了分析。

关键词：德莱塞；《嘉莉妹妹》；嘉莉；女性意识

Abstract

Theodore Dreiser is an outstanding naturalistic male writer in the history of American literature. His works are still popular all over the world at present. He depicts the American reality vividly in the novels and broke the traditional thought confining to liberate American novels.

Sister Carrie was Dreiser’s first novel. At the beginning of its publication, this novel was painfully attacked by many critics because Carrie was accused of being a woman without virtues as she sold the body and betrayed the soul. Carrie was a poor country girl who desired for a comfortable life so she went to Chicago to pursue her dream. In order to remain in the city, she attached herself to Drouet. When she met Hurstwood who was wealthier and more attractive than Drouet, she betrayed Drouet by eloping to New York with Hurstwood. However, Hurstwood turned into a broken man soon so Carrie chose to leave him and made a living on her own. Finally, she became a famous star in Broadway through her efforts. This is also the process of the awakening of Carrie’s self-consciousness. In modern society, Carrie’s success has strong significance in reality especially to women. She sets a good example for teenagers that being a successful man should be independent in economy.

The present paper analyzes Dreiser’s feminist consciousness. As a male writer, how can Dreiser create Sister Carrie and what lead to his feminist consciousness? As far as I am concerned, three aspects have great influence on him and they are social background, family background and his experience and different ideas.

Key words: Theodore Dreiser; Sister Carrie; Carrie; feminist consciousness

Contents

Acknowledgementsi

Abstract & Key words in Englishii

Abstract & Key words in Chineseiii

Introduction 1

1. Literature Review 2

1.1 A brief introduction to feminist criticism 3

1.2 About Theodore Dreiser’s feminist consciousness 4

2. Processes of Sister Carrie’s self-awakening 5

2.1 The bud of Sister Carrie’s self consciousness 6

2.2 The development of Sister Carrie’s self consciousness 7

2.3 The awakening of Sister Carrie’s self consciousness 8

3. Factors leading to Dreiser’s feminist consciousness 9

3.1 Social background after American Civil War 10

3.2 Family background and his personal experiences 11

3.3 Influence of different ideas on Dreiser 12

Conclusion 13

Notes 14

References 15