浅析《嘉莉妹妹》中的自然主义特色_英语论文

An Analysis of Naturalism in Sister Carrie

摘要

自然主义在文学中指的是出现在19世纪90年代，盛行于20世纪的欧洲和美国的一种写作风格。它主要的特点是：崇尚自然的力量并且认为其难以被超越。

《嘉莉妹妹》是美国现实主义作家西奥多·德莱塞被人熟知的作品之一，同时也被认为是美国自然主义的杰作。本论文试图从自然主义的角度来解读《嘉莉妹妹》，探究嘉莉的命运是如何被环境因素和遗传因素影响甚至决定的。并且针对小说中所体现的自然主义，本论文还将对其局限性进行一定程度的批判。

通过对本文的研读，我们可以深刻地了解到自然主义里环境和遗传等因素对小说人物命运的影响，从而进一步了解小说中体现的对自然主义的深刻探索。

关键词：嘉莉妹妹；自然主义；遗传因素；环境因素

Abstract

Naturalism in literature refers to a kind of writing style that appeared in 1890s and prevailing in 20th century in Europe and the United States. Its main features are: worshiping the power of nature and holding that it is unsurpassable.

Sister Carrie is one of the familiar works of American realistic writer Theodore Dreiser, and is also deemed to a masterpiece of naturalism in the United States. This paper tries to interpret it from the perspective of naturalism, and probe how Carrie’s fate is affected or even determined by environmental factors and hereditary factors. Besides, as for the naturalism reflected in the novel, this paper will make a certain degree of critique about its limitations.

Through the study of this paper, we can deeply understand the impact of environment and hereditary factors of naturalism on the characters in the novel, and have a further understanding on the profound exploration of naturalism in the novel.

Key Words: Sister Carrie; naturalism; hereditary factors; environmental factors

Contents

I. Introduction 1

II. Naturalistic Environmental Factors for Carrie 3

2.1. The Living Environmental Factors 3

2.2. The Social Environmental Factors. 6

2.3. Mysterious Manipulation of Chances. 10

III. Naturalistic Hereditary Factors for Carrie 12

3.1. Endowed Gift 12

3.2. Insatiable Desire for Pleasure 13

IV. The Limitations of Naturalism Reflected in Sister Carrie 15

4.1. Critique of Pessimistic Determinism 15

4.2. Critique of the Concept of Human Beast 16

V. Conclusion 18

Bibliography 20