摇椅中的美国梦-《嘉莉妹妹》中美国梦主题研究_英语论文

American Dream in the Rocking-chair: A Study of the Theme of American Dream in Sister Carrie

摘要

美国梦是美国文化中一个历久弥新的文学主题，而西奥多·德莱塞的《嘉莉妹妹》则是一部成功展现梦之幻灭的小说。女主人公由最初的身无分文到后面成为一名耀眼的百老汇明星，实现了极大的物质成功，但小说结尾处，在其摇椅中，她所感到的却是无尽的空虚和寂寞，其梦想最终幻灭了。本文从三个部分描述、分析德莱塞笔下破碎的美国梦。首先介绍美国梦的文化背景，追溯其起源并分析其动态的嬗变过程，指出在新的时代背景下，美国梦的内涵已发生变迁。接下来立足于摇椅这一中心意象沿追逐梦想——暂时成功——精神幻灭这一思路对小说进行主题分析并着重把握主人公精神幻灭的原因。最后得出结论，在19世纪末20世纪初的美国，社会正处于急剧转型期，金钱成为了衡量价值最重要的标尺，美国梦已然被扭曲成金钱梦，这是导致逐梦者物质成功后精神幻灭的重要原因。

关键词：西奥多·德莱塞；《嘉莉妹妹》；美国梦；精神幻灭

Abstract

Though American Dream is an old topic, it continuously renews itself across time. Sister Carrie, written by Theodore Dreiser, is a representative masterpiece successfully depicting the disillusionment of American Dream. The heroine finally achieved great material success after becoming a Broadway star from nothing, but at the end of the novel, what she felt in her rocking-chair was endless emptiness and eventually her dream was disillusioned. This thesis describes and analyzes Dreiser’s disillusioned American Dream from three parts. First it introduces the cultural background of American Dream to show that the connotation of it has changed by looking at its origin and analyzing the dynamic procedures of the transition of it. Then based on the central image of the rocking-chair, it focuses on the thematic study following the line of pursuing the dream---temporary success---spiritual disillusionment with more attention to the causes of the disillusionment. At the end of this thesis the conclusion is drawn that American society at the end of 19th century and the beginning of 20th century experienced rapid changes, during which money became the foremost standard of value and the American Dream was distorted into a dream of money. That is the very reason why pursuers got spiritual disillusionment after their material success.

Key words: Theodore Dreiser; Sister Carrie; American Dream; spiritual disillusionment