镀金时代的道德沦丧-《街头女郎麦姬》与《嘉莉妹妹》的比较研究_英语论文

Deterioration of Ethics in the Gilded Age—Comparative Study of Maggie: A Girl of the Street and Sister Carrie

摘要

美国在19世纪末步入了社会转型期，由此进入了镀金时代。伴随着城市人口增长、物质资料丰富和社会贫富差距扩大，社会道德开始下滑。人们对金钱和物欲愈加崇拜，逐渐摒弃了美国梦的核心价值观。自然主义作家斯蒂芬·克莱恩和西奥多· 德莱塞分别通过其作品《街头女郎麦姬》和《嘉莉妹妹》如实地展现了这一现象。本文结合时代背景和社会背景， 通过对两部小说的人物分析和道德研究， 揭露出镀金时代下的道德沦丧，以期当今社会的道德能够和谐健康地发展。

关键词：镀金时代 道德沦丧《街头女郎麦姬》《嘉莉妹妹》

Abstract

The United States experienced a transitional period and manifested itself in entering the Gilded Age in the late nineteenth. The public ethics gradually declined due to the growth in urban population and material production with an expanding disparity between the rich and the poor. People showed more interest in money and material desires than the core values of the American Dream. As naturalists, Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser showed this social dilemma in Maggie: A Girl of the Street and Sister Carrie. Based on the historical and social background, this thesis aims at getting a full picture of the ethical deterioration in the Gilded Age by conducting a thorough research on the novels; and at the same time at calling upon modern people to pay more attention to the ethics for a harmonious society.

Key words: Gilded Age; deterioration of ethics; Maggie: A Girl of the Street; Sister Carrie 

Contents

Introduction 1

1. Introduction to the Authors and Their Works 2

1.1 Stephen Crane and Maggie 2

1.2 Theodore Dreiser and Sister Carrie 4

2. Gilded Age and its Ethics 5

2.1 Definition of the Gilded Age 6

2.2 Ethics in the Gilded Age 7

3. Comparative Study of the Deterioration of Ethics in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Sister Carrie 8

3.1 Protagonists 8

3.1.1 Maggie: A Girl of the Streets 8

3.1.2 Carrie: A Girl to the Cities 9

3.1.3 Other Characters : Evil Seducer or Moral Hypocrite 9

3.2 Analyses of the Declining Ethics 11

3.2.1 Family Ethic 11

3.2.2 Love Ethics 12

3.2.3 Social Ethics 13

Conclusion 15

References 17