摘要

西奥多德莱赛是美国著名的小说家，也是美国自然主义文学的先驱。《嘉莉妹妹》是他的第一部小说，也是他人生中一部很重要的作品。十九世纪末二十世纪初，随着美国经济的不断发展，社会消费文化也发生了巨大变化。本文将从当时盛行的消费文化出发，以《嘉莉妹妹》中的主要人物为讨论对象，通过一些细节描写，分析作品中的主要人物来阐述消费主义对主人公命运的影响。通过对作品中错误的消费观念的批判，以期帮助人们树立正确的消费理念。

关键词：嘉莉妹妹；消费主义；欲望；美国梦

Abstract

Theodore Dreiser is an outstanding novelist of America as well as a pioneer of naturalism in American literature. Sister Carrie is his first novel and also one of his important works in his life. With the development of economy, great changes had taken place in consumer culture in American from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. Based on the details of the plot, the writer of this thesis puts characters into the context of American consumer culture and attempts to analyze the characters and the impact of consumerism on destines of the characters in order to help people establish correct concept of consumption. 

Key words：Sister Carrie; consumerism; desire; American Dream

1.    Introduction
 
1.1 Review of Dreiser and Sister Carrie
Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was one of American greatest naturalist writers of 20th century, born in Terre Haute, Indiana. He pioneered the naturalist school and is known for portraying characters whose value lies not in their moral code, but in their persistence against all obstacles, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of choice and agency. To a certain extent, his novels explored the new social problems that had arisen in a rapidly industrializing American.

As a writer coming from the bottom of the society, Theodore Dreiser was born into a large and poor family. So he always had the sympathy with the weak and the poor. The characters in his novels mostly come from the bottom of the society, and their habits and ideas are deeply influenced by the privileges and limitations of the social class. It is clear that he is an outstanding writer, and his works are popular with others.