摘要

二十世纪的美国文学，堪称美国文学史上的“黄金时期”，可以说是又一次“文艺复兴”。作为美国现代小说的先驱和代表作家，西奥多•德莱赛异军突起，驰骋文坛，不带偏见地率先如实描写了新的美国城市生活。西奥多•德莱赛一生的大部分时间从事新闻工作。走遍芝加哥、匹兹堡、纽约等大城市，广泛深入地观察了解社会，为日后的文学创作积累了丰富的素材。
作为美国伟大的自然主义作家西奥多•德莱赛的处女作，《嘉莉妹妹》以真切的现实主义为鲜明的特征，比较真实地揭露了二十世纪初人们狂热的追求美国之梦的悲剧事实，揭示了驱驶人们享乐却最终幻灭的本能主题。虽然这是德莱赛的处女作，但是这篇文章的把他的思想，把资本主义现状描写得淋漓尽致。
在《嘉莉妹妹》中本性与理性有着不同的表现，这正是作者所处的时代背景下的社会现实。本文从本性与理性的斗争这个角度来探讨当处于城市化，商业化，工业化的时代背景时，人们的本性必定会和理性碰撞。结合文章中出现的冲突，分析本性与理性争出现的深层次原因以及如何正确对待这些冲突。如何看待这些碰撞产生的斗争，如何协调好这些状况，从而树立一个健康而良好的价值观。

关键词：西奥多•德莱赛, 嘉莉妹妹，本性，理性, 斗争

Abstract

American literature was experiencing the "golden period" in 20’s, it can be said "Renaissance" again. As a pioneer and representative writer of modern American fiction, Theodore Dreiser accurately described the new American city life without prejudice. Theodore Dreiser worked for journalism most of his life. He had been to Chicago, Pittsburgh and New York cities, extensively observed and understood the American society, which have accumulated a wealth of material for future literary creation.
As the great American naturalist writer Theodore Dreiser's debut, "Sister Carrie" took real distinctive realism as its feature, truly exposed the tragedy of people’s fanatical pursuit of the American Dream in the early twentieth century, revealed the instinct theme which drove people to seek pleasure but was ultimate disillusioned. Although it’s Dreiser's debut, this article had expressed his ideas and described the capitalist status vividly.
There are different performances of nature and sensibility in "Sister Carrie", which is the social reality under the author’s historical background. This thesis discussed the conflict between nature and sensibility when under the background of urbanization, commercialization and industrialization. The thesis combined the conflict between nature and sensibility in this novel, analyzed underlying causes of it. This thesis also discussed how to correctly deal with these conflicts, how to look at the conflict of these collisions, and how to coordinate these conditions to establish healthy and good values.

Key words: Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie, nature, sensibility, conflict