The Analysis of Sister Carrie’s Growth from the Perspective of Marxist Feminism文献综述

 2022-08-17 10:08

Literature Review

Comments on Sister Carrie could be divided into two major groups. On the one hand, Critics represented by Henry Louis Mencken praised Dreiser as American literature pioneer who paved the way for American modern novels. On the other hand, the other group represented by Stuart P. Sherman believed that Sister Carrie challenged the traditional moral standards.

Studies Abroad

Many overseas scholars have published many academic monographs on the study of Sister Carrie. For instance, in the Critical Research and Guidance on Dreiserrsquo;s Sister Carrie, Robert Gere analyzed the novel from its theme, structure, and characters. In his Walking Away from The Impossible Thing: Identity and Denial in Sister Carrie, Karl F. Zender analyzed the transformation of identity and confrontation of Characters in Sister Carrie.

But many scholars criticize the protagonist Carrie as a fallen woman who is driven by endless desires for material and becomes mistress, which greatly challenged traditional moral standards at that time. Even Dreiser makes little moral judgments on Carriersquo;s action and writes it with sympathy, compassion and even respect. In A Portfolio of Sister Carrie，L w. West James made such comments:

“The more we have discussed it, I am sorry to report to you, the more uncertain do we all feel about it” (James, 1985:42). Furthermore, a famous American literary critic, Stuart P. Sherman believed that Dreiser depicts the desires of man vividly in Sister Carrie. But Leonard Cassuto claimed Sister Carrie “came to housebound and airless America like a great free American wind” (2004:111). In this period, many criticisms on Sister Carrie neglects the independence of the work and emphasizes too much on the main-stream consciousness.

Studies at home

As a famous Chinese revolutionist, Qu Qiubai introduced Dreiser and his works to Chinese readers in the early 20th century. In this period, many Chinese scholars studied Sister Carrie from the perspective of class struggle. For example, Gao Xingsheng believed that Sister Carrie depicted an authentic American capitalist society in which people degenerate their social morals. Later many Chinese critic studied it from traditional elements such as its style and theme. For instance, Chen Bo focused on Dreiserrsquo;s early naturalism that reflects real American social life in his naturalistic features in Sister Carrie. Under the influence of culture exchange, many other studies of the Sister Carrie mainly focus on its culture significance. For instance, in her Consumer Culture and Theodore Dreiserrsquo;s Early Writing, Xie Malan combined with the influence of consumer culture to study the character of Carrie.

Some people believe Carrie disobeys the traditional morals, while others consider that Carriersquo;s experience and inner change could be called self-realization. For example, Zhang Hengchen pointed out Carrie is a fighter against oppressions to purse self-development in her “Fallen” or the struggle: Maggie, Tess, Carrie Sister of the comparative study. Cui Xing applied Maslowrsquo;s hierarchy needs theory to analyze every phases of Carriersquo;s self-actualization. And he believed Carrie cannot achieve the spiritual transformation because she is under the oppressions of capitalist society.

From above analysis, we can conclude that most scholars at home and abroad analyze Sister Carrie mainly from the perspective of its theme, cultural significance, social background and text-analysis. They unanimously believe that Carrie disobeys traditional moral standards who is a fallen woman. Until now few of them have discussed it from feminism. and few studies discussed the theme of growth of Carrie and the reason why she falls into spiritual lost from the perspective of Marxist Feminism.

This thesis will employ Marxist Feminism to analyze the oppression Carrie suffers in the patriarchal and capitalistic society and the process of Carriersquo;s growth. Furthermore, it is worthwhile for us to think about the reason why Carrie becomes the mistress of Drouet and tend to fall into spiritual and physical lost. Meanwhile, after the analysis, we can learn from the growth of Carrie the significance of gaining financial independence to womenrsquo;s liberation.

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