嘉莉妹妹英文读后感
Theodore Dreiser, born in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA, was raised in poverty and in a German-speaking environment. He left home for Chicago at age 16. After a period of odd jobs and a year at the University of Indiana, he became a Midwestern newspaper reporter and, in New York after 1894, a magazine feature writer. In 1892, married Sara White, but their marriage wasn’t happy, so they have been separated since 1909 and never officially divorced
Sister Carrie （1900）， his first and still highly regarded novel, was withheld from general distribution because of it was supposed amoral, and its commercial failure plunged him into financial distress and mental breakdown. Some reasons which caused the difficulties of publish can be seen from the social background of the society of that time. At the time, United States is experiencing a rapid social change, it was transforming from free capitalism transition to the monopoly capitalism. The whole American literature was indulged in idealism, many writers preferred to describe the optimistic aspect of life. The novel is regarded as entertainment products; works is full of illusory ideal and covered by romantic color. The exploiter and exploitee lived a completely different life. The ugly phenomenon in the society was not reflected in literature works. In Sister Carrie, Dreiser truthfully reveals the dark side of the social life, and that’s the reason why the author constantly suffered from persecution. The novels have been classified as "banned", and can not be published in the America.
Sister Carrie is about a young country girl who moves to the big city where she starts realizing her own American Dream, first as a mistress to men that she perceives as superior, and later becoming a famous actress. It has been called the "greatest of all American urban novels."
The personal life of the writer has very close relationship with his work Sister Carrie. There are some similarities between the author and the ******e. First, the ******e was born in a poor family just as same as the author. That’s why the author can know so clearly about the psychological activity of the poor girl Carrie and described it in such delicate words. Second, it can be seen from the novel that the place where the girl chase her dream was Chicago. The author also has gone to the same place to fulfill his dream. So he saw what Carrie saw. For instance, how the rich men lived, how they enjoy their life, what was the poor’s life like, with such a living experience, the gap between the rich and the poor was so truly reflected before our eyes. Third, they all once are earning meager support from menial jobs. Forth, they all have the same dream. Dreiser has admitted that he was once chased after the pleasure from material things, but he despised it afterwards. Carrie’s life was always surrounded by her chasing for a better material life. At the beginning, she left her hometown and came for her sister. But when her sister’s living couldn’t attract her anymore, she went to the salesman Drouet, then Hursthood and at last the theater. Except the ******e, the character Hursthood was not so happy in his marriage life, so was the author. Hursthood was suppressed and looking for something new, thrill and beautiful. Maybe Hursthood’s mental state was just like the author’s during that period. Sven Hanson, Minnie's husband, of Swedish extraction and taciturn temperament. As we all know, Dreiser’s father was a Swedish, a severe rigid and distant man. We can slightly suppose that the character of Sven Hanson was originated from his father.
As for Carrie, there’s such a sentence in the book: “In Carrie—as in many of our worldings do they not?— instinct and reason, desire and understanding, were at war for the mastery. She followed whither her craving led. She was as y