Review of "Sister Carrie" by Theodore Dreiser

“Sister Carrie” by Theodore Dreiser
Review by [Dark Side of the Moon]

“Sister Carrie” is the work of Theodore Dreiser and was published in 1904 to lukewarm success. I find this extremely hard to believe. It has been many years since I’ve read a book written with such stark realism and such raw human emotion. “Sister Carrie” is set in the late 1800’s in the upper Midwest of the United States. It is in part an historical look into the way of life during this time period. One cannot appreciate the ease of living that we have now unless they compare it to the “simple” way people lived before the modern conveniences that we have taken advantage of. Most people at this time employed one of several modes of transportation: horseback, horse-drawn carriage, street trolley, passenger train, or on foot. Also, most people never went farther than 20 miles in any direction from their home for their entire lives. Nothing was ever wasted in these days. When meat was bought it had to be gotten from the butcher that day or it would spoil. When it was cooked, the packaging was used for kindling fires in the stove or hearth; leftover chicken bones were boiled to make stock; twine from the packaging was saved for later use. Industries in the late 1800’s were just beginning to look at its labourers with compassion and to bring about reform in the methods used to make certain products and to ease the physical strain of the worker to make him more productive. Machines, such as those being used to punch holes into uppers for shoelaces, were dangerous and without safeguards. Sawmills did not have fail-safes and required constant attention to avoid injury or death. Factories were hot and unbearable in the summer months, freezing in the winter (except for metal smelters and things of that nature), and were overcrowded, dreary places with bad lighting. If you became ill and stayed home to recover you often lost your situation with your employer within a couple of days. Some could not afford to lose a days’ wages and so came to work while sick. Colds, pneumonia, and influenza spread quickly through such places. Sexual harassment from the male workers towards the females was just part of a day’s work. The working population generally made just enough money to keep a cheap flat and buy a little food. Pay was usually less than one dollar per day.

The story opens with shy, young Carrie Meeber, the youngest daughter of a Wisconsin farm family. Carrie is just eighteen years old and sets off to live with her older, married sister and her husband to find employment in the bustling, quickly growing city of Chicago, Illinois. On board the train she encounters a dashing young businessman named Charles Drouet. He intends to keep seeing more of her, but after Carrie arrives at her sister’s flat and sees the meagreness with which they live, she sends word to Drouet that she cannot see him. After several days of setbacks looking for employment, Carrie finally lands a job working in a shoe factory, earning a mere $4.50 per week, $4.00 of which goes to her brother-in-law to help pay expenses. After becoming ill and losing her job, Carrie is once again on the trek for employment and runs into Drouet. He convinces her to accept his help and to break away from her sister and brother-in-law. He obtains a new flat for her to live in and buys new clothes for her to replace the shabby ones that she arrived in. Early one morning, Carrie leaves a note telling her sister that she is leaving and will be all right. Drouet soon moves in with Carrie, touts her as his wife, and takes her around on his business trips. 

But Drouet is not a good partner and has a keen eye for the ladies. He often compliments other women’s appearances in Carrie’s presence so that she begins to feel that she is being compared. She does not love him, but is willing to live with him and brings up the subject of marriage at whiles. Drouet easily avoids this by being continually out of town and making excuses that he will soon be making more money and then they can get married. His flirtatious modes towards other women secretly make the thought of marriage intolerable for him. He soon introduces Carrie to his friend George Hurstwood, the successful manager of Fitzgerald and Moy’s, a drinking establishment, which, at the time, was called a resort. Hurstwood is immediately taken with the lovely young Carrie. Hurstwood’s married life is strained and complicated by his wife and two children who want only to be seen and known in high society and want to live as such. While making a good income and living very comfortably, Hurstwood is unable to afford the wants of his family and becomes a model of frustration. He begins to seek the company of Carrie more and more, especially while Drouet is away on business. Finally, Hurstwood makes protestations of love to Carrie and she acquiesces. She does not know that he is married.

The Masonic club, to which Drouet belongs, plans to hold a benefit for the club to purchase furnishings for its interior. They hope to acquire the money by having a play. Drouet, who is unaware of the trysts between Carrie and Hurstwood, convinces Carrie to take a part in the play. She reluctantly accepts and turns out to be a success. Hurstwood watched her performance intently and, deeply moved by her portrayal, determined that she should be his wife. It is not long after that Drouet finds out, by way of the house maid, that Hurstwood and Carrie have been going about often together. Drouet confronts Carrie on the issue, wondering why she would want to gad about with a married man. The shock of this revelation leaves Carrie reeling. Meanwhile, Hurstwood’s wife learns of his antics and seeks for a divorce. In the meantime, Carrie writes Hurstwood, telling him of her hurt and refusal to see him. Hurstwood, driven by desperate love for the girl, steals $10,000 from his employer. He goes to Carrie’s flat and contrives a story that Drouet had been seriously injured in the south side of Chicago and that they must take a train to get there. When the train does not stop there, Carrie realises that she’s been duped and is furious with Hurstwood. They go on to Montreal, Canada where detectives have found Hurstwood out. He keeps his crime a secret from Carrie. Her old feelings for him begin to return and they are wed under a new name, Wheeler. In a sting of conscience, Hurstwood returns most of the money to his employer, but retains some of it to get them started in New York. 

When they arrive in New York, Hurstwood soon finds a job as co-manager of another resort until the property is sold by the owner and the establishment is closed. Now, unemployed, he must seek a new job. With their savings of $700 dwindling, Hurstwood begins to become complacent and depressed while Carrie’s agitation at him begins to wax. Hurstwood’s complacency often lands him in his chair reading from the newspaper the entire day and making empty promises to Carrie that he “will find something”. Late one evening, while on his way home from searching, he stops in to a casino. He takes a dare and gambles some of the money. This begins to become a habit until finally it is nearly all gone. Now desperate, his depression conquers him and he barely stirs from the flat. It is then that Carrie decides that she should look out for her own interests and gains employment in a dance hall. There she meets Lola, a young lady who is trying to make it on the stage. Carrie finds a part in a theatrical performance at $20 per week. With creditors calling and bills mounting at home and Hurstwood’s mismanagement of their funds, Carrie leaves him and takes a flat with Lola. Eventually Carrie becomes well known in the theatrical circles and begins to experience the lush and comfortable life that she’d always dreamed of. Meanwhile, Hurstwood is homeless, begging for money from the upper classes as they pass him by on the streets. He finds cheap lodging in the Bowery of New York, starving and desperate. He learns of Carrie’s continued success through his newspapers and that she is living in a new, luxurious hotel, something only the wealthy are able to afford. He swallows his pride to seek her out at the theatre in which she is performing and begs a little money from her. In the end, after this is gone, Hurstwood commits suicide in a run-down sleeping room in the Bowery. Carrie never learns of his death.

Some aspects of this book are disturbing. We see this lowly farm-girl rise from the “muck” of society and into the grand social circles of the upper middle class and wealthy; yet after she’s left her Wisconsin home and disappeared from her sister’s flat Carrie never corresponds with them again. It is as though she’s completely cut off her former life and those that love her in exchange for the shallowness of wealth and associates who only visit with her when they want to have fun. At the end of the book we learn that Carrie is miserable with all of it, but now that she is deep in she cannot leave the upper crust of society without taking a hard hit. 

Drouet forever lost a young woman that would have been good wife to him had he not been so drawn to the company of other women. By comparing her looks and style to the females of high society, Drouet repeatedly injured Carrie who tried very hard to make herself the model of femininity to him and to the eyes of others. He rescued her from a life of crushing, demeaning labour and yet could not see her as she truly was.

For some reason, Hurstwood’s story affected me the most. His downward spiral from a life spent in comfort to his miserable suicide shows just how wrong decisions can wring the life out of a man. Though his decisions were his own fault and resulted in disaster, his story was best told and full of the most feeling and pathos.

I would highly recommend “Sister Carrie” because of its moral lessons. Theodore Dreiser breathes such a life into his characters and describes them so fully, so effectively that you can literally feel their emotion: their happiness, their pain, their relief, their heartbreak. This book is never wordy or over-descriptive and can be read very easily.

---

Go to Your Book Review
Go to Book Reviews by Title
Go to Book Reviews by Author