Reading Sister Carrie From The Perspective Of Consumer Culture

With the development of literary criticism, the study perspectives of literary works become more and more pluralistic. Based on the social context of consumer society, the present thesis aims to investigate Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie from the perspective of consumer culture and tries to exploit the representation of consumer culture in the novel. In the consumer society, the consumption ideology pervasively and profoundly affects people's value orientation and behaviour modes. By analyzing the consumer culture reflected in the novel, the thesis tries to reveal the significance of the novel in the context of consumer culture.In the introduction part, the thesis briefly introduces literature review, the approach and significance of the study and presents the social and historical context of consumer culture. In this part, the inevitability of the rise of early consumer society is well illustrated in terms of economy, politics, culture, science, transportation, ideology, etc. The essential features of consumer culture are also listed here serving the purpose of guidelines for the following chapters.The main body of this thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter one places emphasis on the characters'intense craving for material and recreational things. In the consumer society, consumer culture emphasizes consumption and people gain great satisfaction through the possession of materials. Consumer culture can be viewed as the materialization of lifestyles. It advocates consumption and regards material satisfaction and sensual pleasures as the main life goal. Consumerism reflects the symbolic meaning of commodity consumption. It stresses the interpersonal relations or individual distinctiveness indicated by the action of consumption rather than the commodity itself. It views commodity as an indicator of one's identity and a symbol of life quality. In the novel, Dreiser depicts people's crazy worship of materials. In the materialistic and pragmatic society, people are filled with endless desires for various conspicuous consumptions, such as vogue clothes, magnificent residences, luxurious hotels, saloons and splendid theatres, etc. Chapter two elaborates the indifferent, alienated and commodified interpersonal relationships in the consumer society. With the development of urbanization and commercialization, people's values and behaviours become more rational and hedonistic. Interpersonal communications are mostly based on money and mutual benefit. In a commodified society, family, marriage, friendship and love are all consumption-related and are constructed on the give-and-take law. People are basically connected by market relations and interpersonal communications take the form of the consumption of commodities. Chapter three is mainly concerned with the materialized and hedonistic lifestyle under the influence of consumption ideology. Consumer culture emphasizes consumption and advocates material possession. It weakens the traditional puritan moral codes of diligence, frugality and self-control. Consumer culture advocates and induces conspicuous consumption. By demonstrating purchasing ability to pay for what is often a superfluous, conspicuously wasteful product or service, people are not to meet their basic needs but to display their wealth and social position.To sum up, the whole thesis concentrates on the features of consumer culture represented in Sister Carrie by means of the cultural approach. Through the study of Sister Carrie in the context of consumer culture, the thesis finally reaches a conclusion that Dreiser, as an active participant in commercialized society, successfully depicts the commercialized world that is constructed on the basis of the law of exchange-value under the influence of consumption ideology. Undoubtedly, the novel presents a real and vivid picture of consumer society during the late nineteenth century in America. Sister Carrie can be regarded as a modern metropolitan novel which demonstrates the authentic and distinct features of consumer culture.