Dreiser's Consumption Ethical Concepts In "Trilogy Of Desire"

In the last 19^th century and the early 20^th century, American society gradually changed from production-based to consumption-based, and people's consumption ethics also undergone a great change. Theodore Dreiser's creation of "Trilogy of Desire" lasted nearly half a century, which represented the great change of his fiction thoughts. "Trilogy of Desire" depicted the social phenomena that how consumerism had broken through the shackles of the traditional thought of Puritanism, and became the dominant trend of the community, and was finally inhibited. The consumption ethical thoughts of his novels were not static, but were developed following the coordination and subversion of new and old ethics. "Trilogy of Desire" reflected the contest between the consumerism and the Puritan ethics. According to the study of the novels, Dreiser experienced a process of transformation from a hesitation, appreciation to inhibition for the new thinking of consumption ethics. The process of transformation was expressed in his "Trilogy of Desire". This transformation was not only related to the development of American society, but also related to the change of Dreiser's thoughts and experiences.The papers' Introduction presents Dreiser's life, the status in the history of literature, the comments of his novels and the research development trends. Then it briefs on consumption ethics, and presents the issue of "Trilogy of Desire" consumption ethical thoughts. The first, second, third chapters respectively represented the contest between the old and new consumption ethical thoughts and Dreiser's development of consumption ethical concepts, which are embodied in "The Financier", "The Titan", "The Stoic". These three chapters also explain the reason from the society and Dreiser himself. The Conclusion of the papers sums up the development of Dreiser's consumption ethics in "Trilogy of Desire", which is that Dreiser experienced a process of transformation from a hesitation, appreciation to inhibition for the new thinking of consumption ethics. It introduces the significance of the study on the consumption ethical thoughts of Dreiser's novels and points out that there are more broad prospects about Dreiser.The papers analysis the text of "The Financier", "The Titan", "The Stoic", using the method of Ethical Literary Criticism, from the perspective of consumption ethics, and reveals Dreiser's consumption ethical concepts in his novels.