On The Philosophy Of Dreiser's Novels

One of the main themes in Theodore Dreiser's novels is about the relationship between material pursuit and spiritual pursuit. In his different periods of literary creation, the contradictory philosophic thinking which is reflected in the three novels is not immutable and frozen. As Dreiser thinks more and deeply about the consumerism from the high plane of philosophy, his attitude toward consumerism in the novels changes from accepting it first, then to questioning it, at last to restraining it. Therefore, the protagonist in Sister Carrie succeeds in material pursuit in the first novel. The protagonist in Genius struggles between material pursuit and spiritual pursuit and the relationship between them is approached deeply. The protagonist in the last novel Bulwark has a pious spiritual belief and he thinks that consumerism destroys his son and daughter and his colleagues. It can be seen that the first novel lays particular emphasis on accepting consumerism and the next novel lays particular emphasis on approaching the relationship between material and spirit and the last novel lays particular emphasis on restraining consumerism. The thesis expounds the philosophic thinking from the overall and developing point of view by using the dialectical method.