An Interpretation Of Dreiser’s Creative Writing And Day-Dreaming

Theodore Dreiser is one of the most influential writers in American literature. His first novel Sister Carrie and his most successful one An American Tragedy have been always under attack and attracted the attention of many critics.Although the plots of these two novels are quite different, the protagonists Carrie and Clyde both are born in the poor family and aspire to fulfill their American dream of social and economic success. Carrie finally succeeds as a famous actress while Clyde is sentenced to death. This thesis intends to explore the reason why Dreiser portrayed Carrie as his dream self of the opposite sex and Clyde as his nightmare self.This thesis applies Freud’s Creative Writers and Day-dreaming theory to discuss how Dreiser’s illusion about American dream and American society turns to be disillusion in his writing. Firstly, it introduces the relationship between Dreiser, creative writers and day-dreaming to lay a foundation for further discussion. Freud holds creative writing is analogous to day-dreaming and the unfulfilled wish of the creative writer is expressed in his writing. That is the case in Dreiser as a creative writer. Then the author analyzes Dreiser’s creative motives for writing the two novels and especially portraying the two protagonists with different endings respectively. Furthermore, this thesis explores Dreiser’s transforming attitudes towards American society reflected by his creative aims. Thus, the author reaches the conclusion that Dreiser’s transforming attitudes toward American society result in his different motives for creating the two novels, which definitely bring out his portrayal of two dream pursuers with different fates—Carrie is his dream self of the opposite sex while Clyde is his nightmare one. To sum up, the writer’s thought via his creative motive ultimately determines his portrayal of characters in his writing.