An Analysis Of Urban Cultural Life In Sister Carrie

As a well known realistic writer in American literature in the transitional periodbetween19thand20thcentury, Theodore Dreiser first introduces in his works thetheme of urban culture, discloses the originality of American city life afterindustrialization, which significance is influential and far reaching. He is regarded asthe pioneer of American20thcentury city literature. His first novel Sister Carriestands as the representative of his creative writing of urban culture.The author focuses his attention on urban culture, not only because he hasplentiful city life experience, but also because he is attracted by the contradictoryfeatures that the city possesses. At first glance, the metropolis, in the eyes of mostoutsiders, is such a place: prosperity, openness, diversity, and advanced civilization,where people have more freedom and chances to make their dreams come true. This isthe illusory image of the urban culture. After careful observation, it’s not difficult todiscover that hidden behind the city flourish are moral traps and the ownership right.The endless pursuit for money, rights and fame makes people stay away from theirtrue selves. Drifting in this material-oriented metropolis, Sister Carrie, a typical ofurban immigrant, seeks to obtain her urban identity at the cost of becoming alienated.It is this morbid urban civilization, full of money-worship and materialistic desiresthat leads to her loss of human nature and her spiritual distortion. This kind ofvariation is also the embodiment of modernity of the novel.In a word, Dreiser always favors urban culture in his works. His urban novels areto expose the issues at the beginning of the process of modernization. In his novels,we can see the writer’s accurate mastery of time characteristic, his profound insightinto human nature and his deep concern for future life. In short, to conduct thephilosophical reflection on the nature of human existence through the scenes of urbanlife.