A Study Of The Themes And Language O FSister Carrie From The Perspective Of Bakhtin’s Carnival Theory

As one of the outstanding writers of American naturalism, Theodore Dreiser(1871-1945) has created excellent literary works. His first novel, Sister Carrie, reflects the reality of the late 19 th and early 20 th century’s American society.In the process of reviewing criticisms and comments about Sister Carrie, the author of this thesis finds that this novel has been regarded as one of the typical representatives of realism and naturalism by a lot of critics and scholars. In this thesis, the author attempts to analyze this novel from a brand-new perspective--Bakhtin’s carnival theory so as to explore the deep meaning of this novel. Bakhtin’s carnival theory provides a new way for the development of literary appreciation. This thesis tries to discuss three carnival features demonstrated in Sister Carrie: carnival square, carnival rituals and carnivalization of genres and languages. Through analyzing the carnival features hidden in Sister Carrie from the perspective of Bakhtin’s carnival theory, the author finds that the carnival features of Sister Carrie has given expression to the main spirits of carnival theory: equality, freedom, overturning order, change, inclusiveness and diversity which help us to better understand the main ideas of the novel. In conclusion, Sister Carrie is full of carnival colors.This thesis consists of five parts. The introduction part gives a brief introduction to the background of the study, Theodore Dreiser and his Sister Carrie and the general structure of this thesis. The literature review is a collection of the international and domestic criticisms focusing on this novel. The third part is concerned with the related theories and literary terms used in this thesis. The fourth part is a detailed discussion about the carnival features signified in Sister Carrie. And the last part is a brief summary of this thesis.