A Study Of The Spatial Narrative In Theodore Dreiser’s Jennie Gerhardt

Theodore Dreiser is one of the greatest American writers in the twentieth Century,and most of his works have been well received by readers.His second novel Jennie Gerhardt,which brought him the first true commercial success after its publication,reflects the misfortunes of the lower class people in city during the process of industrialization and urbanization in the United States.In this novel,space plays an important role in the forming process of the protagonist’s tragic fate through the work of family and society.This thesis aims to study the spatial narrative in Jennie Gerhardt by employing Lefebvre’s spatial theory which divides space into physical space,social space and mental space as the theoretical framework for analysis.This study explores the social significance of space in this novel and unfolds in three chapters.Chapter one focuses on physical space and explores its impacts on Jennie’s life.The physical space positively participates in the construction of her tragic fate since it strongly affects Jennie’s living conditions.This chapter contains two perspectives:the public space in urban and the private space associated with Jennie.Chapter two concentrates on social space and interprets the inequality that Jennie experiences in social practice.Relating to gender and class,the inequality in social space,which puts Jennie in a disadvantageous position in family and society,is uncovered to be the underlying cause for Jennie’s tragic fate.This chapter in two sections studies the manifestation and consequences of gender inequality and class inequality that Jennie suffers.Chapter three focuses on mental space and reveals the direct causes of Jennie’s loneliness.Her loneliness contains three types and its direct cause lies in the cooperative work of the factors associated with her family and society.This chapter divides Jennie’s loneliness into three types to respectively expose their relationships with society,her family members,and lovers.