On The Characterization Of Working-Class Females From The Perspective Of Spatial Theory

Theodore Dreiser(1871—1945)is an outstanding American realistic writer in the early 20~thh century.Dreiser's first novel Sister Carrie(1900)narrates the country girl Carrie traded her body and emotions for fame and fortune.Helen Potrebenko(1940—)is a contemporary Canadian feminist writer.Potrebenko's left-wing novel Taxi!(1975)reflects social phenomena through recording the female taxi driver Shannon's personal experiences.Both novels center on the characterization of their respective working-class female protagonists to explore the defects of capitalist society,which paves a foundation for the comparative study of this thesis.This thesis,taking spatial theory as guidance,and from the angles of urban space,social space and textual space,interprets the differences and similarities of the two working-class women Carrie and Shannon in life experiences and living conditions in Sister Carrie and Taxi!.In urban space,the different life attitudes of Carrie and Shannon are determined by industrial revolutions,urban structures and knowledge levels in their respective social backgrounds.In social space,Carrie and Shannon form distinct social consciousnesses under the influences of social classification and class incompatibility.In textual space,Carrie and Shannon are the lost persons whose similar identities are determined by society's main value orientations and people's alienated spirits.Based on a comparative analysis of the characterization of Carrie and Shannon,the thesis concludes that,the two novels and the two females illustrate various disadvantages of capitalist society,including serious gap in wealth,obvious class division,gender inequality from the development process of the social backgrounds of the United States and Canada respectively;and more significantly,they provide reflections,introspections and enlightenments for modern society.