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Sister Carrie
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Sister Carrie (1900) (edit title/settings)

by Theodore Dreiser (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

“When a girl leaves home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse.” With Sister Carrie , first published in 1900, Theodore Dreiser transformed the conventional... read more

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Summary edit see section history

America, 1889, 18 year old Caroline leaves her home town and moves to Chicago, where lives her older sister. After arriving she guess that sister's family is very poor and decides to start working at the shoes factory to help herself.

Life is tough for Carrie, but soon she meets married... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

America, 1889, 18 year old Caroline leaves her home town and moves to Chicago, where lives her older sister. After arriving she guess that sister's family is very poor and decides to start working at the shoes factory to help herself.

Life is tough for Carrie, but soon she meets married man, Charles Drouet, who suggest to live with him, because she attracted him with her simplicity and natural beauty. However, he postpones divorce with his wife and prefers conspiracy. Being "kept women" brings moral struggles to Carrie. After some time Drouet introduces Carrie to George Hurstwood, unhappily married famous bar manager, who falls in love with her. He decides to leave his wife and children, steals money from the bar and deceives Carrie by telling her that they should have urgently left by train to help Drouet with sudden illness. In the train he tells her the truth and makes marriage proposal.Once they arrive in Montreal, Hurstwood’s guilty conscience – and a private eye – induce him to return most of the stolen funds, but he realizes that he cannot return to Chicago.The couple moves to New York City.

For the first time in New York life goes well - Hurstwood opens saloon, but after few years he looses his job and they fall in poverty. To make both ends meet Carrie reminds her amateur actor practice and finds job at the theater. She becomes very successful and leaves her husband, who commits suicide forced by poverty. Carrie achieves stardom, but finds that money and fame do not satisfy her longings or bring her happiness and that nothing will.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Carrie Meeber: Caroline "Sister Carrie" Meeber; beautiful 18-year-old.
  • Julia Hurstwood: George's social-climbing wife.
  • Charlie Drouet: Charlie Drouet is a charming, flashy salesman with a strong appetite for romance. Although he is warm-hearted, he never takes any of his romantic affairs seriously. He provides Carrie with a place to stay after she is forced to stop living with her sister; he also promises to marry her, but he never really intends on following through. He loses Carrie to Hurstwood and then, years later, after she has become a famous actress, tries unsuccessfully to win her back.
  • Mrs. Vance: Mrs. Vance is, for a time, Carrie's neighbor in New York City. She and Carrie become friends, and Carrie notices that she is a wealthy, well-kept wife. She is the catalyst for Carrie's dissatisfaction with Hurstwood's modest income.
  • Minnie Hanson: Minnie is Carrie's older sister. She and her husband, Sven Hanson, believe in hard work and frugal spending, mostly because they are too poor to do otherwise.
  • George Hurstwood: George Hurstwood is the manager of Fitzgerald and Moy's, a saloon in Chicago. At the beginning of the novel, he is a wealthy, important man. He falls in love with Carrie after meeting her through Drouet. He tells Carrie that he loves her, but he fails to mention that he is married. After his wife discovers his affair with Carrie and files for divorce, he steals ten thousand dollars from Fitzgerald and Moy's and flees with Carrie to Montreal. There, he marries her before his divorce with Julia is complete. Although he keeps his theft a secret from Carrie, he is discovered by an investigator and required to return most of the money in order to protect his reputation. In New York, Hurstwood slowly descends into apathy and poverty. After Carrie leaves him, he becomes a homeless beggar and eventually commits suicide.
  • Lola Osborne: Lola befriends Carrie in New York because they work as chorus girls in the same show. Carrie moves in with her after leaving Hurstwood.
  • Jessica Hurstwood: Jessica is Hurstwood's daughter. She is a vain girl who hopes to enter elite social circles by marrying rich.
  • Sven Hanson: Hanson and his wife Minnie are Carrie's first hosts in Chicago. Hanson is a quiet, stern man who disapproves of Carrie's whimsical nature.
  • Fitzgerald: One of the joint owners in the Chicago saloon- Fitzgerald and Moy's.
  • Mrs. Morgan: Add a description of this character.
  • Mrs. Hale: Mrs. Hale is one of Carrie's friends in Chicago. She fills Carrie in on all of the gossip surrounding the Chicago theater scene, strengthening Carrie's fascination with the theater and the wealth associated with it.
  • Shaughnessy
  • Laura
  • Mr. Bamberger
  • Mrs. Bermudez
  • Mr. Brown
  • Mr. Quincel
  • Mr. Withers
  • The captain: The captain is a homeless man who lives in New York. Every day, other homeless men gather around him, and he asks passing pedestrians to donate the price of a bed for the night for each man. He persists in his effort until every man has a place to sleep.
  • Mrs. Drouet
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First Sentence edit see section history

When Caroline Meeber boarded the afternoon train for Chicago, her total outfit consisted of a small trunk, a cheap imitation alligator-skin satchel, a small lunch in a paper box, and a yellow leather snap purse, containing her ticket, a scrap of paper with her sister's address in Van Buren Street, and four dollars in money.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

  • Bildungsroman: focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the main character from youth to adulthood.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 33 of 93 in Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: The Board's List. (authoritative list)

Preceded by The Golden Bowl, and followed by A Handful of Dust.

This is book 784 of 1271 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)

Preceded by Kim, and followed by Lord Jim.

This book is in Penguin Modern Classics. (edition-based publisher list)
This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
This is book 71 of 214 in Best English-Language Fiction of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)

Preceded by Women in Love , and followed by U.S.A. Trilogy.

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Doubleday, Page & Co.
Country: United States
Publication Date: 1900
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 580

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PZ3.D814 S39
  • Dewey: 813.52

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