摘 要

《嘉莉妹妹》是美国作家西奥多·德莱赛的经典著作之一。这篇小说客观地描绘了

19 世纪末 20 世纪初美国社会的真实状况。这一状况与当今同样经受社会转型期各种问题的中国社会有诸多相似之处。本文以社会转型的背景为前提，选取小说中三类具有代表性的女性角色（敏妮， 赫斯特伍德太太和嘉莉妹妹）来探讨这些女性在婚姻中的失败之处及其对当代女性的启示。论文分为五个部分。第一部分对作者作品和有关小说研究现状进行简要介绍，并指明本文的研究角度和研究意义。第二部到第四部分按人物分类，分别阐述三个女性角色的不同生活状况及各异的人生选择。其中，敏妮的过度奉献和赫斯特伍德夫人的极度自私形成鲜明对比，两者对待家庭的两种极端态度可作为当代女性的反面教材。就嘉莉妹妹而言，她饱受争议的成长之路实际上是生存环境和内心欲望共同作用的产物，文中对此运用马斯洛需求层级理论进行了分析。嘉莉妹妹面对命运的独立和积极态度值得现代女性借鉴。第五部分作为总结，概述了本文的主要内容，同时指出文章研究存在的局限和不足之处。通过对三类女性对婚姻和自我价值的不同态度的剖析，期望本文能给面临困境的当代女性带来些许的启示。

关键词：嘉莉妹妹；女性；动机；启示

Abstract

Sister Carrie is one of the classic works by American author Theodore Dreiser. This novel makes an objective depiction of the real state of American society during the late 19th century and the early 20th century. This situation has a great number of similarities with contemporary Chinese society, which is now suffering various problems of transformation period of society. On the premise of social transformation, the paper chooses three types of female characters (Minnie, Mrs Hurstwood and Carrie) in order to analyze their failure in marriage and enlightenment on modern women. It is made up by five parts. The first part focuses on introducing the writer and his works, research status of Sister Carrie as well as the view and significance of research of this paper. It is classified according to characters from the second to the fourth part. In this section, it is a striking contrast between the complete commitment of Minnie and excessive selfishness of Mrs Hurstwood. Their attitudes to families are negative examples for modern women. In terms of Carrie, her development is the outcome affected by exterior environment as well as inner desire, which is interpreted by the theory of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Besides, her positive attitude and independence to life set a good example to modern women. As the summary, the fifth part draws a conclusion. Meanwhile, it points out the limitations and deficiencies of the research of the paper. In accordance with the dissection of different attitudes towards marriage and self-realization of three female characters, it is expected that this paper can bring some enlightenment to women in today’s awkward situation.

Key words: Sister Carrie; female; motivation; enlightenment

Contents

1. Introduction 1
   1. Theodore Dreiser and Sister Carrie 1
   2. Research Status 2
   3. Research Significance 2
2. Constant Pains without Gains: Minnie 4
   1. Endless Devotion 4
   2. Balance between Family and Work 4
3. Constant Gains Without Pains: Mrs Hurstwood 6
   1. Stifling Home Atmosphere 6
   2. Balance between Self and Egoism 7
4. Controversial path of life : Carrie 8
   1. Dilemma 8
   2. Ambiguity 9
   3. Awakening 10
   4. Breakthrough 11
5. Conclusion 13

References 14

Acknowledgements 15

Tragic Marriage in Sister Carrie: