Sister Carrie- The Affect and Reflecting of It's Time Period

Plot Summary The novel, Sister Carrie, written by Theodore Dreiser discusses the life of an eighteen-year old girl leaving Columbia City to start a new life in Chicago. With her are four dollars, a few paltry belongings, and her sister’s address in Chicago. Throughout the story, a pattern is shown as Caroline (Carrie) Meeber progresses in the ladder of society: from a poor, jobless girl living below the poverty line to a rich and …showed first 75 words of 1663 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1663 total…in imitating the mannerisms the Drouet compliments in other women. Thus, by imitating whatever Drouet desires in a woman, she becomes merely a reflection of masculine desire. Moreover, by playing her role in such a great manner, Carrie shows the reader her support in the conventional social belief that women are of nothing but deceit and performance. Dreiser hoped to show the reader that women lack fixed identities of their own making them seem pretentious.