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Abstract When Sister Carrie was first released in 1900 in America by Dreiser, it was regarded as immoral and not accepted by readers. For Carrie can be different man’s lover for fame and money. Gradually, some accept her. With time passing, it is still controversial today. And when Vanity Fair was published in the middle of 19th century in English by William Thackeray, who is one of the most famous realistic critical novelists, the female character in this novel was considered as influential character. Although these two novels were written in different place and different time, images of them are very great.9341
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This paper deals with the comparison of images and fates between Sister Carrie and Vanity Fair. Although they share much the same experience and characteristics, the thesis focuses on the differences of their images and fates under the conditions of the influence of social background and author’s attitude towards Carrie and Rebecca. Finally, the paper brings up the reasons for the differences between images and fates. A qualitative method and a contrastive method will be carried out throughout the study.
Key Words: comparison, Sister Carrie, Vanity Fair
摘要
当嘉莉妹妹在1900年在美国出版的时候，是不被读者所接受的。因为它所描述和表达是不道德的，体现在嘉莉的为了钱和名，不惜成为男人的玩物。逐渐地，一些人能够接受了它。但是直到今天，嘉莉妹妹仍然是备受争议的一个角色。当名利场由它的作者撒特雷在英国，19世纪的中期发表，他是一名出名的现实主义批评小说家。书中女性的特点在当时是很有影响力的。尽管两本小所由不同的作者和不同的时间地点所写，但是嘉莉和丽贝卡的形象仍然光彩照人。
文章从两位主角的性格和命运的对比写，尽管嘉莉和丽贝卡具有相似的性格和命运，但本文更着重于在不同的社会背景下以及作者对女主人公的态度的不同，来写嘉莉和丽贝卡相似性格和命运中的不同。并且文章将采用对比和定性的方法行进论证。
关键词：对比，嘉莉妹妹，名利场
CONTENTS
Acknowledgementsi
Abstract.ii
摘要..iii
1 Introduction.1
2 Literature Review4
2.1 Different Social Background ..4
2.2 Introduction on Two Authors ..6
2.2.1 Dreiser’s Attitudes towards Carrie.6
2.2.2 Thackeray’ Attitudes Towards Rebecca..7
3 Comparisons between Carrie and Rebecca.9
3.1 The Comparison of Images between Carrie and Rebecca9
3.2 The Comparison of Fate between Carrie and Rebecca.14
4 Conclusion..17
Bibliography..18
1. Introduction
Sister Carrie is a major work of art and an important landmark in the development of literary modernism. A distinctive characteristic of this work is in efforts to define the nature of modern thought and expression. It is the first novel of Theodore Dreiser in the 20th century in which new industrial cities sprung up and a large number of rural populations poured into city, but it was virtually suppressed by its publisher, who printed but refused to promote the book. The readers of the society in 1900 would not accept the novel with the prevailing double standard of sexual morality while Dreiser was full of hope about Sister Carrie and insisted that the society need his view and thought to promote and bring more happiness to human. In fact, The 456 sold copies of his novel and family troubles drove Dreiser to the verge of suicide. Until 1907 was Sister Carrie reissued, it has steadily risen in popularity and scholarly acceptance as one of the key works in the Dreiser canon (Wu, 2007:87). Dreiser’s work, and especially Sister Carrie, had been central to discussion of the nature of twentieth-century American life since his reputation as a leading American writer became established about the time of the First World War.
The prototype of Carrie is Dreiser’s sister Emma, who is just like Carrie, can not stand poverty and leaves the countryside to Chicago for a luxury life. She becomes the sweetheart of Anthony Hopkins. In contrast, in the end, she can not live a fortunate life as she expects that. Sister Carrie tells a story about how a young woman Carrie leaps from the bottom of the society to a Broadway star. Carrie leaves Wisconsin in order to enjoy the metropolis life of Chicago for living. The harsh reality breaks her dreams. She finds working life harder than she thinks. When in despair, she chooses to be the lover of a traveling salesman Charles Drouet, then a married hotel management, George Hurstwood. One night, Hurstwood steals ten thousands dollars from the hotel and flees to New York with Carrie. It is at New York that Hurstwood can not make business work, and becomes a beggar, finally commit suicide. And Carrie begins a success on the stage.