I do agree to the idea that Carrie could be honored as a new woman of the new century compared with the other female roles in the novel。 First of all, let’s have a concrete analysis on the family-tied type of women----- the traditional Minnie and the Middle class Julia to show the priority and advancement of Carrie。 论文网

Firstly, let’s talk about the lean-faced, rather commonplace woman Minnie, Carrie’s elder sister, who is a typical example of traditional family-oriented women。 

1。1。 Minnie’s Poor Life

As the novel describes, “She carried with her most of the grimness of shift and toil”（Dreiser, 2010:10）。 Every day, she had to get up at about “twenty minutes of five” to prepare breakfast for her husband, and sleep at about ten at night。 She did all the family labor alone during the day, for instance, washing messy dishes, taking care of her annoying baby, purchasing trivial household utensils and so on。 Actually speaking, her “working” life was no easy than that of her husband’s。 But traditional conception is that household work is counted as nothing important。 So no matter how much Minnie did everyday, and how painstaking the labor was, Hanson would just take it for granted。 And the direct consequence is that in this family, Minnie worked as a machine day and night which always brought a steady round of toil with her。 Nothing more! 

As for her mental life, it was rather tedious and destroying。 Stuck in the family life, Minnie had little chance to connect herself with the outside world。 So her idea of life was colored by that of her husband’s。 In terms of Carrie’s new job as a factory worker, she had nothing to talk about but merely smiled approvingly or just reflected her husband’s point of view, which was “Any thing was good enough so long as it paid”（Dreiser, 2010:14）。 In the matter of amusements which Carrie paid much attention to, Hanson never cared about it, and inevitably, as a husband-oriented kind of woman, Minnie had to agree with her husband because the money was in her husband’s pocket。 Poor life and mean husband “hardened into a narrower conception of pleasure and duty than had ever been hers in a thoroughly circumscribed youth”（Dreiser, 2010:13）。 And her only amusement would be the well-known things, the enjoyment of which cost nothing, for example, walking down the Michigan Avenue, watching the fine houses and so on。 As for her family status, that was absolutely low, and she was always looking for subdued and tactful turn, anxious to avoid taciturn replies when her husband is low-spirited。 If she noticed what Carrie asks for would violate her husband, she would try to keep it a secret and private。 For example, when Carrie was new in Chicago, she was curious about the neighborhood, Minnie had to talk in a subdued tone, telling the little she knew about it。 And when Hanson was present, she seemed even to be more inferior。 Another example is, when Carrie asked the location of the business part and Minnie began to explain, Hanson took this part of conversation to himself directly, regardless of Minnie’s feelings completely。 It reveals that Hanson had the privilege to talk at any time, in spite of the inappropriateness and impoliteness。 So in her marriage with Hanson, Minnie lived in a world far away from light and merriment, lacking round of amusement。 

From the above explanation, we could conclude that a traditional woman’s marital life is not happy at all。 Her body is tightly bounded to the family, surrounded by overwhelming amount of housework everyday。 But her heavy labor is not respected by the other family members at all because the work is not paid, because it could not earn the necessary substance to support the family in the superficial aspect。 What’s worse, housewife’s life prevents her to contact herself with the rest of the world。 If that condition continues, she can not achieve as much progress both in living skills and in mental development as those working women。 So there will be a massive gap between her and others。 She can not understand the social stuff and has no more ideas about society except those transmitted from her husband。 文献综述