Sister Carrie
by Theodore Dreiser
It took a long while for this book to gain my interest. It was recommended to me by my mom, with the advice, "pay attention to Hurstwood. I daresay he's the real main character of the story." So I did. But at first the book really didn't appeal to me; Carrie was too emotional, Hurstwood a little too old, for me to empathize with them. I couldn't muster up the sympathy necessary in order to actively be engaged in their fictional lives. So the first half of the book dragged on for a few months while I dabbled in other books . . . but after Hurstwood tricks Carrie into running away with him, I became absorbed in this fascinating, very real-life story, which quickly takes the reader into a world where right and wrong become blurred, where an individual's sins or wrong choices can't be blamed on him/her alone, and where money, power, success, and beauty is out of reach no matter what.
This book is, overall, a book about Carrie and Hurstwood. The story zooms in on their little lives, paying barely any attention to other details in their world. Though the limited 3rd-person narration switches between them often, it rarely ventures to narrate the POV of other characters. I think the next largest character was Drouet, but he is only the foil, the initial spark, whose role was to set off Carrie's journey and facilitate her meeting with Hurstwood. Drouet fades out quickly towards the 2nd half of the book, and Carrie and Hurstwood quickly take center stage. Their character development is unique--something I have yet to see in other books. Carrie and Hurstwood develop not so much as "characters," but rather in financial and social ways. As a matter of fact, both characters remain relatively unaltered in personality by the end: Hurstwood is still prideful, Carrie is still wistful. But at the same time they are altered significantly by their external situation: Hurstwood is sullen, destitute, poor, and dreary as he loses his fortune, his love, his home, and everything that defined him in his old life of rich comfort. Contrarily, Carrie is independent and beautiful, in the spotlight. These changes do not come to them internally, but externally. In fact, their entire persons are described via outer circumstances. It's curious to note that outside their financial ups and downs, their relationships with each other, there is very little to be said about Carrie and Hurstwood as individuals. The author shapes and develops them almost entire through their fortunes.
Which brings us to the huge significance of financial success in this story. Throughout the entire book, being rich and well-off seems equated with happiness. Carrie longs for happiness indirectly by seeking such materialistic objectives: first she wants money, then luxury, then recognition, then prestige. In the beginning when she is poor and jobless, she is miserable. But by degrees as she achieves first an income, then a more luxurious lifestyle through Drouet, she tastes "happiness" and begins grasping for more. In a similar way, Hurstwood displays the importance of fortune in his initial situation: he is a rich manager of a club, is well-off, and holds in his hands the satisfaction of a prestigious circle of friends and a good reputation. In his initial state, Hurstwood represents the ideal picture of "happiness" which Carrie wishes to obtain.
Yet the truth is not so simple--as the author quickly informs us. Hurstwood is troubled by his family's growing indifference to him, and falls in love with Carrie who represents an "emotional happiness" which he lacks in his current life. This leads him to desert his old lifestyle with her, eager for a more modest, but happy home life. Of course, he begins to realize that without money, happiness is very far off--with their income cut off and the money in his possession dwindling, Hurstwood falls into a sort of indifferent stupor of denial. His mental state during this time is fascinating. He displays an apathy towards making money yet is in a situation where money is dire; whether his dwindling interest in finding a job as time goes on comes from a sort of pride that refuses him a lesser job than he previously possessed, or whether it comes from the indifference of a man who has never reached "rock bottom," is difficult to say. It certainly gives much food for thought, however, as he sinks lower and lower...from destitute to homeless, and finally to suicide. It causes us to question: how can a man who had such success at the beginning possibly fall so low? There is no clear answer, really; should his initial felony of stealing money be blamed? Or the businessmen of New York who refused to hire him? Or Carrie, who deserts him later on? Or himself, who refused to condescend to a lower job until too late? Whatever the cause may be, his life is a picture of the need for money if happiness in this world is to be gained.
In a way, his life could be considered the opposite of what Carrie's life represents: the strange paradox that money cannot buy happiness. Carrie continuously reaches for higher and loftier dreams in the book. Initially when she has nothing, she is satisfied when Drouet provides her with a life of modest luxury. But when this becomes the norm for her, she wishes for something more, and her experience acting in one play solidifies her desires for things she does not yet have: namely, fame and prestige. After she runs away with Hurstwood, she is for a time again satisfied, until a trip to Broadway with Mrs. Vance shatters her complacency and ignites in her a passion for the luxurious life of New Yorkers. This desire prompts her to leave Hurstwood, who without his previous charms and fortunes, no longer has a hold on Carrie's heart. She then takes a one-way road to success through the theatre, and eventually reaches the pinnacle of success she always dreamed of. But, is she happy after she accomplishes her lifelong ambition? Not really. The concluding paragraphs state clearly that she will forever be chasing after happiness, without ever being able to reach it. Her growing apathy towards the fame and pleasures that she once desired, her increasing restlessness in her new position in society, speak clearly of her "unhappiness" in her new-found wealth. It is interesting that both Hurstwood and Carrie, though they end up on polar opposite sides of fortune, never realize complete satisfaction and happiness.
Actually, Drouet presents an even more interesting look at the whole picture. While Hurstwood experiences a drastic fall in fortune, and Carrie experiences a gradual rise, Drouet remains largely unchanged in both fortune and person. At the beginning and in the end, Drouet stays modestly successful, still playful and flambouyant, still chasing after idle pleasures and women without much thought. He, more than any other character in the story, provides a contrast with which to compare Carrie and Hurstwood's situation, and gives the reader additional food for thought in considering what then, really, can lead one to happiness.
This is definitely a book worth reading. It is thought-provoking and stays with you long after the last page is turned. I am still pondering the question of "why?" even after the last paragraph. Why did Hurstwood fall so hard and so rapidly? Why did Carrie succeed so well? Why did things turn out the way they did? There is no clear answer to these questions, and it adds a touch of reality to the book like nothing else. Because really, in real life, nothing has a clear answer.
