THE IMAGE OF AMERICAN CITIES IN “SISTER CARRIE” BY THEODOR DREISER

Abstract

Considered one of the most important urban novels in American literature, Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie tells the story of Caroline Meeber, a young country girl who moves to the big city and begins pursuing her American dream. Dreiser’s sister Emma provides the plot content for the novel, and her protagonist Carrie experienced exactly the same fate as Meeber. This fact may have also played an important role in the choice of the book’s title. In addition to themes such as rejection and struggles with poverty, the city as a familiar setting is another very central and interesting theme in Dreiser’s novel that deserves a closer look. Because realism in American literature seeks to represent reality faithfully, literature from this period reflects her urban realities in nineteenth-century America and the impact of urban life on Americans. In this article, I would like to explore how the city is portrayed in Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie. This includes things like the qualities Dreiser brings to the cities of Chicago and New York, and how the cities influence Carrie’s personality.