Sister Carrie Literary Analysis

The initiation story is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood（①维基百科英语，网址，在“成长小说”的文档里）. It mainly shows that young protagonists after experiencing certain events who are changed his original weltanschauung, or are changed his character, or both. These changes get rid of his childhood innocence and finally lead him to enter a real but complex adult world. Just like these themes, such as love, death, and life, growth is a classic and eternal theme. As a result, growth is one of the significant literature writing resources（②《成长小说概论》，在“。。与成长主题和儿童小说区别”文档，第54页）.

In Sister Carrie, Carrie should have been one of the traditional housewives which are accessories of man, like her

Drouet ceaselessly encourages and compliments Carrie, which further reduce her resistivity to material lure. The appearance of Drouet fulfills her initial vanity that possesses fine cloths and money. As time goes by, Drouet’s shortcomings emerge, while Carrie know more about the society and the charm of women, there is a gap between them. Drouet cannot attract Carrie any more, which provides an opportunity to Hurstwood.

Hurstwood, who is slightly older than Drouet, is a manager in a hotel with a higher position in his social circle, for he is well-dressed, humorous and sociable. By his persistence and diligence, he has won enough prestige and friends for his family and him. Like most of families at that time, his family also loses tolerance, consideration and care, which lays a foundation for the failure of his family.

It is simplicity and beauty in Carrie that attract Hurstwood deeply. But, actually Hurstwood just treats her as a toy also, just like what Drouet does. Hurstwood exerts lies and tricks to lure Carrie to away from the seller but to stay with him without marriage and status. It is an unethical and unequal relationship. Until Carrie joins in the drama, she finally realizes what her talent is. Besides, after playing the drama, Carrie looks at her two lovers with the posture of overlooking but not look up to

In the course of the time, more and more people pay attention to the artistic talent of Carrie. By asking friends, she also changes many theaters in order to get more salary and higher position. She is still a beautiful and clever girl, while Hurstwood now has been an old man who misses his ambition and ability. Stepping Progressively, Carrie is likely to escape from Hurstwood who is useless. In addition, under the influence of her neighbor’s cousin Ames who is an educated youth, she is reluctant to be a traditional woman. At her last growth phrase, she pays attention to her spiritual