Abstract

American writer, Theodore Dreiser, is one of the greatest writers in history of American literature in the 20th century. He is the pioneer and representative writer of the modern novels in United States. His works broke the tradition of previous works and truly reflected the social evils in modern American society. Sister Carrie is one of his representative works, and meanwhile it is his first novel, which is a story that a plain, puerile and laborious young girl moves to the luxuriant metropolis Chicago from a small town for making a living and eventually becomes a Broadway star in New York City. The author profoundly exposed and criticized the darkness of the capitalist society through narrating the tragic destiny of heroine. This paper adopted Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs to interpret the novel, and analyzed the tragic destiny of protagonist which is caused by her own desire and the environment, demonstrated the author’s pessimistic view of American society. It is to hope that contemporary people who are pursuing their dreams to have a self-knowledge and find their own personal value.

Key Words: Sister Carrie  tragic destiny  Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

摘 要

美国作家西奥多•德莱塞是20世纪美国文学史上最伟大的作家之一，是美国现代小说的先驱和代表作家。他的作品打破了以往小说的传统，真实地反映美国现实社会的丑陋现象。《嘉莉妹妹》是他的代表作品之一，同时也是他的第一部长篇小说。该小说讲述了一个年轻貌美的十八岁农村少女离开父母到奢华的城市芝加哥谋生而最终成为演员的故事。作者通过塑造女主人公的悲剧性命运深刻地揭露和批判了资本主义社会的黑暗。本论文运用了马斯洛需求层次理论对小说进行了重新解读，发现女主人的悲剧性命运是其由自身不断增长的欲望和社会环境造成的，论证作者对美国社会的悲观态度。以此警示当今社会上那些正不断追求梦想的人们要认清自我，找到自己的价值所在。

关键词：《嘉莉妹妹》 悲剧性命运 马斯洛需求层次理论

1 Introduction
Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (1871-1945) is the most distinguished American realism and naturalism novelist in the history of American literature in the 20th century, who is famous for exploring the cruelty and reality of the society. Sister Carrie is Dreiser’s first novel, which has received much attention since published in 1900. It is a highly contentious and debated novel. At home and abroad, many people have done researches on the novel from different perspectives. However, those studies mainly focus on naturalism, consumerism, American dream and feminism themes.