It is probably the reason why she accepts Brander’s offer to help her family. It is also probably the reason for her to accept Lester’s proposal to live together as far as she
can reach her ambition to a rich woman. This is what she says to her mother why she is willing to go to New York with Lester without being married:
“…you know ho poor were are. The reason anyway we can make things come out right. I have found someone who wants to help us.
He says he loves me, and he wants me to go to New York with him Monday. I’ve decided to go.”
Dreiser, 1963: 170
From the quotation above, we can see that Jennie’s decision to go to New York with Lester to live together has reasonable reason. She longs for worldly pleasure. We
also understand that the reason why Jennie likes to get along with Brander is that being his wife, she will get famous and rich.
3.5 Elaborate Details
Another characteristic of a naturalistic novel is the elaborate details. At the beginning the story, we find out that the Gerhardt consist of Mr. Gerhardt , his wife,
and their six children: the oldest son, Sebastian or “Bass”, works as an apprentice at a local freight car builder; Genevieve or Jennie, who is eighteen years old; George,
fourteen, Martha, twelve, William, ten, Veronica, eight. Dreiser, actually, doe not need to tell us the last three children of the family since they do not play any role in
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the plot of the story. But Dreiser does this in order to give an impression to his reader that this is a true story. This detailed description is one of the characteristics of the
naturalistic novel. In describing the place where Mrs. Gerhardt and Jennie work, Dreiser gives
an elaborate detail so that we, readers, feel as if we were in that place, or the place were in front of us.
“The structure, five stories in height and of imposing proportions, stood at one corner of the central public
square….The lobby was large and had been recently redecorated. Both floor and wainscot were of white marble,
kept shiny by frequent polishing. There was an imposing stairs case with handrails of whale nut and toe strips of breast. An
inviting corner was devoted to a news and cigarstand, where the staircurved upward the clerk desk and offices had been
located, all done in hardwood and ornamented by novel gas fixtures. One could see through a door at one end and the lobby
to the barbershop, with its chairs and array of shaving mugs. Outside were usually two or three buses, arriving or
departing….” Dreiser, 1963: 18
We can see in the quotation above how detailed Dreiser describes the place where both Jennie and her mother work. He describes the lobby of the hotel, the floor, the
staircase, the corner of the room, the clerk desks, the offices, or even the buses which arrive and depart from the hotel. He describes them very them very vividly.
The author also describes the members of the Kane in details. We can understand clearly that Robert Kane is the oldest son; Lester Kane the second son,
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Amy, thirty years old, is married and has one child; Imogene, twenty eight years old, is married with no child; Louise, twenty five years old, is the youngest daughter of
the family. This is an incredible detail since the last three daughters do not play an important role in the story.
In describing the Kane’s house in Cincinnati, Dreiser also gives a complete detail. Let us have a look how Dreiser describes the nature when Vesta and her
grandfather are walking in the woods. He describes it minutely:
“Everywhere nature was budding and burdeoning; the birds twittering their arrival from the south; the insects make the
best of their brief span of life. Sparrows chipped upon the grass; bluebirds built their nests in the eaves of the cottages.”
Dreiser, 1963: 188-9
From the quotation above, we can see how vividly and minutely Dreiser describes the nature. It is as if we were watching or looking into the nature itself.
The details of the story are spread throughout the whole plot of the story. This is the characteristics of the naturalistic writing. Wherever Jennie moves from
one place to another, the author always describes the details of those places. Another good example of the detailed description in the story is the
description of the cottage in Sandwood, where Jennie lives for the last time in her life. She lives with Vesta in this cottage because Lester has left her and gets married
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with Letty. Besides that, his father has passed away. Later we know that Vesta also dies of Typhoid. Now let us have a look at the cottage:
“The cottage which was finally secured at Sandwood was only a story and a half in height, but it was raised upon red brick
piers between which were set green lattices and about which ran a veranda. The house was a long and narrow; its full length
– some five rooms in a row – facing the lake. There was a dining room with windows open even with the floor, a large
library with built–in shalves for books, and a parlor whose three large windows afforded air and sunshine at all times. The
plot of the ground in which this cottage stood was one hundred feet square and ornamented with a few trees. The former owner
had laid out flower beds, and arranged green hardwood for the reception of various hardy plants and vines. The house was
painted white, with green shutters and green shingles.” Dreiser, 1963: 154-5
By reading these details, we feel as if we were standing in front of the cottage and then we came into it.
3.6 About Common People
