Portrayal of The Protagonists in Edith Wharton's 'The House of Mirth' and Theodore Dreiser's 'Sister Carrie'.
ABSTRACT
Dalam karya ilmiah ini, saya membahas dua buah novel berjudul The
House of Mirth karya Edith Wharton dan Sister Carrie karya Theodore Dreiser.
Topik yang saya angkat dalam Tugas Akhir ini adalah penggambaran tokoh pada
Gilded Era, sebuah era yang terkenal dalam sejarah Amerika pada akhir abad
kesembilan belas. Kedua tokoh utama yang dibahas adalah Lily Bart dalam novel
The House of Mirth dan Carrie Meeber dalam novel Sister Carrie.
Setelah membaca kedua novel ini, saya mendapatkan penggambaran dua
tokoh perempuan yang sama-sama berjuang untuk mendapatkan uang, harta, dan
ketenaran dalam kehidupan mereka, di tengah masyarakat dan situasi zaman yang
sangat mengagungkan prinsip hedonisme. Persamaan yang saya temukan dalam
diri kedua tokoh tersebut adalah kemiripan sifat pada awal cerita serta cara-cara
yang mereka tempuh untuk mendapatkan apa yang mereka inginkan. Selain itu,
ditemukan pula adanya perbedaan yaitu perubahan sifat yang kemudian dialami
oleh salah seorang di antara tokoh tersebut dan perbedaan jalan hidup keduanya di
akhir cerita. Melalui persamaan dan perbedaan ini, saya menarik kesimpulan
bahwa kedua penulis tersebut memiliki tujuan yang sama, yaitu ingin mengkritik
gaya hidup pada zaman tersebut. Saya juga berpendapat bahwa kedua novel ini
baik dan menarik untuk dibaca, baik sebagai bacaan sehari-hari maupun untuk
dibahas secara mendalam.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................. i
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. ii
ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ........................................................................ 1
Statement of the Problem ....................................................................... 3
Purpose of the Study .............................................................................. 3
Method of Research ............................................................................... 3
Organization of the Thesis ..................................................................... 4
CHAPTER TWO: PORTRAYAL OF THE PROTAGONIST
IN EDITH WHARTON’S THE HOUSE OF MIRTH ..................... 5
CHAPTER THREE: PORTRAYAL OF THE PROTAGONIST
IN THEODORE DREISER’S SISTER CARRIE ........................... 20
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ............................................................ 31
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................... 35
APPENDICES
Synopsis of The House of Mirth .......................................................... 37
Synopsis of Sister Carrie ...................................................................... 38
Biography of Edith Wharton ................................................................ 39
Biography of Theodore Dreiser ........................................................... 40
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APPENDICES
Synopsis of The House of Mirth
Lily Bart is a girl of an upper-middle class family in New York. As a
child, she lived luxuriously and comfortably, until her father’s business goes
bankrupt, and Lily and her mother are forced to live in a bad condition. Her
mother once tells Lily that she must get their previous life back someday.
After her mother’s death, Lily stays with her stingy aunt, Mrs. Peniston,
who only supplies her with little amount of money. Lily, however, still cannot let
herself go of the habit of spending money. Knowing this fact and remembering
her mother’s words, she plans to marry someone very wealthy.
By the time she needs money, Lily entrusts her small amount of money to
Gus Trenor, her friend’s husband, to be invested in the stock market. Since then,
she receives money every month from him. When Lily asks for his help, Gus
thinks that Lily is attracted to him, but actually she is not. When Gus learns this
truth, he feels used and asks her to sleep with him to return his kindness and for
making him think that she likes him. Her refusal makes him angry and he shows
her how people actually look at her. Lily, who is very embarrassed, promises him
to return all the money he has given to her. Since this incident, she calls off all her
plans to marry a rich man.
37
When Mrs. Peniston dies, she only leaves $ 10,000 to Lily. It is almost the
same as the amount she owes Gus. As the inheritance is not given immediately,
Lily tries hard to work in order to survive, yet she never succeeds in any jobs. As
the situation is getting worse, she starts to consume sleeping pills. In the end, the
inheritance arrives earlier than expected, but tragically at that time Lily has felt
there is no use to continue her life. She commits suicide by taking an overdose of
pills.
Synopsis of Sister Carrie
Caroline Meeber is an eighteen-year-old girl who lives in rural Wisconsin.
She has many dreams in her life, therefore she decides to go to Chicago to realize
her dreams.
On the train to Chicago, she meets a traveling salesman named Charles
Drouet and they become friends. In Chicago, Carrie stays in her sister’s house and
gets a job in a shoe factory. When she falls sick because of the job, she meets
again with Drouet. He asks her to leave her job and her sister, and stay with him.
She accepts his offer.
During her stay with Drouet, he buys her beautiful wardrobe, improves her
appearance, and asks her to play in a theater. Surprisingly, Carrie performs well in
the play. She really enjoys those changes in her life so that she no longer wants to
get back to poverty.
One day, Drouet introduces her to George Hurstwood, a rich saloon
manager. Both Carrie and Hurstwood are attracted to each other and soon they
have an affair. When Hurstwood’s wife finds out about this affair and asks for a
38
divorce, he embezzles the money from the bar he manages and lures Carrie to run
away with him to Canada. Carrie agrees. She leaves Drouet and marries
Hurstwood. Later they get back to New York.
They live happily at first, but three years later he loses his job and runs out
of money soon afterwards without ever getting a new job. Carrie, who has become
more dissatisfied with him, starts to find an employment in a New York’s theater.
She begins to rise from a chorus girl to small speaking roles. Climbing the ladder
to success, she decides to leave Hurstwood, like what she has done to Drouet.
Biography of Edith Wharton
Edith Newbold Jones was born on January 24, 1862 in New York City.
She had a good education background and spoke French and German fluently.
She began her career as a writer by writing poems, short stories, and ghost stories.
When she was twenty-three years old, she married Edward Robins Wharton. In
1901, she started building her estate, the Mount, which has now become a
National Historic Landmark in Massachusetts. There she wrote her novels, The
Valley of Decision (1902) and The House of Mirth (1905), which was that year’s
best-seller.
In 1907, she moved to Paris and six years later she permanently stayed
there. When World War I took place, she devoted herself to helping refugees and
orphans in France and Belgium. She helped to raise funds, create hostels and
schools and find employment for women. For these efforts, she was awarded the
title of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honour in 1916. Based on her
experiences throughout the war, she wrote a diary and the essays entitled Fighting
39
in France (1915) and The Maine (1918). When the war ended, she left Paris for
the country life.
In 1920, she finished writing The Age of Innocence, which won her a
Pulitzer Prize. Leaving America for almost sixteen years, she only came back
once to receive an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Yale in 1923.
She was also elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
organization. Edith Wharton remained an active writer until she died of stroke on
August 11, 1937.
Source: “Edith Wharton”, Wharton V-VII
Biography of Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was born on August 27, 1871 in Terre
Haute, Indiana. He was the twelfth of thirteen children to a German-Catholic
immigrant family. As his family experienced hard times during his childhood, he
only had little opportunity to get education. He decided not to finish high school
and moved to Chicago to look for a job. He had jobs there as well as a chance to
study in Indiana University, but only for a year.
Having a desire to be a reporter, he worked for Chicago Globe newspaper
and for St. Louis Globe-Democrat. In 1898, he moved to New York after getting
married. His first novel, Sister Carrie, was published in 1900 and reaped
controversies. It was followed by Jennie Gerhardt a year later. His other novel, An
American Tragedy, got its first commercial success in 1925. Although primarily
known as a novelist, Dreiser also wrote many short stories. By the late 1920s, he
was considered as an old warrior in the battles for American literary freedom.
40
Outside the field of writing, he was interested in politics and scientificphilosophical study. His political activities started in 1927, when the Soviet
government invited him to Moscow to attend the anniversary celebration of the
October Revolution. In the 1930s, he wrote little fiction since he devoted himself
to political activities; he joined an international peace conference in Paris and
became an advocate in America for the victims of the Spanish Civil War. Dreiser
himself admitted that he was a socialist and five months before his death, he
joined the Communist Party. On December 28, 1945 he died of heart failure, in
Hollywood, California.
Souce: “Theodore Dreiser”, Riggio
41
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
In the late 19th century, after the Reconstruction era, the United States of
America experienced a new era of modernism. This era was thought as the
nation’s golden era; but since what was seen on the outside did not show the true
image of the American society (High 81), it is called the Gilded Age by Mark
Twain, who saw how the real social condition was behind the glittering
appearance. On the one hand, the industrial revolution at that time contributed
magnificent growth to America in every sector, including economy, education,
technology, and population. There were many great factories and mansions built,
universities established, and leisure places developed. “During Gilded Age, every
man was a potential Andrew Carnegie” (“Gilded Age”), so everyone fought to be
rich or get richer in any way. This progress created a lot of newly-rich people,
urbanization, immigration, and labors, but on the other hand, there were
undeniable realities, such as conspicuous differences between the poor and the
rich, poverty, mass strike, business corruption, political scandal, and materialistic
society.
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Edith Wharton and Theodore Dreiser lived in this period of time and they
made it the setting of their novels, The House of Mirth and Sister Carrie. In The
House of Mirth, the protagonist comes from an upper-middle class society, but
when her family goes bankrupt, she faces a difficult economic condition. As she
still wants to stay inside the rich circle, she intends to marry for money to cope
with this serious matter. In Sister Carrie, the protagonist is a poor woman who
dreams of a better life, so she goes to Chicago to look for a job. Both protagonists
try to survive in big cities, which are influenced by wealth and social status.
Edith Wharton was a successful American writer and many of her works
have become best-sellers. The major discussion of her fiction deals with manners,
mores and social changes in the American life (Wharton VI). The House of Mirth
is her first major work and it describes the life of New York’s upper class.
Because Edith Wharton also grows up in this milieu, she gives exact descriptions
about life in this class and boldly shows the bad side of it, which is often hidden
behind fine appearances. This novel is considered as a novel of manners, which
“often shows a conflict between individual aspirations or desires and the accepted
social codes of behaviour” (“Novel of Manners”).
Theodore Dreiser was once a reporter. This experience enabled him to tell
his stories honestly with detailed explanations and descriptions; the details which
make people understand and see the real life in America from both good and bad
sides. His first novel, Sister Carrie, describes how lower-class people view the life
of upper class and how they try to become a part of it. The story is inspired by
Dreiser’s sister’s experience and by what he has heard and seen in his life (Dreiser
469).
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As the stories revolve around these protagonists, I think it is best to discuss
characters in this thesis. According to Beaty, character is “a person (or personified
or anthropomorphized animal, object, or deity) who acts, appears, or is referred to
in a work” (604). Thus, I analyze the portrayal of the protagonists in The House of
Mirth and Sister Carrie using formalism.
Statement of the Problem
The thesis discusses these questions:
1. How are the protagonists portrayed in the novels?
2. What are the authors’ purposes in creating such characters?
Purpose of the Study
The purposes of the thesis are:
1. to show how the protagonists are portrayed in the novels.
2. to show the authors’ purposes in creating such characters.
Method of Research
In writing my thesis, I use the method of library research. I begin the study
by reading the primary texts, which are Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth and
Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie. Then I read some references from the Internet
and the books that are relevant to the topic to support my analysis. The
information and the knowledge that I have gathered are then used to analyze the
texts. Finally, I draw a conclusion from the research I have made.
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Organization of the Thesis
I divide the thesis into four chapters, preceded by the Abstract, the
Acknowledgement, and the Table of Content. In Chapter One, I present the
Introduction, consisting of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the
Problem, the Purpose of the Study, the Methods of Research and the Organization
of the Thesis. In Chapter Two, I analyze the Portrayal of the Protagonist in Edith
Wharton’s The House of Mirth. In Chapter Three, I analyze the Portrayal of the
Protagonist in Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie. Chapter Four is the Conclusion.
The thesis ends with the Bibliography and the Appendices, consisting of the
Biography of the authors and the Synopsis of the novels.
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
After analyzing the two protagonists in The House of Mirth and Sister
Carrie, I would like to draw some conclusion. Both of the authors take the Gilded
Era, an era in the late 19th century America where they lived, as the setting for
their stories. Although Wharton and Dreiser expose different classes, high class
and low class, the whole atmosphere of the this Era is affected by hedonism. All
people fight to get rich or richer, because being rich is believed to be closely
associated with one’s success and happiness. Since this era is closely related to
hedonism, these two stories revolve around a person who makes big efforts to get
pleasures in their lives.
The protagonists of the novels are both women. Lily Bart in The House of
Mirth is an upper-middle class woman. When her family gets bankrupt, she gets
into a difficult economic condition, yet she still wants to maintain her previous
glamorous lifestyle. The other protagonist, Carrie Meeber in Sister Carrie, is a
girl from the lower class, as her family is poor. Nevertheless, she goes to Chicago
to realize her dream of having a better life, something which she knows that she
cannot achieve if she stays in her town. At the beginning of the story, they have
two similar characteristics, which are beautiful in appearance and hedonistic.
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Since they are hedonistic, they adore pleasures very much. Pleasures for them
mean having much money and a lot of material things, as well as living in a
luxurious place.
When they have to face their economic problem, each of them uses their
other characteristics to cope with it. Lily uses her beauty to attract rich men,
which makes her a manipulative woman. She does not mind marrying for money.
Carrie does not differ much from Lily. With her strong ambition, she is willing to
do anything to get wealth, material things, and be an artiste. She does not miss a
chance when there are men with money who are attracted to her.
Although the two protagonists are similar, they do have some differences.
Wharton creates Lily as a dynamic character, while Dreiser creates Carrie as a
static character. In the middle of the story, Lily changes her characteristics and
she becomes sincere and no longer hedonistic. She does not consider wealth and
material things as the most important thing in life anymore and she no longer uses
her beauty as an easy way to get what she wants. As a static character, Carrie does
not experience any changes in characteristic. She still has the same personality at
the end of the story as she does at the beginning. This significant difference leads
each of them to the different fate. Lily fails to get what she really wants and dies
of overdose at the end of the story. On the other hand, Carrie gets the pleasures
and the better life she dreams of.
I believe the different fate among these two protagonists is related to the
fact that Wharton is a realist, while Dreiser is a naturalist. In realism, the character
is portrayed just the way the character is with his or her own characteristics, but in
naturalism, the characteristics are determined by the environment or hereditary.
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“The Evolution Theory of Charles Darwin provides the greatest influence to
naturalistic writers. That is why stories from naturalistic writers espoused the view
that one’s bloodline and environment determine a person’s character. Realism
presents the character exactly who he or she is.” (Cuizon). Moreover, realism
gives more emphasis on the events which happen based on the character’s choice,
while naturalistic view considers that everything that happens have been
determined. “In realism … the moral or ethical choices facing the character
become the crux of the story. In a naturalistic novel, the writer will temper the
realistic portrayal of events to show the effects and significance of a deterministic
universe” (Pru). Therefore, Wharton really shows Lily’s true characteristics in the
novel and the tragic ending that comes to Lily is the consequence of her choice.
But, Dreiser creates Carrie with characteristics that are shaped by her
surroundings. Thus, in the end, like any other successful people at that time who
have hedonistic and ambitious characteristics, Carrie also becomes successful in
the end.
Wharton and Dreiser have different concepts and styles of writing, but I
conclude that both of them intend to satirize the Gilded Era society through their
works, although they convey this idea in different ways. Wharton uses a dynamic
character with an unpleasant ending, while Dreiser uses a static character with a
happy ending. Both of them satirize the values of the society at that time that
consider physical appearance as most important and that that people should love
all the pleasures that life offers them and get them. In getting the pleasures, they
are allowed to do anything, although it is bad.
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From how the authors convey their purposes, I prefer Wharton’s way. In
my personal opinion, it is more effective and the message is much better conveyed
to the readers. They would be able to directly see and understand how life can
really change if they do not live in accordance with the values that society holds.
The readers are also given a clear example of one who becomes the victim of the
society. In my opinion, this way of criticizing is more convincing than Dreiser’s.
He seems to be using a safer way to criticize society by creating a character that is
portrayed as following the values that everyone else holds with a happy outcome.
Still, through their works, Wharton and Dreiser have proven Mark Twain’s
expression for that era, that glittering appearance covers its own badness. “Mark
Twain called the late nineteenth century the "Gilded Age." By this, he meant that
the period was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath” (“Learn About
Gilded Age”).
I encourage those who want to know deeper about the Gilded Era to read
these two novels, which give them more information about the real life and how
people think in that era. They may also learn about the power of money that is
able to control people’s mind, moreover it can affect the society. Furthermore,
these novels will open our mind about the truth that money is important, but it is
not the most important thing in life and on top of that, money is not the measure
for one’s happiness.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Texts:
Dreiser, Theodore. Sister Carrie. New York: Signet Classic, 1961.
Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Classics, 1997.
References:
Beaty, Jerome. Fiction. Toronto: George J. McLeod Limited, 1973.
High, Peter B. An Outline of American Literature. New York: Longman Inc.,
1986.
Hornby, AS. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2005.
Internet Websites:
Cuizon, Gwen. “What is Naturalism in Literature?.” Bukisa. 2009. 29 Jul. 2011.
“Edith Wharton.” The Literature Network. 2010. 19 Mar. 2010.
“Gilded Age.” American Experience. 2009. 14 May. 2010.
“Learn About Gilded Age.” Digital History. 2011. 22 May.2011.
< http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/gilded_age/index.cfm>
“Novel of Manners.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2009. 19 Apr. 2010.
Pru, Laura. “Differences in Naturalism & Realism in Literature.” eHow. 2011. 29
Jul. 2011.
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Riggio, Thomas P. “Biography of Theodore Dreiser.” Penn Libraries. 2006. 19
Apr. 2010.
“Theodore Dreiser.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2010. 19 Mar. 2010.
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Maranatha Christian University
Dalam karya ilmiah ini, saya membahas dua buah novel berjudul The
House of Mirth karya Edith Wharton dan Sister Carrie karya Theodore Dreiser.
Topik yang saya angkat dalam Tugas Akhir ini adalah penggambaran tokoh pada
Gilded Era, sebuah era yang terkenal dalam sejarah Amerika pada akhir abad
kesembilan belas. Kedua tokoh utama yang dibahas adalah Lily Bart dalam novel
The House of Mirth dan Carrie Meeber dalam novel Sister Carrie.
Setelah membaca kedua novel ini, saya mendapatkan penggambaran dua
tokoh perempuan yang sama-sama berjuang untuk mendapatkan uang, harta, dan
ketenaran dalam kehidupan mereka, di tengah masyarakat dan situasi zaman yang
sangat mengagungkan prinsip hedonisme. Persamaan yang saya temukan dalam
diri kedua tokoh tersebut adalah kemiripan sifat pada awal cerita serta cara-cara
yang mereka tempuh untuk mendapatkan apa yang mereka inginkan. Selain itu,
ditemukan pula adanya perbedaan yaitu perubahan sifat yang kemudian dialami
oleh salah seorang di antara tokoh tersebut dan perbedaan jalan hidup keduanya di
akhir cerita. Melalui persamaan dan perbedaan ini, saya menarik kesimpulan
bahwa kedua penulis tersebut memiliki tujuan yang sama, yaitu ingin mengkritik
gaya hidup pada zaman tersebut. Saya juga berpendapat bahwa kedua novel ini
baik dan menarik untuk dibaca, baik sebagai bacaan sehari-hari maupun untuk
dibahas secara mendalam.
ii
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................. i
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. ii
ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ........................................................................ 1
Statement of the Problem ....................................................................... 3
Purpose of the Study .............................................................................. 3
Method of Research ............................................................................... 3
Organization of the Thesis ..................................................................... 4
CHAPTER TWO: PORTRAYAL OF THE PROTAGONIST
IN EDITH WHARTON’S THE HOUSE OF MIRTH ..................... 5
CHAPTER THREE: PORTRAYAL OF THE PROTAGONIST
IN THEODORE DREISER’S SISTER CARRIE ........................... 20
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ............................................................ 31
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................... 35
APPENDICES
Synopsis of The House of Mirth .......................................................... 37
Synopsis of Sister Carrie ...................................................................... 38
Biography of Edith Wharton ................................................................ 39
Biography of Theodore Dreiser ........................................................... 40
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APPENDICES
Synopsis of The House of Mirth
Lily Bart is a girl of an upper-middle class family in New York. As a
child, she lived luxuriously and comfortably, until her father’s business goes
bankrupt, and Lily and her mother are forced to live in a bad condition. Her
mother once tells Lily that she must get their previous life back someday.
After her mother’s death, Lily stays with her stingy aunt, Mrs. Peniston,
who only supplies her with little amount of money. Lily, however, still cannot let
herself go of the habit of spending money. Knowing this fact and remembering
her mother’s words, she plans to marry someone very wealthy.
By the time she needs money, Lily entrusts her small amount of money to
Gus Trenor, her friend’s husband, to be invested in the stock market. Since then,
she receives money every month from him. When Lily asks for his help, Gus
thinks that Lily is attracted to him, but actually she is not. When Gus learns this
truth, he feels used and asks her to sleep with him to return his kindness and for
making him think that she likes him. Her refusal makes him angry and he shows
her how people actually look at her. Lily, who is very embarrassed, promises him
to return all the money he has given to her. Since this incident, she calls off all her
plans to marry a rich man.
37
When Mrs. Peniston dies, she only leaves $ 10,000 to Lily. It is almost the
same as the amount she owes Gus. As the inheritance is not given immediately,
Lily tries hard to work in order to survive, yet she never succeeds in any jobs. As
the situation is getting worse, she starts to consume sleeping pills. In the end, the
inheritance arrives earlier than expected, but tragically at that time Lily has felt
there is no use to continue her life. She commits suicide by taking an overdose of
pills.
Synopsis of Sister Carrie
Caroline Meeber is an eighteen-year-old girl who lives in rural Wisconsin.
She has many dreams in her life, therefore she decides to go to Chicago to realize
her dreams.
On the train to Chicago, she meets a traveling salesman named Charles
Drouet and they become friends. In Chicago, Carrie stays in her sister’s house and
gets a job in a shoe factory. When she falls sick because of the job, she meets
again with Drouet. He asks her to leave her job and her sister, and stay with him.
She accepts his offer.
During her stay with Drouet, he buys her beautiful wardrobe, improves her
appearance, and asks her to play in a theater. Surprisingly, Carrie performs well in
the play. She really enjoys those changes in her life so that she no longer wants to
get back to poverty.
One day, Drouet introduces her to George Hurstwood, a rich saloon
manager. Both Carrie and Hurstwood are attracted to each other and soon they
have an affair. When Hurstwood’s wife finds out about this affair and asks for a
38
divorce, he embezzles the money from the bar he manages and lures Carrie to run
away with him to Canada. Carrie agrees. She leaves Drouet and marries
Hurstwood. Later they get back to New York.
They live happily at first, but three years later he loses his job and runs out
of money soon afterwards without ever getting a new job. Carrie, who has become
more dissatisfied with him, starts to find an employment in a New York’s theater.
She begins to rise from a chorus girl to small speaking roles. Climbing the ladder
to success, she decides to leave Hurstwood, like what she has done to Drouet.
Biography of Edith Wharton
Edith Newbold Jones was born on January 24, 1862 in New York City.
She had a good education background and spoke French and German fluently.
She began her career as a writer by writing poems, short stories, and ghost stories.
When she was twenty-three years old, she married Edward Robins Wharton. In
1901, she started building her estate, the Mount, which has now become a
National Historic Landmark in Massachusetts. There she wrote her novels, The
Valley of Decision (1902) and The House of Mirth (1905), which was that year’s
best-seller.
In 1907, she moved to Paris and six years later she permanently stayed
there. When World War I took place, she devoted herself to helping refugees and
orphans in France and Belgium. She helped to raise funds, create hostels and
schools and find employment for women. For these efforts, she was awarded the
title of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honour in 1916. Based on her
experiences throughout the war, she wrote a diary and the essays entitled Fighting
39
in France (1915) and The Maine (1918). When the war ended, she left Paris for
the country life.
In 1920, she finished writing The Age of Innocence, which won her a
Pulitzer Prize. Leaving America for almost sixteen years, she only came back
once to receive an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Yale in 1923.
She was also elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
organization. Edith Wharton remained an active writer until she died of stroke on
August 11, 1937.
Source: “Edith Wharton”, Wharton V-VII
Biography of Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was born on August 27, 1871 in Terre
Haute, Indiana. He was the twelfth of thirteen children to a German-Catholic
immigrant family. As his family experienced hard times during his childhood, he
only had little opportunity to get education. He decided not to finish high school
and moved to Chicago to look for a job. He had jobs there as well as a chance to
study in Indiana University, but only for a year.
Having a desire to be a reporter, he worked for Chicago Globe newspaper
and for St. Louis Globe-Democrat. In 1898, he moved to New York after getting
married. His first novel, Sister Carrie, was published in 1900 and reaped
controversies. It was followed by Jennie Gerhardt a year later. His other novel, An
American Tragedy, got its first commercial success in 1925. Although primarily
known as a novelist, Dreiser also wrote many short stories. By the late 1920s, he
was considered as an old warrior in the battles for American literary freedom.
40
Outside the field of writing, he was interested in politics and scientificphilosophical study. His political activities started in 1927, when the Soviet
government invited him to Moscow to attend the anniversary celebration of the
October Revolution. In the 1930s, he wrote little fiction since he devoted himself
to political activities; he joined an international peace conference in Paris and
became an advocate in America for the victims of the Spanish Civil War. Dreiser
himself admitted that he was a socialist and five months before his death, he
joined the Communist Party. On December 28, 1945 he died of heart failure, in
Hollywood, California.
Souce: “Theodore Dreiser”, Riggio
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
In the late 19th century, after the Reconstruction era, the United States of
America experienced a new era of modernism. This era was thought as the
nation’s golden era; but since what was seen on the outside did not show the true
image of the American society (High 81), it is called the Gilded Age by Mark
Twain, who saw how the real social condition was behind the glittering
appearance. On the one hand, the industrial revolution at that time contributed
magnificent growth to America in every sector, including economy, education,
technology, and population. There were many great factories and mansions built,
universities established, and leisure places developed. “During Gilded Age, every
man was a potential Andrew Carnegie” (“Gilded Age”), so everyone fought to be
rich or get richer in any way. This progress created a lot of newly-rich people,
urbanization, immigration, and labors, but on the other hand, there were
undeniable realities, such as conspicuous differences between the poor and the
rich, poverty, mass strike, business corruption, political scandal, and materialistic
society.
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Edith Wharton and Theodore Dreiser lived in this period of time and they
made it the setting of their novels, The House of Mirth and Sister Carrie. In The
House of Mirth, the protagonist comes from an upper-middle class society, but
when her family goes bankrupt, she faces a difficult economic condition. As she
still wants to stay inside the rich circle, she intends to marry for money to cope
with this serious matter. In Sister Carrie, the protagonist is a poor woman who
dreams of a better life, so she goes to Chicago to look for a job. Both protagonists
try to survive in big cities, which are influenced by wealth and social status.
Edith Wharton was a successful American writer and many of her works
have become best-sellers. The major discussion of her fiction deals with manners,
mores and social changes in the American life (Wharton VI). The House of Mirth
is her first major work and it describes the life of New York’s upper class.
Because Edith Wharton also grows up in this milieu, she gives exact descriptions
about life in this class and boldly shows the bad side of it, which is often hidden
behind fine appearances. This novel is considered as a novel of manners, which
“often shows a conflict between individual aspirations or desires and the accepted
social codes of behaviour” (“Novel of Manners”).
Theodore Dreiser was once a reporter. This experience enabled him to tell
his stories honestly with detailed explanations and descriptions; the details which
make people understand and see the real life in America from both good and bad
sides. His first novel, Sister Carrie, describes how lower-class people view the life
of upper class and how they try to become a part of it. The story is inspired by
Dreiser’s sister’s experience and by what he has heard and seen in his life (Dreiser
469).
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As the stories revolve around these protagonists, I think it is best to discuss
characters in this thesis. According to Beaty, character is “a person (or personified
or anthropomorphized animal, object, or deity) who acts, appears, or is referred to
in a work” (604). Thus, I analyze the portrayal of the protagonists in The House of
Mirth and Sister Carrie using formalism.
Statement of the Problem
The thesis discusses these questions:
1. How are the protagonists portrayed in the novels?
2. What are the authors’ purposes in creating such characters?
Purpose of the Study
The purposes of the thesis are:
1. to show how the protagonists are portrayed in the novels.
2. to show the authors’ purposes in creating such characters.
Method of Research
In writing my thesis, I use the method of library research. I begin the study
by reading the primary texts, which are Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth and
Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie. Then I read some references from the Internet
and the books that are relevant to the topic to support my analysis. The
information and the knowledge that I have gathered are then used to analyze the
texts. Finally, I draw a conclusion from the research I have made.
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Organization of the Thesis
I divide the thesis into four chapters, preceded by the Abstract, the
Acknowledgement, and the Table of Content. In Chapter One, I present the
Introduction, consisting of the Background of the Study, the Statement of the
Problem, the Purpose of the Study, the Methods of Research and the Organization
of the Thesis. In Chapter Two, I analyze the Portrayal of the Protagonist in Edith
Wharton’s The House of Mirth. In Chapter Three, I analyze the Portrayal of the
Protagonist in Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie. Chapter Four is the Conclusion.
The thesis ends with the Bibliography and the Appendices, consisting of the
Biography of the authors and the Synopsis of the novels.
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
After analyzing the two protagonists in The House of Mirth and Sister
Carrie, I would like to draw some conclusion. Both of the authors take the Gilded
Era, an era in the late 19th century America where they lived, as the setting for
their stories. Although Wharton and Dreiser expose different classes, high class
and low class, the whole atmosphere of the this Era is affected by hedonism. All
people fight to get rich or richer, because being rich is believed to be closely
associated with one’s success and happiness. Since this era is closely related to
hedonism, these two stories revolve around a person who makes big efforts to get
pleasures in their lives.
The protagonists of the novels are both women. Lily Bart in The House of
Mirth is an upper-middle class woman. When her family gets bankrupt, she gets
into a difficult economic condition, yet she still wants to maintain her previous
glamorous lifestyle. The other protagonist, Carrie Meeber in Sister Carrie, is a
girl from the lower class, as her family is poor. Nevertheless, she goes to Chicago
to realize her dream of having a better life, something which she knows that she
cannot achieve if she stays in her town. At the beginning of the story, they have
two similar characteristics, which are beautiful in appearance and hedonistic.
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Since they are hedonistic, they adore pleasures very much. Pleasures for them
mean having much money and a lot of material things, as well as living in a
luxurious place.
When they have to face their economic problem, each of them uses their
other characteristics to cope with it. Lily uses her beauty to attract rich men,
which makes her a manipulative woman. She does not mind marrying for money.
Carrie does not differ much from Lily. With her strong ambition, she is willing to
do anything to get wealth, material things, and be an artiste. She does not miss a
chance when there are men with money who are attracted to her.
Although the two protagonists are similar, they do have some differences.
Wharton creates Lily as a dynamic character, while Dreiser creates Carrie as a
static character. In the middle of the story, Lily changes her characteristics and
she becomes sincere and no longer hedonistic. She does not consider wealth and
material things as the most important thing in life anymore and she no longer uses
her beauty as an easy way to get what she wants. As a static character, Carrie does
not experience any changes in characteristic. She still has the same personality at
the end of the story as she does at the beginning. This significant difference leads
each of them to the different fate. Lily fails to get what she really wants and dies
of overdose at the end of the story. On the other hand, Carrie gets the pleasures
and the better life she dreams of.
I believe the different fate among these two protagonists is related to the
fact that Wharton is a realist, while Dreiser is a naturalist. In realism, the character
is portrayed just the way the character is with his or her own characteristics, but in
naturalism, the characteristics are determined by the environment or hereditary.
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“The Evolution Theory of Charles Darwin provides the greatest influence to
naturalistic writers. That is why stories from naturalistic writers espoused the view
that one’s bloodline and environment determine a person’s character. Realism
presents the character exactly who he or she is.” (Cuizon). Moreover, realism
gives more emphasis on the events which happen based on the character’s choice,
while naturalistic view considers that everything that happens have been
determined. “In realism … the moral or ethical choices facing the character
become the crux of the story. In a naturalistic novel, the writer will temper the
realistic portrayal of events to show the effects and significance of a deterministic
universe” (Pru). Therefore, Wharton really shows Lily’s true characteristics in the
novel and the tragic ending that comes to Lily is the consequence of her choice.
But, Dreiser creates Carrie with characteristics that are shaped by her
surroundings. Thus, in the end, like any other successful people at that time who
have hedonistic and ambitious characteristics, Carrie also becomes successful in
the end.
Wharton and Dreiser have different concepts and styles of writing, but I
conclude that both of them intend to satirize the Gilded Era society through their
works, although they convey this idea in different ways. Wharton uses a dynamic
character with an unpleasant ending, while Dreiser uses a static character with a
happy ending. Both of them satirize the values of the society at that time that
consider physical appearance as most important and that that people should love
all the pleasures that life offers them and get them. In getting the pleasures, they
are allowed to do anything, although it is bad.
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From how the authors convey their purposes, I prefer Wharton’s way. In
my personal opinion, it is more effective and the message is much better conveyed
to the readers. They would be able to directly see and understand how life can
really change if they do not live in accordance with the values that society holds.
The readers are also given a clear example of one who becomes the victim of the
society. In my opinion, this way of criticizing is more convincing than Dreiser’s.
He seems to be using a safer way to criticize society by creating a character that is
portrayed as following the values that everyone else holds with a happy outcome.
Still, through their works, Wharton and Dreiser have proven Mark Twain’s
expression for that era, that glittering appearance covers its own badness. “Mark
Twain called the late nineteenth century the "Gilded Age." By this, he meant that
the period was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath” (“Learn About
Gilded Age”).
I encourage those who want to know deeper about the Gilded Era to read
these two novels, which give them more information about the real life and how
people think in that era. They may also learn about the power of money that is
able to control people’s mind, moreover it can affect the society. Furthermore,
these novels will open our mind about the truth that money is important, but it is
not the most important thing in life and on top of that, money is not the measure
for one’s happiness.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Texts:
Dreiser, Theodore. Sister Carrie. New York: Signet Classic, 1961.
Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Classics, 1997.
References:
Beaty, Jerome. Fiction. Toronto: George J. McLeod Limited, 1973.
High, Peter B. An Outline of American Literature. New York: Longman Inc.,
1986.
Hornby, AS. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2005.
Internet Websites:
Cuizon, Gwen. “What is Naturalism in Literature?.” Bukisa. 2009. 29 Jul. 2011.
“Edith Wharton.” The Literature Network. 2010. 19 Mar. 2010.
“Gilded Age.” American Experience. 2009. 14 May. 2010.
“Learn About Gilded Age.” Digital History. 2011. 22 May.2011.
< http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/gilded_age/index.cfm>
“Novel of Manners.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2009. 19 Apr. 2010.
Pru, Laura. “Differences in Naturalism & Realism in Literature.” eHow. 2011. 29
Jul. 2011.
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Riggio, Thomas P. “Biography of Theodore Dreiser.” Penn Libraries. 2006. 19
Apr. 2010.
“Theodore Dreiser.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2010. 19 Mar. 2010.
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