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A PORTRAIT OF AMERICAN URBAN LIFE
IN THE LATE 19 TH CENTURY AS SEEN THROUGH DREISER’S SISTER CARRIE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
SONDANG MADUMA SIMANJUNTAK
Student Number: 074214032
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011
A PORTRAIT OF AMERICAN URBAN LIFE
IN THE LATE 19 TH CENTURY AS SEEN THROUGH DREISER’S SISTER CARRIE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
SONDANG MADUMA SIMANJUNTAK
Student Number: 074214032
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2011
. THIS UNDERGRADUATE THESIS IS DEDICATED TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, MYFAMILY, AND ALL PEOPLE IN MY LIFE…..
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, I would like to thank my Lord,Jesus Christ, for all His blessings in my life. I know that He always guides me to face anything in my life. Without His help, it is impossible for me to finish this thesis.
Also, I would like to thank my advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum.who gave me a lot of advice in writing this thesis. I also thank her for the time and the patience in giving me the guidance to make this study better.
In this chance, I also thank my co-advisor, Modesta Luluk Artika W., S.S. for her guidance after reading my thesis. I also thank her for her time and her guidance to lead me to finish this thesis.
I want to express my thanks to my family, my father, my mother, my sisters, and my brother. I thank them for theirprayers, supports and love in my life.
I thank them for loving me even though I often make them all disappointed.I thank them for the supports when I was down and the patience when I gave negative responses to all of them.
I also want to thank all of English Letters’ lecturerswho taught me in the last four years in Sanata Dharma University. I thank them for all of their knowledge that theyhad given for me.
My acknowledgementsalso go to all my friends in the same department as I am, all 2007 academic year of The English Letters Department especially KumKum, Saroh, Putri, Tata, Bruno and Tina who had shared everything with me and laughed together with me. Also, big thanks to my lovely friend, Bitha, who always brings cakesto the class and becomes a solution for our hunger. I thank them so much.
The last but not least, I would like to thank my friends from Sekar Jepun Community. I thank them for being my friends when I was down and for practicing dance together to entertain and to relax my mind from my entireburden.
I thank them for the supports and the prayers for me.
Sondang Maduma Simanjuntak
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE…………………………………………………………………. i
APPROVAL PAGE…………………………………………………………... ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE……………………………………………………..... iii
DEDICATION PAGE………………………………………………………... iv
LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH……………. v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………..vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………..viii
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………... ix
ABSTRAK…………………………………………………………………….. x
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION…………………………………………… 1
A. Backgroundof the Study………………………………………………. 1 B. Problem Formulation…………………………………………………… 4 C. Objectiveof the Study…………………………………………………. 4 D. Definitionof Terms…………………………………………………….. 4CHAPTER II : THEORETICAL REVIEW……………………………….. 6
A. Review on Related Studies…………………………………………….. 6 B. Reviewon Related Theories……………………………………………91. Theory of Setting…………………………………………………... 9
2. Theory of the Relation between Literature and Society…………… 11
C. Review on the Condition of American Urban Life
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in the late 19 century…………………………………………………. 12
D. Theoretical Framework………………………………………………… 15
CHAPTER III : METHODOLOGY………………………………………… 17
A. Object of the Study…………………………………………………….. 17 B. Approach of the Study…………………………………………………. 18 C. Method of the Study…………………………………………………... 19CHAPTER IV : ANALISYS…………………………………………………. 21
A. The Setting Described in Sister Carrie…………………………………. 211. Place………………………………………………………………... 21
2. Time………………………………………………………………... 26
3. Social Circumstances………………………………………………. 27
B. The American Urban Life in the Late Nineteenth Century……………. 34
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION……………………………………………… 47
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………….. 50APPENDIX……………………………………………………………………. 52
ABSTRACT
SONDANG MADUMA SIMANJUNTAK (2011). A Portrait of American
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Urban Life in the Late 19 Centuryas Seen through Dreiser’s Sister Carrie.
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
Sister Carrie is a novel written by Theodore Dreiser which is based on his
own sister’s life.The novel talks about Carrie’s life after moving to a big city, Chicago. To guide the study, there are two questions that have to be answered which are how Dreiser describes the setting of the novel and another one is how the description of the setting portrays the American urban life in the late 1880s to 1900 especially in Chicago.
In order to answer those questions, the writer used theory of setting and the theory of relation between literature and society.The data of the study is related with history, therefore the writer use review on American urban life.Not only theories, the writer applied the socio-cultural-historical approach to analyze the novel. In collecting the data and the references, the writer used the library research method. The writer read many books as the references to know the history of America and the real condition of the urban society.
The analysis shows the important role of the setting in the novel. The writer discussed all elements on setting. They are setting of place, setting of time, and setting of social circumstances. The novel takes place in Chicago which is described as one of big cities in America. From the narrative, the writer concluded some ideas which are a lot of people moved to big cities because of industry; most of the society worked at the factories with long hours work and they received low salary because the number of the workers was huge; even women were paid lower.This shows a symptom of the birth of capitalism in America. This increases the number of poor people who live in the slums.As the impact of the job, they never had enough time to share with their family and they were too busy to thank God in their life. They were also infected by disease easily.The huge number of population made the government make a city planning to control the traffic of the mass. The city planning divides the living area into two which shows that at that time, there were two kinds of social class. All of them were materialists. They are businessmen and the working class society. These two kinds of society have different lifestyles. Businessmen wereconsumerists because they were extravagant with money while the working class people were more careful in consuming their money.All of those lifestyles and reality shaped the urban life in America
th especially in Chicago as one of the most industrial cities in the late 19 century.
ABSTRAK
SONDANG MADUMA SIMANJUNTAK (2011). A Portrait of American
Urban Life in the Late 19th Century as Seen through Dreiser’s Sister Carrie.
Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.Sister Carrie adalah sebuah novel yang ditulis oleh Theodore Dreiser
berdasarkan kehidupan nyata saudarinya. Novel ini bercerita tentang kehidupan Carrie setelah ia pindah ke sebuah kota, Chicago. Sehubungan dengan penelitian ini, penulis telah memformulasikan dua pertanyaan yaitubagaimana Dreiser menjabarkan pelataran cerita dan bagaimana penjabaran pelataran cerita tersebut menggambarkan kehidupan masyarakat kota di Amerika pada akhir tahun 1880- an sampai tahun 1900.
Untuk menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan tersebut penulis menggunakan teori pelataran dan teori hubungan sastra dan masyarakat. Data-data yang diperoleh berkaitan dengan sejarah sehingga penulis menggunakan tinjauan kehidupan kota Amerika.Penulis menerapkan pendekatan sosio-kultural- historikal.Dalam mengumpulkan data dan referensi, penulis menggunakan metode penelitian perpustakaan. Penulis membaca berbagai buku yang terkait sebagai referensi untuk mengetahui sejarah Amerika dan keadaan masyarakat perkotaan yang sesungguhnya.
Analisispenelitian ini menunjukkan peran penting pelataran novel.Penulis membahas semua elemen dalam pelataran yaitu tempat, waktu da kondisi masyarakat.Novel Sister Carrie berlatar di Chicago yang dijabarkan sebagai salah satu kota besar di Amerika. Penulis menyimpulkan beberapa hal yaitu terjadinya urbanisasi besar-besaran pada abad tersebut dengan alasan kehidupan kota yang diiringi perkembangan industry, sebagian besar dari masyarakat adalah pekerja pabrik dengan waktu kerja yang lama. Mereka mendapatkan gaji yang tak setimpal dengan hasil kerja mereka dikarenakan banyaknya jumlah pekerja; bahkan pekerja wanita mendapatkan gaji yang lebih rendah pada masa itu yang juga menunjukkan gejala lahirnya kapitalisme. Hal ini menyebabkan meningkatnya angka kemiskinan. Para pekerja menetap di permukiman kumuh. Akibat dari waktu kerja yang panjang, masyarakat tidak memiliki waktu bersama keluarga dan mereka juga terlalu sibuk dengan bisnis masing-masing sehingga lupa akan kewajiban beragama.Selain itu, mereka juga mudah terjangkit penyakit. Untuk mengatasi masalah kependudukan, pemerintah memisahkan permukiman dalam dua area yang dapat menyiratkan bahwa pada masa itu terdapat dua strata sosial dalam masyarakat yaitu masyarakat pebisnis dan masyarakat pekerja.Masyarakat pada akhir abad ke Sembilan belas merupakan masyarakat materialis. Kedua kelas sosial di masyarakat memiliki gaya hidup yang berbeda. Para pebisnis sangatlah konsumeris karena terlalu royal dalam mengonsumsi uang yang mereka miliki sedangkan para pekerja lebih hati-hati dalam menggunakan uang yang mereka miliki. Gaya hidup dan kenyataan yang terjadi membentuk kehidupan masyarakat perkotaan Amerika khususnya kota Chicago yang merupakan salah satu kota besar pada akhir abad kesembilan-belas.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study The late nineteenth century was the time when America has many
transformations in his life. The most influential one was industry. Current in his book, The Essentials of American History Second Edition, states “This was most apparent in industry – in these years America became the first manufacturing nation of the world” (Current, 1972:187). The most known issue in this era was steel industry and the electricity. They produced telephones, typewriters, machines, etc. America became a country where industry grew fluently because of their sophisticated technology. America started to produce steel which was new to the world and this made America as the first country of manufacturing nation. The railroads network spread to a bigger area including village. This bigger railroads network and the use of steel made America a rich country. The industry grew fast because the transportation was available.
As the growth of the industry, American economy was also growing fast especially in the city. The development of industry in the cities made people wanted to move to the city and taking a part in the industry.
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were periods of tremendous urban growth that radically changed the country. Between 1860 and 1910, the population of cities with 2,500 or more residents climbed from 6 million to 46 million. Some of this new urban population came from the American countryside – between 1880 and 1910, about 11 million Americans moved to cities from rural areas (http://www.westga. edu /~hgoodson/Economic%20Trends.htm). In this century, a lot of people move from their own town to the city. Rural people worked as farmers in their town. While when there were so many factories were built in the city, people move to the city in order to get new jobs and work at the factories. By having dream of a better work in the city, they moved to the city which was called urbanization. However, not every dream comes true. Many rural people had the same life as in the village, even worst.
Based on the fact of American society in the late nineteenth century, this
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thesis will discuss the picture of urban life in the late 19 century which is portrayed in Theodore Dreiser’s novel entitled Sister Carrie. Sister Carrie is Dreiser’s first novel that is based on a true story of his sister. As Rene Welleck and Austin Warren said in their book, Theory of Literature, that:
Literature may function as a source book for the history of civilization because the readers may abstract some kind social reality from it. Indeed a literature is not simply a mirror or reproduction of life, but the readers of literature may obtain a chief impression of foreign societies. The readers may assemble some social pictures of other societies from literatures (1965: 102-103).
Even though a novel is a fiction book, somehow literature could portray the situation of the society in a certain historical event and through the story the readers could see the feeling of the society in facing the event.
In the novel, Sister Carrie, Dreiser shows how the setting portrays the condition and the life of the society in the city. By describing the society’s habits, their jobs, their interests, and their places to live from all society, the author shows how the condition of urban life is. This novel tells about a girl who moves from her village to the city, Chicago, to get her dream to be an actress. But in the city, she does not reach her dream easily because urban life is hard to live. She came by her sister who has moved there before her. Through her life, Dreiser portrays the society in the city. Carrie meets the urban society and she starts to be one of them.
Carrie first meets her sister family who represent poor people who come to the city to gain a better life, and then she meets the native of the city who has lived in the city since they were born and they are represented as rich people.
Dreiser only told one person’s life in order to show the society. The whole novel is only about the main character’s life Carrie, but from her experiences in meeting a lot of people in the city could help the reader see the society. The narrator also gives a good simple narration when he tells the story.
By analyzing the setting inside this novel, the writer wants to show that
Sister Carrie is one of the novels which portrays American urban life in the late
nineteenth century especially in the Chicago. This thesis will limit the discussion on the urban life of Chicago in the year of 1800s that is portrayed in the novel.
The thesis will elaborate the setting of the novel and analyze it to reveal the portrait of the real society in Chicago such their habits, the occupations, and the lifestyle of the society.
The thesis will not concern about the statistics of the city but on the condition of the society in facing Industrial life in the city. Since Chicago is part of The United States of America, the writer uses the phrase “American Urban Life”. Therefore, the writer chooses a topic about urban life as the title of this
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thesis “A Portrait of American Urban Life in the late 19 Century as Seen through Dreiser’s Sister Carrie”. The writer tries to show how the urban life was appeared in Chicago at 1880s to 1900. The writer believes that Dreiser wanted to show the condition of the society through his novel by giving many details on the description of the setting. Chicago was one industrial city in America at that time.
This made it as one big city with its fast development. From this discussion, the writer wants to show the life in Chicago since it became a big city in 1800s.
B. Problem Formulation
The need of thorough and good order analysis is important. Therefore, in conducting this analysis, there are two questions that can be formulated. They are:
1. How is the setting described in the novel?
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2. How does the setting portray the American urban life in the late 19 century? C.
Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to answer both questions stated in the problem formulation. Primarily, the writer will analyze all the setting; setting of time, setting of place, and setting situation, inside the novel. Then the writer will
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compare the setting with the history of American urban life in the late 19 century. This step is done to answer how the setting in the novel could portray urban life in the era.
D. Definition of Terms
There are some terms used in relation to the topic of this thesis. It is important to understand the terms because the terms are essentially related to the problem discussed. They are:
1. Portrait th
Meriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 10 ed. define portrait as a
pictorial representation (Mish, 1993: 908). Portrait here does not mean the real picture in a book, but portrait means the representation of the situation the imagination that the readers get through the text in the novel.
2. Urban Life
Urban Life pertains to life in cities, hence to most phenomenon associated with areas characterized by relatively great population density, heterogeneity, social and spatial mobility, segmented social relationships, finely wrought division of labor, formal social control, frequent and swift social change, and the predominance of secular values (Hoult, 1969: 340). Based on the meaning above, urban are related to urbanization, which means moving from a rural to a city.
Urban life means the life of the society in the city after moving from their village.
3. Setting
Setting is the element of fiction which reveals us to the place and time of the events. Setting refers to the point in time and space at which the events of the plot occur (Kenney, 1966: 38). Setting does not only reveal the place and time but also the situation in the fiction. Setting strengthens the picture in the novel by giving clear place, time, and situation.
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW This chapter will be divided into three parts. The first part is the review on
related studies which discussed the same novel related to the writer’s topic. The second part is the review on related theories that the writer uses in the analysis.
The last part is theoretical framework where the writer shows the review on both studies and theories contribute in answering the problem formulation.
A. Review on Related Studies In this part, the writer will show other people’s study about Sister Carrie.
The first is Donald Pizer. In his essay entitled New Essays on Sister Carrie, he said: Mirroring rather than initiating: this described not only Carrie’s condition but that of the entire milieu of persons who lives reflected more nakedly than that of traditional respectable burgher families (missing from the book) the daily fluxional workings of the marketplace-the sale of manufactured objects in Drouet’s case, of entertainment enhanced by social prestige in Hurtswood’s case, and in Carrie’s as a show girl in New York, the desired image of a desirable woman she mirrors back to her insatiable audience (including, at the height of her success the audience for her published photograph-yet another mirror) (1991: 95-96). Pizer explains that this novel, Sister Carrie, is trying to mirror the society by telling one story of a character’s life. From the story, it will not show one chacarter’s life but from this life, the character will meet many people who can show the condition of the society. Sister Carrie is mirroring the society even though it only talks about the life of Carrie but the present of other characters show the real condition of the people. The story talks about the marketplace, the desire of the society, and the high prestige of the society. Dreiser wants to show the condition of the real society by telling the story of Carrie’s life. What the story shows is the mirror of the society in the reality.
Eby, in her Journal Cultural and Historical Context for Sister Carrie, states the same idea with Pizer. She said “His novel makes the volatility of the period concrete, vivid, and unforgettable by registering its effect on individual lives (http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/rbm/dreiser/schulhist.html).” She explains that Dreiser records the real condition of the society by putting all condition in the real world on Carrie’s life.
Another journal related to the novel of Sister Carrie is written by Thomas P. Riggio. He wrote Biography of Theodore Dreiser. In this journal, Riggio explain about Dreiser’s biography and also talks about some novels which is written by Dreiser. One of them is Sister Carrie. He said:
Among other sources for the novel was the story of his sister Emma's affair with L. A. Hopkins, a married man who had run off with funds embezzled from his Chicago employer. In the pages of what is now considered the first great urban novel in America, Dreiser mixed philosophical speculations about the nature of existence together with scenes that presented much of the gritty details of city life (http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/rbm/dreiser/tdbio.html). Riggio explains that Sister Carrie is a novel which is written based on reality. He gives some sources of the story. One of them is which is stated in the quotation above and it is as Carrie and Hurstwood in the novel. Riggio also said that the author of the novel put some philosophy in his novel about naturalism.
Another comment is written by Herbert Leibowitz. He wrote an
Introduction of Sister Carrie. In that introduction, he discusses about Sister
Carrie ’s theme and relates it with the autobiography of Dreiser and also Dreiser’s
philosophy. He stated: For Carrie, Chicago’s Vanity Fair, with its array of showy goods, promises unimaginable satisfaction. For Dreiser -and this is the solemn major theme of Sister Carrie- money confers neither freedom nor spiritual contentment.” (2005: xvii).
Leibowitz compares the way of thinking of Carrie and Dreiser’s. From that statement, it is clear that Dreiser has different philosophy of money. Carrie has her opinion of money. She thinks that money is the point in her life. When she gets money, she can have anything and buys anything she wants. Moreover, Chicago offers her many kinds of things. There are beautiful clothes, big flats to live, and enjoying plays in the theater.
Being different from Carrie, Dreiser has the opposite thought. He thinks that having money does not mean everyone is happy and has the whole world. In the introduction, Leibowitz said that Sister Carrie is a novel inspired by Dreiser’s sister life. By writing this kind of fiction, actually Dreiser wants to criticize the society. In the nineteenth century, American industry grew up fast. This brought a big impact to the society. That was high consumerism. All society who came from every layer of economic condition became consumerists. Even Leibowitz said “Faith also plays no role, since religion is virtually absent from the lives of his characters” (2005: xxiii). Dreiser does not put the role of religion because he thinks all people do not worship God but Mammon. The mammon at that time is money. All people try to get a lot of money in their life. Most of the society has the same philosophy of money as Carrie’s, nothing is more important than money.
Different from all these studies above, the writer in this study wants to show the life of American society in the city or called American urban life. The writer will not only discuss about working class society in the city but also luxurious class in America therefore it will show the American urban life.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Setting
M.H. Abrams, in his Glossary of Literature Terms Sixth Edition, states that “The overall setting of a narrative or dramatic work is the general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occur” (1993: 192). Setting always consists of three parts. There is location or place where the action occurs. This place will show a certain point or meaning in the novel. There is also setting of time which could present the time when the action occurs. This second part will make the story clear by giving certain time in order that the reader could imagine the situation and they could differentiate the characteristics of society from one period to another period. And last, there is setting of situation which is called as social circumstances by Abrams. This usually shows the habits and the condition of the whole characters inside the novel.
The other theory of setting is stated by Hudson in his book An
Introduction to the Study of Literature . He said that:
In characterization and social setting are vitally associated, and it is considered that each element must have connection with the other. Many novels have their value to the portrayal of the life and manners of special classes, social groups or places” (1958: 158). From Hudson’s statement, it is clear that every element in the novel is related to one another. Setting as the society condition, could affect all of the characters.
The condition of the environment and the pressure from the others could shape the characters way of thinking. This influence shows that setting is important in the novel because it affects other elements in the novel.
Elizabeth McMahan, in Literature and the Writing Process states: The setting includes the location and time of the action in the story, novel, play, or poem. Sometimes the setting conveys an atmosphere- the emotional effect of setting and events- that contributes to the impact or the meaning of the work (1986: 81).
This statement strengthens Hudson’s statement that setting has connection with others. Setting has its own contribution in every work. The atmosphere or the condition in the novel is affected by the setting. For example, a character is in the certain time and certain place. From this place and time, there is a certain condition or situation that probably strange. In order to adapt the situation, the character has to find the solution either uses her characteristics or find another solution that could change her characteristics. In other words, setting could affect or might be changing the characteristics.
In addition, William Kenney explains some elements of setting in his book, How to Analyze Fiction. He said: The elements of setting are the actual geographical location, including topography, scenery; even the details of a room’s interior, the occupations and modes of day-to-day existence of the characters, the time in which the action takes place, the religious, moral, intellectual, social, and emotional environment of the characters, setting could be infered from character's actions or direct narration (1966: 38). He adds some things into setting. Besides location and time, he adds occupations, modes, religion, moral, intellectual, social, and emotional of the characters.
Kenney states all of them because they could affect the characters to be someone. He also says that setting could be inferred from character’s actions or direct narration. The usual setting that is stated in direct narration is setting of time and setting of place. However, setting of situation is also sometimes stated in the direct narration. The other situation could be found from the actions of the characters.
2. Theory of the Relation between Literature and Society
Literature has a close relation with society because literature is made by somebody as a part of the society. Literature usually also imitates the society in producing a story. Other than imitates, literature usually criticize the society by imitating the real condition of the society in certain time. Literature will always tell something about the society because society influence literature. Wellek and Warren in Theory of Literature state that:
The relation between literature and society is usually discussed by starting with the phrase ‘literature is an expression of society’. If it assumes that literature, at any given time, mirrors the current social situation correctly’ it is false; it is commonplace, trite, and vague if it means only that literature depicts some aspects of social reality. The writer inevitably expresses his experience and total conception of life; but it would be manifestly untrue to say that he expresses the whole of life – or even the whole life of a given time – completely and exhaustively (1962: 95).
From the quotation, the writer concluded that literature is the author’s expression of his life. The author could not put every ideas of the society but he could take and imitates some of them then put it as the background of his novel. The expression of society means that literature record some ideas from society and this also means that society’s response to the life which is elaborate by an author through his work of literature.
C. Review on the Condition of American Urban Life in the 1800s
In the late nineteenth century, America became an industrial country. The industrial centre was mostly in the city as stated by Desantis in his book, The
Shaping of Modern America: 1877-1920 Second Edition that:
The rapid and vast economic expansion of the post-Civil War years brought far-reaching social and cultural changes. Probably the most important was the transformation of the United States from a rural and agrarian nation to an urban and industrial one (1989: 97).
Therefore, a lot of people from other countries and also from the villages moved to the city in order to have a better life by working in the city. Current in his book,
The Essentials of American History Second Edition, said that “During the years of
industrial expansion the population of the United States more than doubled, increasing from about 31 million in 1860 to almost 76 million in 1900” (1972: 193). This quotation could explain that in the late nineteenth century there is the growth of the population in the United States. A lot of people move from their country to The United States because America becomes the manufacturing country.
To respond this situation, America had city planning in order to control the society and the country. This is stated by Harvey Wish in Society and Thought in
Modern America Second Edition . It is “City planning, aided by home rule urban charters, was emerging from mere decorative “city beautiful” ideas to broad development schemes controlling traffic as well as appearance and eventually other phases of urban well-being” (1962: 275).
Lana J Hunt said “Working conditions there was undesirable and often very unfit to work in the pay was low and even lower for women and children.
The hours were very long, 10-12 at the most (http://www.angelfire.com/ar3/towne victorian/middleworkingclass.html). Hunt explains the situation of working class people in America. This is the condition of having no opportunity to get a better job because of having no education and skill. The workers were forced to work in long hours with low salary.
As the growth of the industry, consumerism also grew in America. All society wanted to have a beautiful dress, a lot of goods, because as Veblen states in his book, The Theory of the Leisure Class, “With the growth of settled industry, therefore, the possession of wealth gains in relative importance and effectiveness as a customary basis of repute and esteem” (1953: 37). In that time, possession was the measure of the social status. The more goods they had, the higher their status. Most people were struggling to have many goods.
That statement is also strengthened by Vincent P. Desantis. He said in his book entitled The Shaping of Modern America: 1877-1920 that “The conspicuous waste of money was measure of social status” (1989: 90). That is why people tried to have a lot of goods because it was their reputation. For example were clothes that people wore. Clothes were the most significant goods in the nineteenth century. By looking at their appearances, people could judge other people whether they were rich or not. Therefore, the consumption of clothes and goods grew rapidly.
Veblen in his book, Theory of the Leisure Class, also states that “The dress of women goes even farther than that of men in the way of demonstrating the wearer’s abstinence from productive employment” (1953: 121). From what the people wore, other people also could consider what their jobs are. One example was women’s shoes. When they wore heels, it was difficult for them to work at farm or hard work. Therefore, people could know that it was impossible for them to work in a difficult area.
Not only had the consumerism on clothes, urban society also had another consumerism which was watching play at the theater. Harvey Wish wrote Society
and Thought in Modern America Second Edition. In that book, he states that:
Urban commercialization kept the theaters crowded and prosperous, especially by the nineties, when a centralized “booking” organization and highly advertised “star” system gave fabulous salaries to the few and a certain modicum of security and regularized employment to the many (1962: 282). From the quotation above, it is clear that in that time, the theater was always crowded by the visitors. They watched the play inside the theater. Theater was not only a place to watch a play but when rich people had a meeting they would make an appointment in the theater. Then they would discuss their business there.
In The Shaping of Modern America: 1877-1920 Second Edition, Desantis states that “Everywhere in this generation, according to some critics, materialism so abounded that it perverted tastes and debauched the intellectual life of the country” (1989: 90). At that time, people in America really appreciated goods. They were what they had since goods were measurement. People became so materialistic.
Current et.al said “The fast-growing American cities were places of violent contrast – of poverty and wealth, of palatial homes and dingy slums” (Current, 1972:195). In his book, The Essential of American History Second
Edition . Also, Desantis said that “In the nineties, according to the federal
commissioner of labor, one-tenth of the population of the sixteen largest cities in the country lived in these slums” (1989: 98). Their explanation shows that America differentiated better homes from the slums area. People who lived in the slums area were labors and they who lived in the good environment were upper class people.
Gutman in his book, Work, Culture & Society in Industrializing America sums America in his statement “Before 1850 relatively few Americans had direct contact with an industrial society, but after that date rapid industrialization altered the social structure, and the process left few untouched” (p.80). This statement shows that there were some changes in the society. One of them was the social structure in America even though none realize the process of the changing.
D. Theoretical Framework
In this thesis, the writer will show the portrait of American urban life in the nineteenth century as seen through Dreiser’s Sister Carrie. The theories and the review of the studies are needed because those will help the writer in answering the problem formulation in the previous chapter. The review of the related studies here also helps the writer to compare the data that the writer gets and their comment about the novel and also the author. It absolutely makes the writer easy to find something new in the novel Sister Carrie.
In order to show the portrait of American urban life with the theory of setting, the writer uses theory of setting. This theory could help the writer in answering the first question in the problem formulation about the setting inside the novel. This theory could boundary the field that the writer would analyze in order to get a specific and clear idea.
The review of American urban life also helps the writer to see the background of the novel. This is used to help the writer to see what happened at the time which is portrayed in the novel. Later, both review of studies and theories are very useful and helpful in finishing this study.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study The object of the study is a novel entitled Sister Carrie. This novel is
written by Theodore Dreiser in 1899 and was published in 1900. This novel is considered as a modern novel because it talks about a controversial life. Dreiser talks about a woman that started to break all the rules, such as; go outside the house when the other women are in the house to take care of their family.
Sister Carrie is Dreiser’s first novel. It, first, was only published in a few
copies because the society did not want to accept the controversial story. This novel is based on a real life. The main character (the woman, Carrie) is written based on Dreiser’s own sister’s life. The story itself talks about the life of a woman who leaves Columbia City for Chicago to visit her sister. In the city she has to earn money to fulfill her needs. She faces life and she finds that it is hard to have a good life. The characters use an economical principle to value their life.
All of them want to be a rich person.
The novel is written in 445 pages with 47 chapters. Each chapter is related to the other chapters. The story is told in the third person point of view. There is a narrator that talks about Carrie Meeber’s life. Some parts of the story talk about the condition of America society while the rest of the story talk about the romanticism that Carrie’s has in her life.
B. Approach of the Study
In this study, the writer used Sociocultural-Historical Approach to analyze the work of literature, Sister Carrie which was written by Theodore Dreiser.
Rohrberger and Woods Jr. (1971: 9) in their book titled Reading and Writing
about Literature stated:
Critics whose major interest is Sociocultural-Historical Approach insist that the only way to locate the real work is in reference to the civilization that produced it. They define civilization as the attitudes and actions of a specific group of people and point out that literature takes these attitudes and actions as its subject matter. From this quotation, we know that Sociocultural-Historical Approach is an approach that analyzes works of literature about the people and the relationship of the society. This approach wants to see the fact in the real world from how the imitation represents the world.
Every work of literature has setting in its intrinsic elements. From this intrinsic element, the readers can imagine about what happened and what the causes and the effects of the events and this intrinsic element a little bit represents the condition of the society.
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In a book, Meriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary 10 ed. , Mish states that “the importance of the socio-cultural approach is to find out the relation between the social conditions in the society with its culture; including the time the writers wrote the novels and the story in the novel” (1993: 1115). She explains what the function of this approach. The function of this approach is to see the relation between the society in the novel and the society in the real world. It is caused by the influence of the society to the authors when they produced their works. In some works, the authors do not realize that they are affected by their environment. What the authors see in the society is usually included in the novel whether it is the criticism toward the society or not.
Because of that, the works of literature show the development of the society or the civilizations. Moreover, this approach is used to examine what society’s actions to face their life. By using this approach, the writer can show the picture of the society especially the life of urban society. The writer can show the lifestyle, what values that they have and what dream that they want to get, how the condition of their life in the city. Therefore, it is the most appropriate approach for this study.