Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Sister Carrie, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Urban Life and Decay
Morality and Instinct
Wealth and Class
Summary
Analysis
Hurstwood returns to his office more distressed than ever. He begins to worry about Carrie: “What could be the trouble in that quarter?” He spends the evening in a state of “great mental perturbation.” He eventually sends money to his wife through the hands of the boy. Hurstwood drinks with his friends and “[tries] to get the interest of things about him, but it was not to be.” The boy returns with a message from Mrs. Hurstwood: “She said it was high time.” Hurstwood retires, “brooding,” to his hotel.
Hurstwood had thought that his relationship with Carrie was the only thing under control. Now, he realizes that absolutely nothing is under his control. Hurstwood grows desperate and the fact that he sends money to his wife demonstrates that he concedes that she now has the upper hand. Sending the money does not calm the tension between Hurstwood and his wife—it only reinforces Mrs. Hurstwood’s sense of power.
Themes
The next day, Hurstwood receives letters from neither Carrie nor his wife. He begins to worry more and more about Carrie: “His pain at her failure to meet or write him rapidly increase[s] as he devote[s] himself to this subject.” No mail comes for Hurstwood over the next two days, Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, he receives a letter from the law office informing him that Mrs. Hurstwood wishes “to adjust certain matters which related to her sustenance and property rights.” Hurstwood feels as if “his family troubles [are] just beginning.” He is also “quite certain now that [Carrie] kn[ows] he was married and is angered at his perfidy.” He makes plans to plead with Carrie “until she [will] forgive him.”
Carrie’s silence indicates to Hurstwood that something has gone horribly wrong. Evidently, Carrie is honorable enough to reject the idea of being a mistress to a married man. Still, Hurstwood remains hopeful that he can repair the relationship—though now he would admittedly have to marry Carrie. The fact that Mrs. Hurstwood has armed herself with professional help indicates that she plans to show no remorse toward her husband, even after he sends the money. Mrs. Hurstwood’s cruelty toward Hurstwood forms a sharp contrast with Drouet’s kindness and leniency towards Carrie.
Themes
On Tuesday, Hurstwood visits Carrie’s apartment but leaves after “he [thinks] he [sees] a man watching him.” On the way back to his office, he passes the building where his son works and feels sad since neither of his children seem to care about his absence. After going out to dinner, Hurstwood receives another letter from the law office declaring that his wife wishes to file a suit “for divorce and alimony.” If Hurstwood does not reply, they will assume he does “not wish to compromise the matter in any way,” and the office will “act accordingly.” Furious, Hurstwood leaves to take a walk around the block.
Now that Hurstwood has effectively lost his family, he begins to miss them, particularly his children, even though they do not seem to miss him. The fact that neither of his children contact him shows that they did not have a good enough relationship with their father—indeed, they have seemingly chosen to side with their mother. The letters from the law office reinforce Mrs. Hurstwood’s cold, unforgiving, and unrelenting nature. Though both sides have found out about the affair, Hurstwood is in a much more painful situation than Carrie.
Themes
