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
After Drouet storms out of the apartment, Carrie begins to think about how she can support herself—“to her credit […] she never once counted on Hurstwood.” She only thinks about him with “a pang of sorrow.” After eating, Carrie checks her wallet and finds that she only has seven dollars and some change. Carrie perceives that Drouet “did not seem seriously angry” and “would come back.” She also realizes that she could patch things up with Drouet; however, Carrie feels that “it would be impossible for her to live with him” again.
Carrie’s conscience forbids her from seeking out Hurstwood for help. Her sadness shows that she genuinely cared for him and feels betrayed by the fact that he pursued her while married. Carrie’s pride forbids her from making up with Drouet—she knows that if she tries, Drouet will readily accept her. Like Hurstwood, Carrie has lost her lover and her stability in the course of a day. The two lovers are in parallel situations. However, while Hurstwood despairs, Carrie hopes and plans.
Themes
Carrie remembers the meeting she planned with Hurstwood, and “in her nervousness and stress of mind she fe[els] it necessary to act.” She walks to the business district to look for work—she wants nothing to do with Drouet or Hurstwood, and decides she wants to earn her own money. As she wanders among the businesses, Carrie realizes that she has become more attractive and that men who once ignored her now show her attention. In this, Carrie feels “power and satisfaction.” Still, she wishes to make an honest living rather than to take illegitimate favors from men.
Carrie’s second time looking for work is a drastically different experience from her first time. Now, Carrie is well-dressed and well-mannered—she is attractive and fits with the ideals of the city. In other words, she now wields a power over men that she didn’t have before. The fact that men now treat her with more kindness shows that cosmopolitan society forms judgments based on appearance. Carrie’s desire to make an honest living shows that she was never satisfied with being a mere mistress—she wants to be self-sufficient.
Themes
Carrie gives up around noon, deciding “that it would be no use to seek further to-day.” She takes a car to Lincoln Park to enjoy “the flowers, the animals, the lake.” Carrie tells herself she will resume her search after the weekend passes, on Monday. Carrie spends the weekend oscillating between “vagaries of mind and spirit” and feeling that “things were not so bad.” She remembers Drouet’s advice about becoming an actress, and decides “to take up that opportunity on the morrow.”
Carrie is not as desperate as Hurstwood, as she has less to lose. Furthermore, she is young. The fact that Carrie considers becoming an actress after acting in one amateur play shows her innocence with regards to the world of employment and labor. Although she now has the appearance and manners of a city woman, she still lacks the knowledge needed to be self-sufficient.
Themes
On Monday, Carrie decides to inquire after theater managers. She goes to the Chicago Opera House, a place “considerably in the public eye,” but “the air of distinction and prosperity [overawes] her” and she leaves. She spends the rest of the day looking at various opera houses from the outside. Carrie is discouraged, realizing that despite her improvement, she still had only insignificant “claims upon society.”
As Carrie was once drawn to the larger wholesale houses in the business district, she is drawn to the notable theaters in the area. In all circumstances, Carrie seeks to be part of a distinguished, less common crowd. This job search teaches Carrie that she still has a lot to learn when it comes to living on her own in the city.
Themes
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That night, Carrie finds distraction in the company of Mrs. Hale. However, she falls into “gloomy forebodings” again before sleeping. Carrie realizes that she is running out of funds rather quickly, having already spent a dollar. She also thinks about her sister, her home in Columbia City, and, quite sadly, of Hurstwood.
Where difficult circumstances lead Hurstwood to panic, difficult circumstances lead Carrie to find distraction and reflect. Carrie’s sadness with regards to Hurstwood shows that despite his deception, she still has feelings for him.
Themes
On Tuesday, Carrie visits the Chicago Opera House again and works up the courage to ask the clerk about the manager. The clerk, impressed by Carrie’s appearance, replies that the manager is not there at the moment, but will be in after two o’clock. Carrie then visits the Grand Opera House, where the manager tells her that without any experience, her best bet is to start out in New York. Impressed by Carrie’s looks, the manager asks Carrie to lunch to “talk it over.” With “the whole motive of the man flashing on her at once,” Carrie declares herself preoccupied and leaves. The manager, offended at the rejection, remarks to a friend sitting nearby that Carrie would “never make an actress […] Just another chorus girl.” Lastly, Carrie visits McVickar’s, but the manager isn’t there.
Chicago is a large city, but evidently not large enough for an aspiring actress to get started. It is not as established as a city like New York. The fact that the clerk is impressed with Carrie’s appearance—having, no doubt, seen plenty of fine women—shows that Carrie has become exceedingly attractive. Carrie’s recognition that the manager has less than honorable intentions shows that she has gotten more shrewd at interpreting the behavior of men. Carrie’s rejection of the manager contrasts with her eagerness to form an acquaintance with Drouet on the train to Chicago.
Themes
Carrie starts to head home, heart sore and soul withered. She stops by the post office and picks up some letters from Hurstwood. She reads them with mingled feelings, as “that he loved her was evident enough.” Carrie writes a letter informing Hurstwood that “it [is] all over between them.” She mails the letter the next morning, before going downtown to continue her job search. The department stores treat her “with more consideration than was usually accorded to young women applicants, owing to her neat and attractive appearance.” Unfortunately for Carrie, the stores are in their dull season and inform her that they might like to hire her later.
Carrie’s resolve when it comes to Hurstwood shows that she has a strong desire to be a respectable woman—she is done with living life as a mistress. This resolve is also shown in her desire to find a job: she does not want to depend on men for her livelihood. At the department stores, Carrie is no longer rejected for the same reasons as before. While living with Minnie, the stores rejected Carrie for her provincial appearance and manners. Now, the stores reject Carrie because they are not in hiring season, hinting that she is now hirable material.
Themes
After returning home, Carrie discovers that Drouet took some of his things, “so his going was crystallising into staying.” Carrie feels that she is “alone, very much alone” and cries in desperation. The narrator relates that Drouet actually came “with a very different mind from that which Carrie had imagined”: he’d wanted to find her and reconcile. Finding Carrie gone, Drouet waited, but grew restless and left. Before leaving, Drouet saw a picture of Carrie and “looked into the eyes of it with a rather rare feeling for him.” Despite Carrie’s infidelity, Drouet still misses her.
Although Carrie has no romantic affection for Drouet anymore, her crying indicates that she found a family member in him. Without him, she feels lonely. Drouet is evidently still interested in Carrie romantically, but he has also come to view her as family. She is not just another girl with whom he enjoyed a romance—he has a “rare feeling” with regards to Carrie. Indeed, the relationship between Carrie and Drouet is much more familial than the relationship Hurstwood has with his family members.
Themes
