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 from his agitated stroll and finds Carrie’s letter. He is depressed by its contents and tone, yet finds comfort it the fact that Carrie wrote at all, since this at least indicates that she still cares on some level. The narrator relates that “there [is] something exceedingly human—if not pathetic—in his being thus relieved by a clearly worded reproof.” For the moment, he forgets about the letter from the law office and thinks of Carrie. Hurstwood’s “whole thought was the possibility of persuading Carrie” to leave with him.
For Hurstwood, the fact that Carrie sent him a message, even if it is one of reproof, demonstrates that he is still on her mind. Furthermore, it demonstrates that Hurstwood is aware that their affair was morally reprehensible. Still, the message is enough for Hurstwood to consider winning her back. The only thing that Hurstwood can be sure of is the fact that he can no longer return to his family, but Carrie still cares for him.
Themes
Hurstwood remembers his need for clean linen and goes out to purchase ties before returning to the hotel. He glimpses Drouet going up the stairs and asks the clerk whether Drouet is staying alone; the clerk says yes. Hurstwood is pleased that Drouet and Carrie have argued. He decides to call on Carrie after finding out from the desk clerk that Drouet is staying in the hotel for the night.
Hurstwood does not worry about Carrie as a romantic partner would. He finds the fact that Drouet and Carrie had an argument relieving and does not worry about what that might entail for Carrie considering that Drouet was Carrie’s only source of financial stability. From this, the reader can see that Hurstwood views Carrie more as a possession than a person.
Themes
Hurstwood finds out from the chambermaid that Carrie has gone out. The chambermaid, having “no idea where [Carrie] had gone, but not liking Hurstwood, and wishing to cause him trouble,” lies that Carrie has gone to a theater. This dampens Hurstwood’s spirits. He visits the resort to drink with friends and grows slightly intoxicated. Eventually, “some actors [begin] to drop in—among them some notabilities.” Hurstwood finds some comfort in the companionship of these “notabilities.”
The chambermaid does not like Hurstwood but likes Drouet. This subtly indicates that Drouet is kinder to those in service or those who are socioeconomically beneath him than Hurstwood. Their differing relationships with the chambermaid recall the time that Drouet noticed the homeless man outside the theater while Hurstwood paid him no attention. Drouet is, at his core, a kinder man than Hurstwood.
Themes
Midnight arrives and the resort closes. Hurstwood is “very roseate physically” and “[feels] as if his troubles [are] not very serious.” While checking to see that everything is closed up, Hurstwood discovers that the safe is open and filled with a large amount of cash. In his drunkenness, Hurstwood begins to “see great opportunities” that such a sum would offer him. As “not a soul [is] present,” Hurstwood’s conscience begins to waver. He puts the money back but then takes the bills out again. Hurstwood ultimately decides to take everything within the safe.
Wine heightens Hurstwood’s instinct while decreasing his capacity for reason. Where a sober Hurstwood might have reasoned that such an act would be foolish, a drunken Hurstwood listens mostly to his desperate emotions, leading him to behave as never before. The fact that Hurstwood considers such a criminal act highlights just how desperate he is—he apparently does not think it feasible to continue life in a bearable way in Chicago.
Themes
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Hurstwood accidentally locks the safe with the money outside of it—he realizes he can no longer put it back. Feeling desperate, Hurstwood, a “man of action,” puts on his jacket, puts the money in a satchel, and leaves. He calls the train station and learns that the next train for Detroit leaves at three o’clock in the morning. He then takes a cab to Carrie’s apartment and informs her that Drouet “is hurt and in the hospital” and wants to see her. Carrie dresses rapidly and leaves with Hurstwood. Hurstwood tells the cab driver, without letting Carrie hear, to go to the Michigan Central depot.
Hurstwood deception of Carrie shows that he does not respect her enough to consider her thoughts and emotions—he merely views her as a possession that he must have for his own well-being. Indeed, his treatment of Carrie contrasts with that of Drouet, who, in spite of the affair, still treats Carrie kindly and allows her to stay in the apartment that he pays for. The fact that Carrie leaves after hearing about Drouet’s supposed injury shows that she still cares about him as a person—after all, he has become the closest thing to family for Carrie.
Themes
Literary Devices
