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
Although Hurstwood is considered wealthy in Chicago, he is “but an inconspicuous drop in an ocean like New York.” The atmosphere in New York “could not incite in him the cravings of a boy of eighteen, but in so far as they were excited, the lack of hope made them proportionately bitter.” Hurstwood also begins to feel his age. He quickly decides that he needs a job, and begins to look for one in the morning papers.
New York is a bigger city than Chicago, and the wealth gap in here is also much bigger. Consequently, while Hurstwood was rich in Chicago, he is nowhere near rich in New York. Furthermore, Hurstwood, unlike Carrie, is not young. He no longer has the youthful energy to start life anew with great enthusiasm and hopes. In this way, the narrator reminds readers that Carrie and Hurstwood are quite far apart in age.
Themes
Literary Devices
Carrie and Hurstwood find an apartment and Carrie notices that the rooms are smaller than the rooms in Chicago. Hurstwood explains new houses in New Work are always small. The couple settle into their house, with Carrie having “enough of the instincts of a housewife to take great satisfaction” in the newness and bright woodwork of the apartment.
It seems that things in New York are going to be more expensive than they were in Chicago. Carrie appears to be enthusiastic about starting a new life with Hurstwood. Her immediate instinct to manage a household shows that society has taught Carrie that women ought to be domestic.
Themes
Hurstwood begins his job hunt. After working in the luxurious saloon in Chicago, “he [cannot] stomach the commonplace saloons which he [finds] advertised.” Finally, he finds a resort in Warren Street “which seem[s] an excellent venture.” Hurstwood would get a third of the interest in return for $1,000 and managerial ability. Hurstwood makes plans to improve the resort so that he can get paid more. He returns home to tell Carrie, elated.
Hurstwood’s pride forbids him from taking a lower-tier job and working up from there. Furthermore, given his age, Hurstwood does not have as much time and energy to work his way up as a young man would. The fact that Hurstwood does not want to work in a common saloon shows that he is used to being distinguished, used to interacting with the upper classes.
Themes
Over time, Hurstwood discovers his business partner to be drunk and disagreeable. He also finds that his customers are “nothing like the class of patronage which he had enjoyed in Chicago.” Hurstwood misses the celebrities that frequented his old resort. Furthermore, the business does not particularly pay well—he will have to monitor his expenses, which he finds mortifying.
Hurstwood is used to interacting with celebrities and other members of the American aristocracy. However, his saloon in New York is hardly notable enough to attract such celebrated individuals. Hurstwood’s disappointment shows ignorance regarding his own social standing: he is no longer the manager of a great saloon, but of a relatively common establishment.
Themes
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Hurstwood initially enjoys his time at home with Carrie, “but the novelty of this wane[s] after a time, and he beg[ins] to feel the drag of his duties.” He tells Carrie to put off buying a dress for the sake of saving money. Then, “other things followed from time to time, little things of the same sort, which in their cumulative effect were eventually equal to a full revelation.” Carrie notices the change in Hurstwood and realizes that “she [is] not in his confidence.”
Hurstwood does not truly love Carrie. He grows tired of her as time passes, as she was always more of a pet and plaything than a partner. Furthermore, he is no longer the man of leisure that he was in Chicago: he and Carrie must economize. Carrie finally realizes that Hurstwood does not view her as his equal—he does not share important information with her.
Themes
Hurstwood is resistant to his new lifestyle and cannot help contrasting his current state with his former one in Chicago. Furthermore, Hurstwood is afraid of meeting old acquaintances. He encountered an old buyer who had “extended his hand with an evident mixture of feeling and a lack of plausible interest.” Hurstwood increasingly desires more money. He hopes to “keep up his pretensions sufficiently long without exposure to make good, and then all [will] be well.” The narrator relates that Hurstwood failed “to take account of the frailties of human nature—the difficulties of matrimonial life.”
Hurstwood realizes that life with Carrie is not as great as he imagined. Indeed, on the whole, his life in Chicago was much better. Hurstwood has the same sense of pride that he had in Chicago, when he was a great manager; however, now that he is common, he no longer has the qualities to substantiate that pride. In other words, Hurstwood now realizes that his escape with Carrie was a mistake: he has lost much more than he gained. Unfortunately, because of his theft, he can no longer return to Chicago. Hurstwood is in a more difficult situation than he ever anticipated.
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