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
The next morning, Carrie apologizes to Hurstwood. Hurstwood relates that he “[doesn’t] care,” feeding Carrie’s indifference towards him. He grows to hate asking Carrie for money and, consequently, runs up a $16 grocery bill. He begins to switch grocers and butchers to avoid the bills, all unbeknownst to Carrie. September passes in this way. Carrie asks several times about the hotel that Hurstwood’s friend is opening and every time Hurstwood tells her that his friend “won’t do it before October.” Carrie becomes disgusted with Hurstwood and spends more time out visiting and shopping.
Hurstwood does not enjoy the feeling of being dependent on Carrie—his situation is, no doubt, degrading for him. The way Hurstwood switches grocers indicates that he is no longer afraid of gaining an unsavory reputation. Carrie is disgusted Hurstwood because she knows that his claims about having a job opportunity are most likely lies—she has learned from Hurstwood’s previous deceptions and is no longer the innocent and gullible girl from before.
Themes
Carrie’s opera plans to depart in two weeks. She applies at another company and gets a job at twenty dollars a week, which assuages her gloomy feelings: “She began to feel that she had a place in the world. People recognised ability.” Carrie’s state is “so changed” that the poverty and dreariness of life at the apartment seems impossible. Carrie only sleeps there and does “a fair amount of work” to keep it in order. Hurstwood spends his time sitting and reading: “he folded his hands and waited—for what, he could not anticipate.” Soon, it is winter.
Carrie is slowly climbing her way up in the world of theater while Hurstwood’s life is falling completely apart. Carrie’s success deepens the rift between her and Hurstwood. Carrie has escaped from domestic life and is now a modern, working woman. Hurstwood’s passivity shows that he has given up and thinks only of escape from the harshness of his reality through reading.
Themes
One day, Oeslogge the grocer comes to claim his bill. Carrie answers the door and is shocked to learn that they owe sixteen dollars. This sort of “bad and commonplace” occurrence is distressing to both Carrie and Hurstwood. The two argue and Carrie tells Hurstwood that she “oughtn’t […] be made to pay for it.” She goes out and Hurstwood resolves “to do something.”
Carrie and Hurstwood both have enough a sense of propriety to be embarrassed by Oeslogge’s visit. Hurstwood’s resolve “to do something” shows that Carrie’s disdain and criticism still come as a blow to him—she had never been so vocal about her dislike for their current situation prior to the grocer’s visit.
Themes
At this time, there are “rumours and notices of an approaching strike on the trolley lines in Brooklyn” in the newspapers. This catches Hurstwood’s eye and he sympathizes with the demands of the workers. One day, after his argument with Carrie, a notice appears, advertising for a motorman position. Despite his sympathies and scruples regarding safety, Hurstwood decides to give the position a try.
Once the manager of a successful and glamorous saloon, Hurstwood now considers being a temporary laborer for the trolley lines. In other words, he has fallen from the upper echelons of society to the bottom. Hurstwood has completely lost his pride—the man who once disdained the idea of managing a lesser establishment now wants to try working as a common laborer.
Themes
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In the morning, Hurstwood puts on his “best clothes, which were poor enough” and gets ready to head to Brooklyn. Carrie, interested in the change, asks him where he is going. After hearing Hurstwood’s answer, Carrie warns him that men have been hurt, but Hurstwood is determined “in a desolate sort of way.” Carrie feels sorry for him. Nevertheless, she sees “the least shadow of what was once shrewd and pleasant” and does not oppose.
The fact that even Hurstwood’s best clothes are now poor indicates that an extended amount of time has passed since he and Carrie first moved to New York. Hurstwood’s determination demonstrates his last drop of pride. Carrie does not find this new job surprising, indicating just how far Hurstwood has fallen in her eyes.
Themes
Hurstwood leaves before Carrie and makes his way to the office of the railroad building. The day is cold. An officer directs him to the building. Though the officer’s face is “neutral,” “in his heart of hearts, he sympathised with the strikers and hated this ‘scab.’” Hurstwood meets the clerk, who asks if he’s a motorman. Hurstwood replies, “no; I’m not anything.” The clerk gives him a job regardless and gives Hurstwood a card to take to the “barns.” On his way out, officers who had been in strikes before quietly whisper to each other that Hurstwood will “get his fill.”
Hurstwood is ignorant when it comes to menial labor—he does not know what it means to work such a job during a strike. His ignorance mirrors that of Carrie during her initial job search. Financial constraint has forced both Carrie and Hurstwood to enter new worlds. Hurstwood’s reply that he is “not anything” shows that he no longer has any self-esteem, nor does he have any pride-related scruples when it comes to being a temporary motorman.
Themes
