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’s life is deteriorating. He moves from cheap rooms to even cheaper rooms, living on the seventy dollars he got from selling furniture. He reads about Carrie in the papers and feels that in his shabbiness, “he [presents] a marked contrast to all that she now [seems] to be.” Soon, Hurstwood has only twenty dollars and moves to a “fifteen-cent lodging-house.” He spends his days daydreaming about life back in Chicago.
Carrie position rises in the world while Hurstwood has fallen to the bottom. The two essentially live in different worlds. The only contact that Hurstwood has with Carrie is through reading about her in the newspaper, showing that she is now quite removed from his reach. Hurstwood no longer has any hope about improving his situation—he spends his time escaping from reality by reading the newspaper and daydreaming.
Themes
One day, Hurstwood sees in the papers that there is a new play at the Casino and that “Carrie had gone!” He feels nervous, checks his money, and counts “but ten dollars in all.” Hurstwood knows that many of his fellow lodgers beg but is horrified at the idea. Coming to his last fifty cents, Hurstwood goes out to look for work. He tries to get a position at a hotel and is given “scrub work” to do. However, his constitution is poor. One day, Hurstwood finds that he cannot lift the culinary boxes. The hotel physician discovers that Hurstwood is sick with pneumonia and sends him to Bellevue.
Even though he no longer has contact with Carrie, Hurstwood still views her as a sort of lifeline, a person he can turn to so he can keep off the streets. This shows that Hurstwood believes Carrie has a good enough nature to help him. His pride forbids him from begging, so he does menial work. However, Hurstwood is aging and his health is declining with his money. Consequently, he cannot stand the strain of physical work, especially as he has never done it before.
Themes
After being discharged in May, Hurstwood weighs “but one hundred and thirty-five pounds” and is told “to apply to the charities.” Hurstwood goes back to the fifteen-cent lodging house and resorts to begging. One day, Hurstwood sees an announcement regarding Carrie’s return to New York with the Casino Company. On a “severe run of ill-luck,” he resolves to ask Carrie for “a few dollars.” Hurstwood visits the Casino in hopes of meeting Carrie. However, he misses her in the merry theater-going crowd, especially as when Carrie arrives, she seems “so elegant and far away.”
Hurstwood’s appearance is now so different from before that he is unrecognizable. His appearance matches his station in life. The fact that Hurstwood decides to ask for money from Carrie shows that he has swallowed all his pride when it comes to her—he is willing to beg. Hurstwood has fallen so low in life that he is now unable to even get a glimpse of the woman he once called his lover..
Themes
At this time, “an ex-soldier turned religionist” takes to the streets, lining up homeless men and asking the wealthier pedestrians to give money for lodging. A weary Hurstwood joins this line, as “it was a simple way out of one difficulty.” Hurstwood gets a place in a lodging house and exclaims to himself, “I’ve got to eat, or I’ll die.”
Hurstwood now only has the most basic needs: food and shelter. By lining up with the homeless men, Hurstwood demonstrates that he has abandoned all of his pride—he is now willing to resort to begging. He now relies on the charity of the world to get by.
Themes
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