Previous
The City
In Carrie’s world, the stage serves as an escape from reality and, in a way, a mirror for life. While living in Chicago, Carrie enjoys attending shows because it pulls her away from the difficulties she faces in real life. Later, after leaving Hurstwood in New York, Carrie throws herself into her acting career as a means to work her way up and away from the dreary life she led with her lover during the later stages of their relationship, making the stage a kind of escape.
However, the stage is also a place where spectators can see themselves and their own lives play out, making it an extension of real life. During her days in Chicago, Carrie attends a play with Drouet and Hurstwood. By this point, Carrie and Hurstwood are already having an affair, and the play coincidentally depicts a woman being unfaithful to her husband. While Carrie and Hurstwood see how the situation in the play reflects their reality, Drouet is painfully unaware and ironically berates the husband in the play for being so ignorant. In this way, the stage is both an escape from real life and a reflection of it, a way to escape one’s daily life and relive it.
The Stage Quotes in Sister Carrie
The Sister Carrie quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Stage. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 42 Quotes
Carrie’s little soldier friend. Miss Osborne, seeing her succeeding, had become a sort of satellite. Little Osborne could never of herself amount to anything. She seemed to realise it in a sort of pussy-like way and instinctively concluded to cling with her soft little claws to Carrie.
Related Characters:
Caroline “Carrie” Meeber, Lola Osborne
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
300
Explanation and Analysis:
During her first days with the theater company, Carrie becomes friends with a fellow chorus girl, Lola Osborne. The two remain friends as Carrie receives promotions while Lola remains a chorus girl. Jealousy and condescension never enter the relationship. Indeed, the relationship between Carrie and Lola is perhaps one of the healthiest ones readers can find in the novel. Lola realizes that she “could never of herself amount to anything” and revolves around Carrie as “a sort of satellite.” Dreiser relates that she “[clings] with her soft little claws to Carrie.” Carrie enjoys the company and the two remain together past the end of the novel.
This is the first instance where readers can see women relying on each other for support. The city has taught Carrie many misleading values; however, through Lola, a city girl, Carrie also learns that she need not depend on men for her livelihood. For although Lola never achieves greatness, she never depends on men for a livelihood either. In this way, Dreiser shows that not all cosmopolitan standards are questionable—the modern world has brought forth some progress.
Get the entire Sister Carrie LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
The Stage Symbol Timeline in Sister Carrie
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Stage appears in Sister Carrie. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 19 (An Hour in Elfland: A Clamour Half Heard)
The play begins. Hurstwood and Drouet both notice that Carrie is not on stage and continue whispering in their box. The actors and actresses perform rather poorly. Hurstwood expected...
(full context)
Chapter 34 (The Grind of the Millstones: A Sample of Chaff)
...also thinks of Ames and his ideas: “riches [are] not everything” as well as “the stage [is] good, and the literature she read poor.” The difference between Hurstwood and Ames is...
(full context)
Chapter 37 (The Spirit Awakens: New Search for the Gate)
A morning or two later, Carrie asks Hurstwood how people get on the stage. Hurstwood replies that “there must be dramatic agents” but is apprehensive that Carrie should get...
(full context)
...momentarily “[thinks] he [foresees] the result of this thing […] Carrie would get on the stage in some cheap way and forsake him.” Hurstwood underestimates Carrie because “he [does] not understand...
(full context)
Carrie secretly resolves to get on the stage, thinking that she will not sacrifice herself and fall into poverty just to appease Hurstwood....
(full context)
Chapter 38 (In Elf Land Disporting: The Grim World Without)
...“given a place in the line.” Under the influence of the “wondrous reality” of the stage, Carrie feels that she can be happy. Carrie gives her name as “Carrie Madenda.” The...
(full context)
...a small part and “it would only be money wasted.” During this performance, Carrie has stage fright at first, but quickly calms down after realizing the “painful insignificance of [her] part.”...
(full context)
Chapter 43 (The World Turns Flatterer: An Eye in the Dark)
...out.” Carrie’s feels that she was “effectually shelved” and is disconsolate at rehearsal. However, the stage manager finds this pleasing and tells her to frown more, as it looks “quaint and...
(full context)
