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
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.
The Stage Symbol Timeline in Sister Carrie
