Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser : A Detailed Summary

 

Part I

Sister Carrie begins in 1889 with an eighteen year old Caroline Meeber on her way from her small hometown to the big city of Chicago. She is frightened to leave home, but determined to make her way in the city. A good looking and innocent young woman, Carrie finds herself in the company of Charles Drouet, a “drummer,” or traveling salesman. Drouet, well dressed and noted for his impressive behaviour, engages Carrie in a long conversation. When they depart at the train station, they agree to meet again in Chicago.

 

After his departure, Carrie, feels alone and sad because she hasn’t any other friends like him over there. She waits for her sister Minnie to meet her at the station. Carrie will stay with Minnie and her husband Sven Hanson, who live in a small apartment. They expect Carrie’s contributions for making their rent payments. Carrie sits in their rocking chair sorting out her thoughts. A position of stillness and relaxation she often repeats throughout the novel. Carrie writes to Drouet telling him she cannot invite him to his place because there is no room for visitors. The apartment was that much small and congested.

 

Carrie finally gets a job but the wages are inadequate and when she wants to go to the theatre or enjoy life in the city, her sister disapproves. Carrie’s job becomes more harrowing and nearly all her wages go to her sister at the end of each week. Without enough money to buy warm clothes, when the cold weather comes she turns ill and loses her job. When Carrie recovers from her illness she again searches for a new job, but without much success. She happened to meet by chance Drouet, who gives her twenty dollars for new clothes; when she decides to leave her sister’s home, Drouet sets up her in a furnished room of her own in another part of the city. After several days of sightseeing and shopping, Carrie and Drouet begin living together.

 

Drouet invites his friend George Hurstwood, the manager of a prosperous saloon, to visit their home. The visit goes well for Carrie and Hurstwood, who is unhappy with his home life. They seem attracted to each other. Carrie continues to interest Hurstwood and he decides to pursue her when he sees Drouet out with another woman. When he turns his full attention to love Carrie, he ignores his own wife and family.

 

Meanwhile, Drouet promises his lodge brothers that he will find an actress for their upcoming stage show. He convinces Carrie to take the part. Although the other actors are not good, Carrie herself rises to the occasion and turns in an excellent performance. This renews both Drouet’s and Hurstwood’s interest in her; Carrie agrees to leave Drouet if Hurstwood will marry her and he agrees.

 

Hurstwood’s wife, aware of the affair with Carrie, demands him for compensation and begins divorce proceedings. At the time the novel is set, a man exposed as an adulterer would not only lose his marriage, he would also lose his job and social standing in the community. As Hurstwood think about what his next step should be, he discovers a large sum of money in the saloon’s safe and steals it. He then goes to Carrie telling her that Drouet has been injured and persuades her to board a train that will supposedly take her to Drouet. However, once on board, Hurstwood reveals his true purpose.

 

Part II

Carrie and Hurstwood marry illegally and move to New York City. Carrie soon comes to realize that she cannot love Hurstwood, and has used him to escape her life in Chicago. Nonetheless, she stays and keeps house for Hurstwood. As the years pass, their routine becomes predictable and monotonous, and Carrie grows increasingly dissatisfied with her shabby clothes and cheap lifestyle.

 

Mrs. Vance, an elegant and wealthy woman who befriends Carrie, begins to take her to the theatre and helps her pick out new clothes. Carrie then meets Mrs. Vance’s cousin, Bob Ames, who convinces her that wealth is not necessarily the means to all happiness. Carrie comes to see Ames as the ideal man.

 

Meanwhile, Hurstwood grows older and more depressed. He loses the lease on his business and spends his days in hotel lobbies, watching the rich and famous pass by him. This, and reading the morning and afternoon papers, comprise his entire routine. When money grows increasingly scarce the couple move into a cheaper apartment and Hurstwood gambles away the last of their cash.

 

Carrie then decides to find a job in the theatre. Under the name Carrie Madenda, she takes a job in a chorus line at the Casino theatre and is soon promoted and earning good money. Preferring to spend her time with theatre friends, Carrie increasingly stays away from the apartment and Hurstwood.

 

Hurstwood eventually finds work as a scab (special workers to work during strike), working on a Brooklyn trolley line where workers are striking. Although he is not seriously wounded, he is shot and beaten but the experience causes him to sink ever deeper into depression. On the other hand, Carrie wins a speaking part in her show and earns more money. She is tired of supporting Hurstwood, and leaves him.

 

Carrie’s career continues to grow. She moves into a new hotel with her friend Lola Osborne and lives the life she has always dreamed yet still finds herself unhappy. Meanwhile, Hurstwood continues to suffer and remains in a complete emotional break down and distress . He works in a hotel as an errand boy where

he catches pneumonia and takes many months in the hospital to recover.

Around this time, Drouet appears, hoping to win Carrie back, but sees that she has changed and they are no longer on the same level. Following Drouet’s appearance, Hurstwood approaches Carrie after a performance asking for money. She gives him all that she has with her. Finally, when Ames comes to New York, telling her she ought to consider other roles, she becomes troubled.

 

In the final chapter, Dreiser briefly revisits his characters. Hurstwood is now a homeless, itinerant man whose mind has gone became a beggar. Carrie can be seen reading a serious novel - one that Ames recommends. And Drouet is in the lobby of a grand hotel. Dreiser also describes the Hurstwood’s former wife and daughter on their way to a vacation in Italy. In the final scene where Hurstwood commits suicide in a Bowery flophouse by turning on the gas jet and going to sleep. Carry meanwhile becomes unsatisfied as she couldn’t yet appear in a drama.