Abstract Theodore Dreiser is a famous American writer in the twentieth century. His works are close to social life and explore human’s desire for material. Sister Carrie is his first full-length novel, which tells the story of Carrie who is a countryside girl and finally becomes a Broadway star. This thesis attempts to interpret Sister Carrie from the perspective of naturalism and explores how the environmental factors and natural factors affect the fate of the characters by analyzing the desire of the main characters. By studying the naturalism in Sister Carrie, the limitations of naturalism can be criticized. Desire is a kind of natural driving force in the novel. This thesis mainly presents the instinctive desire which drives and determines the behavior of people.61207

Keywords: Dreiser; Sister Carrie; desire；naturalism

摘要西奥多·德莱塞是美国二十世纪著名作家，他的作品贴近社会生活，探讨人类的物质欲望。《嘉莉妹妹》是他的第一部长篇小说，讲述了嘉莉从农村少女成为百老汇明星的经历。本文试图从自然主义角度解读《嘉莉妹妹》，通过分析《嘉莉妹妹》中主要人物的欲望，探析环境因素和自然因素是怎样影响人物命运的。欲望是小说中的一种自然驱动力，本文着重呈现本能欲望对人的行为的驱使和对人的行为的支配。

毕业论文关键词：德莱塞；《嘉莉妹妹》；欲望；自然主义

1. Introduction....1

1.1 About the author..1

1.2 About the novel...1

2. Literature Review...2

2.1 Research abroad..............2

2.2 Research at home....3

3. Relative theories about naturalism4

3.1. Zola’s theory of naturalism....4

3.2. Darwin’s theory of evolution.4

4. The limitations of naturalism.5

5. The analysis of the desire of main characters in Sister Carrie ...7

5.1 Sister Carrie’s desire for materials.....8

5.2 Hurst Wood’s desire for power......9

5.3 Drouet’s desire for sex.10

6. Conclusion......11

Works Cited...12

1. Introduction 

1.1 About the author

Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) is a famous American realism writer in the 20th century. Dreiser was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, to Sarah Maria and John Paul Dreiser.John Dreiser was a German immigrant from Mayen in the Eifel region, and Sarah was from the Mennonite farming community near Dayton, Ohio. Her family disowned her for converting to Roman Catholicism in order to marry John Dreiser. Theodore was the twelfth of thirteen children (the ninth of the ten surviving). Paul Dresser (1857–1906) was one of his older brothers; Paul changed the spelling of his name as he became a popular songwriter. They were reared as Catholics.After graduating from high school in Warsaw, Indiana, Dreiser attended Indiana University in the years 1889–1890 before dropping out. His novels describe the real American society which are in the quick development of capitalism at the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century. He widely describes the social life with multi classes in America for the first time and opens up new areas for American realism literature. 

1.2 About the novel源:自'吹冰.·论,文;网·www.chuibin.com/

Sister Carrie is Theodore Dreiser’s first work which exposes the social reality without god in that period. In his work, people lost in their own desire. The story is about Sister Carrie, a pretty country girl, who came to Chicago to make a living for admiring the city’s material life. However, the cruel reality made her dream broken and brought her unemployment and disease. When she lost all hope, she became a salesman’s mistress called Drouet, and later became a mistress of a hotel manager Hurst Wood because of the bigger desire. After she eloped with Hurst Wood, she became a famous actress by accident and entered upper – class society in New York. Then she abandoned poor Hurst wood and pushed him into the path of despair. However, what did the so-called upper-class life give her? She felt empty and sat in the rocking chair dreaming about the happiness that would not get.