| Sister Carrie and The Streetcar Named Desire are respectively Theodore Dreiser’s and Tennessee Williams’s masterpieces. The two works both center on heroines’lives and relate stories about their growth and emotional experiences.Though the two stories take place at different historical times and places, it can be observed that the heroine Carrie in Sister Carrie and the heroine Blanche in The Street Car Named Desire have amazingly similar experiences, but their destinies are quite different. Driven by desire, they come to another city with their dreams of pursuing love, wealth and female identity. But they get caught up in obstacles from family and the society. Meanwhile, their attitudes toward life and means of dealing with difficulties are quite different, which also lead to their different ends--Carrie realizes herself, becoming a celebrity of Broadway, while Blanche loses herself and is finally sent to asylum. It should be noted that Carrie is tragic in the sense that she isn’t happy though she gets what she has longed for--she loses her relatives, lovers and friends and exchanges material needs with self-betrayal and her body.The influences of family background and social background are the major reasons for their similar dreams and experiences with different ends. As for family background, Carrie is of humble origin with little education. But hard life helps her develop an independent and firm character. Blanche is of noble origin and well-educated with superior living condition that makes her dependent, delicate and clinging character. As for social background, Carrie lives at the turn of 2 century, a time when consumerist culture appears and feminism is in bud. In this socio-cultural context, women are on the one hand, easily preyed upon by the materialism and consumerism, and aroused with their female consciousness on the other hand. Differently, Blanche lives in a time of conflict between the south and the north and the rise of feminism, when women deeply embedded in the traditional culture are easily subjected to and victimized by the patriarchal ideology.This thesis, with the combination the theories of feminism and consumerism, attempts to make a comparative and contrastive study of the two women characters. By comparing and contrasting their experiences and end, the thesis analyzes the conflict between dream and reality and probes into the causes behind it, arguing that in patriarchal society women, if adhering to the conventional ideology, are usually faced with existential dilemma, but they will get rid of social bondage and achieve self-realization with an economic and emotional independence. |
