Sister Carrie

A Controversy in 1900 and Since

Sarah Safranski
St. Bede Academy, Peru

Theodore Dreiser was a gifted author who exposed the evils of poverty in Chicago to the world. While living in the city for two years, Dreiser became disgusted by the poor living conditions of less privileged people. He soon was determined to expose this evil to the world and did so with his release of Sister Carrie in 1900. The book was both praised for its harshly realistic style and criticized for its content. Critics proclaimed that the book should be censored and thus arose the undying question of censorship. This book also exposed poverty, something that has often been ignored, to the privileged of America. Sister Carrie, Dreiser's first book, gave other authors the courage to freely express themselves and began the ongoing censorship battle, while opening people's eyes to the evils of poverty.

Dreiser was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, in

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Theodore Dreiser wrote Sister Carrie, the first of several novels that addressed conditions for the urban poor.

1871. He had nine siblings. Dreiser's childhood was marked with unfortunate mishaps that sent the large family into poverty. The burning of the family's cotton mill and his father's life-altering injury emotionally scarred Dreiser for life. His father's own naive nature and religious devotion enabled the family to be cheated by their business partners, and often they did not receive their share of the business earnings. Dreiser resented his father for this throughout his life.

In order to keep his sanity, Dreiser moved to Chicago at the young age of fifteen. He worked low-paying jobs washing dishes, clerking, and tracing freight cars to support himself. With the frustration of these menial jobs Dreiser attended Indiana University for one year, compliments of his old elementary teacher. It was during this time that Dreiser's interest and love of writing blossomed. With this new love, Dreiser returned to Chicago where he was a successful journalist for several years with the Chicago Globe. Now able to support himself, Dreiser married Sara White, and the couple settled in New York. It was during this time that Arthur Henry, Theodore's friend, encouraged him to write a fictional novel. Henry, who later became Dreiser's editor, helped him write his first and finest novel, Sister Carrie. Frank Doubleday became Dreiser's publisher despite his objection to the book's immorality. By showing sympathy for the main character Carrie Meeber, a morally loose woman, Dreiser stirred more controversy then expected with the release of the book in 1900. A few critics, who were ahead of their time, praised the book for its audacity and honesty, while many others shunned it.

Dreiser was called immoral and his book proclaimed unfit to be read by any respectable person. Dreiser not only stirred controversy, but began a battle over censorship. The question of censorship had surely been discussed before, but this time the people who supported Dreiser were ready to take a stand for their right to freedom of the press.

Dreiser's book not only stirred controversy and began a censorship battle, but it also blazed the way for upcoming writers. In Salon Classics, Garrison Keiller states that Dreiser "rejected the cumbersome Victorian morality for what was considered a shocking new form of descriptive realism." By doing so, Dreiser greatly affected the perspective of American literature. Carrie Meeber became the first modern heroine who was morally corrupted and had to struggle through poverty in order to survive. Through this book Dreiser "helped to end the Victorian era and inspire a new generation of writers."

Perhaps the most important element in Sister Carrie was the exposure of the evils of poverty in Chicago. While some were appalled by Dreiser's book, others were truly touched by it. The reality of poverty both terrified people and made them feel compassionate toward the needy. The book caused many religious people to realize the injustice of poverty and inspired them to work to restore justice to those who were indigent.

The effect of Dreiser's book is still as strong today as it was when it was first released. Indiana State University, along with the members of the Theodore Dreiser Society, offer scholarships to graduate students researching and writing about Dreiser's work. This group also held a centennial celebration in honor of the release of Sister Carrie. At this celebration they read the book in many different languages and discussed the evils of society then and now, and what can be done to change them.

Dreiser is considered "the leader of naturalism in American writing." Sister Carrie, his first novel, shocked and appalled people with its realism and morally loose heroine. His writings inspired authors all over the world to express themselves like never before. By helping to end the Victorian era, Dreiser began a new era of descriptive realism. Dreiser's book also brought up the question of the constitutionality of censorship, a question that has yet to be answered. The exposure of poverty to those more privileged was perhaps the most important effect that this book had. Because of the realization of injustice in Chicago at this time, Dreiser compelled people to act out against this problem. Even though this was Dreiser's first book, it shocked and changed society in Chicago and many people the world over.—[From Theodore Dreiser, A Book About Myself; Garrison Keiller, "About Dreiser," The Salon Classics Book Group<a href="www.salon. com/promo/1997/10/13classic_dreiser.html>; Petri Liukkonen, Books and Writers<http://www.kirjasto. scifi/dreiser.htm>; M. T. Rice, Theodore Dreiser: The Naturalist (May, 1997)<http://ww2.cwrl.utexas.edu/ Vander/316S97/MTRICE/project>; American Study Collection in the American Resource Center, Theodore Dreiser<http://alt.org.tw/ait.Cls/rl.htm>; A Bicenquinquagenary Celebration, <http://celebrate250.1ibrary.upenn.edu/celebrate/carrie/>.]

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