This quiz tests your knowledge of the concepts and material related to Theodore Dreiser’s novel Sister Carrie. You should also draw on relevant ideas, imagery, and information from Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” Alcott’s Work, Harper’s “The Deliverance” and “A Double Standard,” and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to answer the questions. Answer each question in five or more complete sentences. Please refer to specific details and include quotations from the works of literature in your answers.
QUESTION 1. At the beginning of Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser states his creed:”Half the undoing of the unsophisticated and natural mind is accomplished by forces wholly superhuman.” (Superhuman in this context doesn’t mean something like superheroes or gods, but rather forces beyond or extrinsic to a particular human: big societal, economic, or biological forces.) In the opening chapters of Sister Carrie, what are some of the “forces” affecting the lives of Carrie, Drouet, Hurstwood, and even Minnie and Hanson? Pick and discuss a passage that shows a large economic trend, power of nature, or biological drive or instinct that influences one of the characters without his or her conscious awareness of it.
QUESTION 2. Why does Carrie go to live with Drouet? What “forces” impel her? Is she acting out of free will, instinct, economic pressure, or a combination of these factors? What do you think of her behavior? In what ways is her situation similar to that of Rachel in Work and the narrator of “A Double Standard,” and in what ways is it different? As you respond discuss specific passages in Sister Carrie (speeches, descriptions, Dreiser’s comments) and Work that you base your interpretation on.
QUESTION 3. Why does Hurstwood steal the money? What “forces” are driving him at this point in the novel? Do you think Chapter 27 emphasizes free will, or does it illustrate “determinism” – the belief that much of what individualism do is determined by forces that individuals don’t control? Discuss specific details and phrases that support your interpretation.
QUESTION 4. Why does Hurstwood struggle after he has moved to New York? Choose and discuss one or more passages in which Dreiser explains the reasons for Hurstwood’s difficulties. Why does Carrie, in contrast, succeed in New York? Include specific phrases and details from Sister Carrie that support your answer.
QUESTION 5.How do Dreiser’s beliefs about free will and destiny contrast with those that Louisa May Alcott expresses in Work? Choose and discuss passages (one from each author) that you believe epitomize the differences in philosophy and/or tone running throughout the two novels.
