Sister Carrie: Dreiser's Reversal Of Male/Female Roles

Part I of Essay
The novel Sister Carrie seems to be the platform from which Dreiser explores his unconventional views of the genders. In the world of Sister Carrie, it would seem that the role of women as trusting, caring creatures, and men as scheming victimizers is reversed; it is Carri ....

Part II of Essay
.... unaware of. Drouet, then, acts as a stepping stone for her. When he no longer has anything he can offer her, she drops him in favor of Hurstwood. In Hurstwood, Carrie sees all that lacks in Drouet--a more acute sense of culture and worldliness, and the wealth to explore the new wonders of civilized Chicago life. Hurstwood serves as yet another step in her ladder to success, and when he sinks into poverty and self-disgrace after his divorce, she sees him as a no longer being an asset, and leaves him in favor of striking out on her own, leaving ....