When Caroline Meeber boarded the afternoon train for Chicago, her total outfit consisted of a small trunk, a cheap imitation alligator-skin satchel, a small lunch in a paper box, and a yellow leather snap purse, containing her ticket, a scrap of paper with her sister's address in Van Buren Street, and four dollars in money. It was in August, 1889. She was eighteen years of age, bright, timid, and full of the illusions of ignorance and youth.

Sister Carrie intertwines two narratives of social mobility; one upward and the other downward. Carrie Meeber ends up ensconced in the Waldorf Hotel, while her lover George Hurstwood is buried in Potter's Field. These two are the novel's primary chara

This article in full comprises 1515 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

Published 01 August 2001

Citation: Davies, Jude. "Sister Carrie". The Literary Encyclopedia. 1 August 2001.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2044, accessed 9 February 2010.]