After its republication in 1907, Sister Carrie has been very popular and become one of the key works in the Dreiser canon. This novel focuses on a female character, the new woman. The new woman of the late 19th century implies a woman who had more freedom in society, more independence, more ability to run her own life without being tied to a family, or without being tied to a husband. The emergence of the new woman was the beginning of what is now women's liberation movement. Often the movement goes back to find its roots in this time when women were emerging in their power and in their pafflcipation in everyday life. So Sister Carrie is one of these new women. However, Sister Carrie drifts without judgment of her own. Whatever comes along, she follows. The famous picture from this novel is Sister Carrie sitting in a rocking chair in her room in the evening, rocking back and forth. This is a picture of Came's drifting with the tide. She has no control, no freedom of will. She is a slave to her heredity and to her environment. Therefore, what she does cannot be considered imperative or necessary.
So,Dreiser presented the reader a picture of this woman who drifts in life. He neither condemned her nor praised her. This is the way she has to be. Dreiser once said, "It is not intended as a piece ofliterary craftsmanship, but as a picture of conditions done as simply and effectively as the English language will permit." Now, this sort of presentation, unquestioning, just giving the reader the facts, is very different from the realists, such as Mark Twain or Henry James. They would have examined the ethical basis of this woman's behavior. They would not just have presented her merely as a figure who drifts in life.
Dreiser's career as a full-time writer began in earnest with his second novellennie Gerhardt (1911). Then he produced "The Trilogy of Desire" which includes The Fin.anaer (1912),The Titan (1914) , and The Stoic (1947).They deal with powerful businessmen in society. The Cenius (1915) is an aptly autobiograplucal novel examining the artistic temperament.
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