사물에 홀린 이들의 이야기—『시스터 캐리』

Abstract

This study aims to analyze Sister Carrie, one of the representative works of naturalism, focusing on things and their influences on characters. First, as a follow-up to the previous studies, this paper argues that the American theme of the conflicts between society and individuals is implied in Sister Carrie as the gendered conflicts. Second, in Sister Carrie, Carrie, who becomes “value,” “idol,” and “capital,” represents the thing, a commodity, and the urban space that early modern Americans project both charm and aversion. Sister Carrie demonstrates the human investment in things and the mutual constitution of the human subject and inanimate object. Things in Sister Carrie gain “a voice” of their own, act freely, and become a part of the human subject. Not only that, things allure the possessor to be possessed rather than dissolve into the parts of the possessor. Carrie, the object that Hurstwood badly wanted to possess has in fact possessed him. When surrounded by the voice of inanimate things which delude the unlimited possibility, Hurstwood loses control over objects and the position of the subject. In this regard, Sister Carrie could be read as the tale of being possessed by the possessions as well as a novel of things.