The novel traces two parallel trajectories: Carrie ascending steadily toward wealth and fame, while Hurstwood descends equally steadily into unemployment, poverty, and the slow erasure of who he once was.
2Reading· 오늘의 본문
We · Yevgeny Zamyatin · 1924
Carrie's life in Chicago was a slow, determined climb. She started with nothing, a small-town girl dazzled by the city's lights. Her relationship with Hurstwood, the once-confident manager, began with promise. But as she found her footing on the stage, learning the steps to success, he began to lose his. His grip on his job, his dignity, and his identity slipped away. Carrie's rise was not a conscious push against him, but her every step forward seemed to cast a longer shadow over his retreating figure. Their paths, once briefly joined, now diverged completely under the same indifferent sky, one ascending toward the glow of fame, the other fading into the city's gray obscurity.
B2 · 128 wordsavg 25.6 w/s
The relationship between Carrie and Hurstwood in Dreiser's novel serves as the central mechanism for illustrating their diametrically opposed trajectories. Initially, Hurstwood represents the worldly success Carrie covets; he is her conduit into a more sophisticated life. However, this dynamic undergoes a profound and irreversible inversion. As Carrie, propelled by ambition and a nascent theatrical talent, ascends the social ladder, Hurstwood commences his parallel descent. His fall is not merely professional but existential, marked by the erosion of his managerial authority, social standing, and ultimately, his very sense of self. Carrie's gravitational pull upward seems to necessitate his downward spiral, their connection becoming the channel through which fortune is transferred. The relationship, once a union, devolves into a stark tableau of substitution: her burgeoning identity flourishes precisely as his established one is dismantled, rendering their bond a poignant study in zero-sum emotional economics within an uncaring urban landscape. What makes Sister Carrie endure as a work of literature is precisely this refusal to offer easy consolation — it demands that readers sit with the discomfort of a world that does not resolve neatly, and find their own position within it.
C1 · 170 wordsavg 34.0 w/s
3Vocabulary· 핵심 어휘 & 연습
traces
추적하다, 따라가다
The novel traces the characters' lives over many years.
parallel
평행의, 유사한
Their stories show parallel developments in different cities.
ascending
오르는, 상승하는
Carrie is ascending in society while Hurstwood fails.
steadily
꾸준히, 착실히
She moved steadily toward her goals without looking back.
erasure
지움, 말소
Hurstwood faced the erasure of his former identity and status.
Activity 1 · 빈칸 채우기5 questions
1. Every hour of D-503's life was carefully ____ by the Table of Hours.
2. The ____ of privacy did not exist in the One State.
3. Individual names were ____ and replaced with numbers.
4. The glass walls guaranteed there was no ____ for citizens.
5. The State was ____ declared to represent perfect happiness.