In the history of American literary naturalism, Theodore Dreiser is one of the most outstanding novelists in the early twentieth century. Coming from the bottom of the society, Dreiser is the first one to describe the real American citizen life. He is called pioneer of American contemporary fiction and is thought to be the great master of American realism.In Dreiser’s novels, he discards “the genteel tradition”, which was very popular at the time. On the contrary, he dares to depict the life as it is and discover the dark side of the social life, bravely attacking the traditional moral standard of America. The characters in his novels mostly come from the bottom of the society, and during their degeneration driven by their selfish interests and vanities. They are also deeply influenced by the privileges and limitations of the social class. That leads to their misfortunes at last.This thesis chooses Sister Carrie as an object of study. First it depicts the American literature background at that time and the author himself. Then it mainly analyzes the character of the heroine to depict a real American social life in the late 1890’s, especially those of poor people’s lives from struggling, fighting to failing for their so-called “American Dreams”. At last, the article points out the most important resource resulting in the tragedies: the American social system. 在美国自然主义文学的发展史上,西奥多•德莱塞被公认为20世纪初美国最杰出的作家之一。他来自下层社会,未接受过正规教育却率先如实地描写了新的美国生活,是美国现代小说的先驱,也是美国现实主义的大师。德莱塞的小说摈弃了当时流行的“优雅文化”传统,勇于按照生活的本来面目来描绘生活,如实地揭示了当时美国社会生活的阴暗面,大胆地攻击了美国传统的道德标准。他小说中的人物大多来自下层社会,在因被私利和虚荣所驱动而不断堕落的过程中,又深受社会等级特权和局限性的影响,从而最终导致了人物的悲剧命运。本文选择德莱塞的著名小说《嘉莉妹妹》作为研究对象,通过对当时美国文学背景和作者的分析,在小说中透析女主人公的性格特征,揭示出十九世纪末期真实的美国社会生活,尤其是底层阶级为实现所谓的“美国梦”,从挣扎、奋斗、到梦想破灭的残酷事实,从而指出造成其悲剧性的最终根源——美国社会制度。女主人公就这样在自己无尽欲望的驱使下造成自己悲剧的命运。这是我毕业论文的摘要,自己写的阿