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摘 要

德莱塞是美国现代小说的先驱、现实主义作家之一。近年来，学者们对《珍妮姑娘》这部小说中的主题和女主人公形象均做了大量研究，但很少有人从社会、家庭和人物性格以及相关因素进行研究，这也是本文的重点。

珍妮姑娘处于父系社会,男权占主导地位，这就决定了其社会地位不如男子，所以就要依靠他们而活。作为传统女性，珍妮姑娘为了家庭先后成为两个男人的情妇，这符合父系社会男性中心的社会价值观。其次，其父老葛哈德在家里享有绝对权威和话语权，妻子和孩子必须服从于他。与此同时，家庭不幸迫使珍妮一次又一次地为了整个家庭的生存牺牲自己，从而导致人生悲剧。就性格特征来说，珍妮姑娘软弱，逆来顺受，对贫穷的憎恨以及对物质生活的强烈欲望，导致她悲剧的人生。此外，作者自身的悲剧意识也影响着对珍妮悲剧一生的塑造。由此，我们得知了珍妮姑娘悲剧一生的缘由以及必然性，也得以了解德莱塞的写作主题以及作品传达的现实意义。

最后，作者希望该文能够启发学者们从新的角度研究《珍妮姑娘》，另外，该文所揭示的社会现状亦能帮助读者们更好理解德莱塞作为一名自然主义者对美国社会的真实反映，并启发更多当代女性寻求经济独立及自我独立。

关键词：珍妮姑娘 漂泊的人生 父系社会 家庭 人物性格 悲剧意识

1. Introduction

• 1.  Research background

As a representative of American modernist, Theodore Dreiser is considered one of the Big Three of American modernist novels with Earnest Hemingway and William Faulkner. Born on August 27 in 1871 in Terre Haute, Indiana, Dreiser was the twelfth of thirteen children (the ninth of the ten surviving).His father- John Paul Dreiser, a German immigrant, came from Mayen in the Eifel region. As the son of a poor German immigrant, Dreiser felt about his family’s marginalized predicament in the American society as a whole, thus full of enthusiasm about extensively observing the social reality. He walked throughout the metropolitan cities of the United States such as New York, Chicago, etc, which accumulated the abundant writing materials for his later literary creation. In 1944, Dreiser was awarded honor by the national institute of art and literature. Next year, he joined the communist party and died on December 28 in the same year.

In the 1980s, because of industrialization and urbanization, American society was transforming from the society led by production to one led by consumption. The process of urbanization brought about a lot of negative effects, such as materialism, mammonism and hedonism. People began to compare their own lives with others’, thus having the dissatisfaction with the reality. Jennie Gerhardt was created under this background. The depiction of the life Jennie lives can best reflect Dreiser’s intention of writing social problems, with his own sister Mary Dreiser as the prototype. Mary lived with colonel Silsbee in Terre Haute, which was a sexual scandal for the family; therefore, as a serious father from the old world, Paul broke off all relations with her. However, he enjoyed the last time of living with her in Rochester and having a peaceful feeling under her care. Paul died at the age of seventy-nine at Christmas in 1900. On January 6, 1901, Dreiser composed Jennie Gerhardt within less than two weeks after his father's death and had it published until 1911.

Consequently, a detailed study of the heroine Jennie can contribute to helping readers comprehend Dreiser’s writing intention, his attitudes towards women, Jennie Gerhardt in

particular, and his literary accomplishment as a naturalist.

Jennie Gerhardt tells a story that while working in a hotel in Columbus, Ohio, Jennie meets George Brander, a United State Senator, who becomes infatuated with her. He helps her family and declares his wish to marry her. Jennie, grateful for his benevolence, agrees to sleep with him. He dies before they marry, and Jennie is pregnant. She gives birth to a daughter, Vesta, and moves to Cleveland with her mother. There she finds work as a lady's maid in a prominent family. In this home, she meets Lester Kane, a prosperous manufacturer's son. Impressed by his strong will and generosity, then Jennie falls in love with him. But because of their difference in class, he anticipates his family's disapproval and decides to take her as his mistress. They lived happily. However, because of money and status, Lester finally leaves Jennie and marries with his former lover- Letty Pace. Afterwards, he becomes seriously ill and tells Jennie he still loves her. Finally, Jennie is alone.

1.2 Need for the study

Practically speaking, Dreiser describes a girl from pure and innocent to money-oriented and man-reliant. This study will assist readers, especially female readers in modern times, in having a deeper thinking about their outlook on life and values. It will guide them to seek self-development as well as form a positive outlook on life and the world.

Theoretically speaking, this study of Jennie Gerhardt can on one hand enlighten scholars to penetrate into the roles women living in that patriarchal society played from some detailed perspectives. On the other, Dreiser is good at exploring tragedy, for he has a pessimistic attitude towards life and society. Scholars and readers may attach more importance to the relation between naturalism and Dreiser’s tragic consciousness that is fully displayed in this novel.

1. Literature review

2.1 Previous studies on Jennie Gerhardt

Jennie Gerhardt has been the subject of much criticism since its publication in 1911. American critic Mencken views it as a real standout and the best novel so far, believing that it surpasses Sister Carrie in writing skills (“Jennie Gerhardt”). However, some people criticize this novel. For example, although he has sympathy for the bleak picture in the book, Poet Markham (“Jennie Gerhardt”) blames Jennie for her becoming Lester’s mistress out of financial support of her family: “Don't women defile their virtue in order to help relatives far away from starving?” (Note: translated by the author of this thesis, as quoted from the baidu search “Jennie Gerhardt”) . Anyone who has a deep understanding of life will firmly say ‘no’. Along with the increase of pungent comments on Jennie Gerhardt, religious organizations start to alert; meanwhile, National Library Association criticize the novel as not suitable for the readers in the moral sense (“Jennie Gerhardt”).

Jennie Gerhardt was translated into Chinese by Fu Donghua in 1935. Compared with the original one, the Chinese version becomes popular due to its language and general contents. Since then, lots of domestic and foreign scholars began to do literary study from various perspectives. It is estimated that there are about 70 academic articles published on cnki.net between 2000 and 2014, most of which center on the image of Jennie, themes and writing characteristics.

Obviously, quite a lot of scholars attach importance to the analysis of the image of Jennie. Xu Yuanyuan (2010) makes an analysis of Jennie’s life from the diversified perspectives and concludes that Jennie is always in a passive position and she has neither right nor power to control her own life but to wait for others’ decision. Meanwhile, Xu summarizes that each chapter manifests Dreiser’s belief that life is a tragedy. Zhuang Qun (2011) focuses on Jennie’s complicated love affair by examining her feminist consciousness; at the same time, he goes deeper into the causes of Jennie’s tragedy, i.e. the unjust treatment of females in the patriarchal society, thus concluding that only by the time people no longer hold the kind of masculine thought can they eradicate the unequal sexual relations. Shi Hongxia (2011) points out in a new

aspect that the novel is actually a grand tragic ritual Jennie hosts for herself, marital, religious and emotional.

Some scholars mainly focus on Dreiser’s themes and writing characteristics. Wu Qin, Shi Weidong, and Li Jianglin (2011) interpret some females who experience tragedies, for example, Jennie Gerhardt, showing Dreiser’s profound critical spirit towards the social system due to the rapid development of capitalism and constraint for women from religion and ethics. Similar to the study of Wu, et al., Wang Qiaoxian (2014) points out the social system changed by consumption with the rapid development of capitalism reflects the newly-born ideology in Jennie’s struggle against social convention. Li Shikui (2013) analyzes the reason for Dreiser's pessimism from the naturalistic perspective by highlighting the theme --- the disillusioned American dream. Zhao Yuxiu (2014) conducts a detailed study of naturalistic description in Jennie Gerhardt in which all kinds of people struggle against some invisible strength and are eventually doomed to fail or perish, which reflects the reality and ideological changes of that era.

2.2 Naturalism

Naturalism was an outgrowth of literary realism, a prominent literary movement in the mid-19th-century France and elsewhere. Influenced by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, naturalistic writers often believe that one’s heredity and social environment largely determine one’s character. Whereas realism seeks only to describe subjects as they really are, naturalism attempts to “scientifically” determine the underlying forces (e.g., the environment or heredity) influencing the actions of its subjects. Naturalistic works often include strange or sordid subject matter; for example, Émile Zola’s works had frankness about sexuality along with pervasive pessimism.

American naturalists mainly include Stephen Crane (1871-1900), Frank Norris (1870-1902), Jack London (1876-1916) and Dreiser. Crane’s novel The Red Badge of Courage, centering on the cruelty of the American Civil War, is considered one of the most influential works in American literature. Norris created “Wheat trilogy”, the most famous being The Octopus and Mc Teague. London who pursued American Dream just like Dreiser, produced 19 novels, over 150 short-stories, three scripts, plenty of literature reportage and a considerable

number of essays and theses. His famous novels are Martin Eden, The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Love of Life.

Dreiser thinks that the environment does not limit desires any longer, but stimulate one’s desire that is never insatiable. In his works, those characters with strong instinct and desires tend to be the winners. Meanwhile, Dreiser lived in the era of transition from the capitalism to imperialism; therefore, modern consumer culture appeared. The emergence of modern consumer culture brought about a fundamental change in people's minds; the thought of enjoying themselves and pursuing the desire became a fashion. For example, Jennie gives up herself and becomes a mistress out of the desire for money. Therefore, the tragic consciousness revealed in Dreiser’s works tallies basically with naturalism and there is no exception to Jennie Gerhardt. In addition, his experiences of doing some hard work and living with the lower class assists him to accumulate source materials for his later composition as well as determine his tragic consciousness and naturalistic features. Hence, most characters in his works are tragic, especially the females.

2. 3 Deficiency in previous studies

Despite the fact that previous studies on Jennie Gerhardt are abundant, few people devote space to the description of the drifter---Jennie. However, Jennie and her doomed life can well express some specific problems as well as ignite the reader’s further thinking. Therefore, it is necessary and meaningful to study the heroine and her doomed life. This thesis will analyze Jennie’s character in three aspects: she is a social drifter; she is a family drifter; she is a drifter of character. What’s more, it will illustrate the reasons why Jennie is a doomed drifter from Dreiser’s naturalistic perspective.

1. Jennie Gerhardt, a Doomed Drifter

In this chapter, that Jennie Gerhardt is a doomed drifter of society, family and personal character will be studied in detail .

3.1 A drifter of the society

The patriarchic society is the important and essential factor for Jennie’s drifting life. As a traditional woman, Jennie becomes the mistress of two men for the sake of her families, which accord with the man-centered societal values in the patriarchic society. Patriarchal ideology potentially opposes women, with their values lying in the relations with men. In the traditional concept, the father or husband is head of the family; therefore, a man should stand any test and protect the whole family. On the contrary, the most important duty for women is to get married and have children; therefore, they should be feminine, compassionate, gentle, obedient and most important, they need to depend on men for a livelihood. Only in this way can they become angels in the home (great wives and loving mothers). It is under this brutal oppression of women that Jennie is a doomed social drifter.

On the one hand, her relationship with Brander can give obvious testimony to the fact that Jennie is a drifter of society. Before she meets Brander, her family is poor as depicted “Having suffered the reverses so common in the lower walks of life, this man (Note: Jennie’s father Gerhardt) was forced to see his wife, his six children, and himself dependent for the necessaries of life upon whatever windfall of fortune the morning of each recurring day might bring. He himself was sick in bed …and only made the problem of existence the more complicated” (Dreiser 1-2). Jennie’s poor family sets her up for her relationship with Brander. As such, she is willing to become Brander’s mistress to help her family out of economic straits. However, her destiny changes when she meets him, U.S. Senator and he arranges work for Jennie’s father and even life for the whole family, which makes them grateful to him. The point is that in the money-oriented society it is impossible for Brander to help her for nothing. From then on, Jennie begins to have associations with Brander maybe both for her family and for money. When her brother-Bass is imprisoned for stealing coal, Gerhardt, the master of the whole family,

has no idea of what to do; therefore, Jennie seeks help from Brander again, for she does not know to whom she can appeal. In order to express her heartfelt gratitude for his timely help, Jennie tries to keep more frequent contacts with him. As a matter of fact, she depends on him for a living rather than loves him. Therefore, when hearing that Brander is dead, she seems to lose the strength and feel somewhat fearful mingled with a little sadness. She doesn’t know how to live on her own in the future, for she has been pregnant and people will look down upon her. That is, when something bad befalls her, she doesn’t make any efforts to get out of the dilemma. As a consequence, there is no doubt that Jennie is a typical drifter in that patriarchic society.

On the other hand, the relationship between Jennie and Lester can be the other convincing evidence. Jennie meets Lester for the first time when she works for Lester’s friend as a servant. They are attracted by each other, and then Lester pursues her. Especially after Gerhardt is severely scalded, the family is again in economic straits. For the sake of her family, she finally decides that it is her duty to write to Lester a brief note for help. This is why the two cohabitate since then. It is noteworthy that Jennie seems to love handsome and rich Lester, different from her relationship with Brander. However, Jennie obeys him when Lester asks her to wait for him at the next corner in the tone of compulsion, which indicates that she begins to take his words and rely on him, thus losing the ability to manipulate her own fate. Gradually, all she has to cling to is this man because she holds the traditional notion that a woman should be reliant on somebody else. When Lester deserts her for status and money, Jennie doesn’t struggle hard but only gives him good wishes. Anyway, she has lost the courage and ability to seek for her own happiness. In this sense, she is a doomed drifter.

Jennie has low status and can not find her belonging in the patriarchic society, which determines she need rely on two lovers respectively. She lives in the first half of the 20th century in the United States, an era when capitalism expanded rapidly and money, interests and benefits became the basis and sources of maintaining interpersonal relationships that tended to be more and more utilitarian. Such a money-oriented social environment deeply undermines her life, forcing her to take the initiative to sacrifice her happiness for her family, thus drifting in the society time and again.

3.2 A drifter of her family

This section will study Jennie’s tragic life from the perspective of family. Although she gets along well with her mother, Jennie is still a drifter in that her father Gerhardt masters her and the whole family.

In Chapter Six, when Jennie’s father finds her abnormal relationship with Brander, he immediately shows his disappointment and impatience in a very bad temper as follows:

“ Where have you been?” he exclaimed in German.

“Why, I have been out for a walk,” she answered confusedly.

“Didn’t I tell you not to go out any more after dark?” said Gerhardt, utterly ignoring Brander.

Jennie coloured furiously, unable to speak a word.

“What is the trouble?” inquired Brander gravely. “Why should you talk to her like that?” (Dreiser 36)

From this dialogue, we can find that Jennie is severely controlled by her father. A detail can indicate that Gerhardt is a total manipulator of the whole family. When he strongly opposes this relationship because neighbors begin to gossip, Jennie has to take his words of not contacting Brander, which indicates she has no real idea of the love relationship and she merely shows her submissiveness to him. Even Brander, a man unfamiliar with her family, thinks that Gerhardt takes a bad attitude towards Jennie.

When Gerhardt finds his daughter pregnant, he exclaims, “She must go out! Out!! Out!!! She has become a street-walker, that’s what she has become. She has set herself right to go to hell. Let her go.” (Dreiser53) Gerhardt enjoys absolute authority and power in the home and his wife and children must obey him. Therefore, Jennie is seen as his private property and he has the right to curse her time and again such as “out!”, “street walker’ and “Let her go”, and can make any decision for her reckless of her feelings and ideas. In fact, to some extent, Gerhardt’s opposition and interference destroy the wonderful plan of Jennie and Brander, thus leading to her tragedy in the end. If he can fully understand the age gap between Jennie and Brander, Jennie’s situation is not so embarrassing. From this perspective, Jennie’s spiritual torture is entirely caused by her father’s traditional moral ideas---Women or daughters must obey their husbands or fathers. If Jennie had free choice of marriage, this story would end with happiness.

In conclusion, the family misfortune prompts Jennie to sacrifice herself again and again for

the survival of the whole family. She puts herself into a subordinate position, which makes her lose herself and live fully under the shadow of Gerhardt during a period of time, thus unable to control her own destiny. Besides, Gerhardt instills her with the patriarchal ideology that makes her firmly believe that she must entirely obey him, thus leading to her tragedy. Therefore, her misfortune is a silent indictment of the patriarchal ideology together with the result of women’ obedient thoughts and behaviors under the absolute control of men.

3.3 A drifter of her character

Two characteristics of Jennie’s will be studied in detail. For one thing, she is so feeble that she easily resigns herself to adversity, which is embodied in Chapter 17 and 18. In the associations with Lester from beginning to end, Jennie is in a subordinate position. Although not wanting to surrender to him all the time, she is compelled to yield. As Lester's mistress, Jennie bows at his words because only in this way can she live a better life than before. Due to living a parasitic life, she observes Lester's speech and behavior every day and takes care of him. The most dreadful thing for her is that Lester will leave her one day. Afterwards, Lester meets his former lovers. Jennie says that he will do great things in the future of course at the cost of forgetting her. He and she do not match each other in the status. Lester finally deserts her. Although depressed and desperate, Jennie still sends him good wishes and kisses goodbye. What a feeble woman! Five years later, Lester is seriously ill and he needs Jennie’s care. She is eternally grateful for his calling. Confronted with Jennie, he apologizes to her, but “‘Don’t talk that way, Lester- please don’t,’ she pleaded. ‘It’s all right. You needn’t be sorry. There’s nothing to be sorry for. You have always been so good to me’” (Dreiser 252). Why doesn’t she hate Lester? Why does she behave so weakly? Why does she still come to visit and take care of Lester? She should change her attitude towards him and live for herself. There is no doubt that Jenny's weakness and compliance play an important role in her life tragedy.

For another, she is materialistic and hateful for a poor life. When meeting Brander for the first time, Jennie is in a dilemma- her father goes bankrupt and is sick, and even the store will not let them buy on credit. Jennie finds a job as a cleaner at a luxury hotel. She is attracted by this luxurious place that is different from their living environment. She asks her mother: "Isn’t it fine to be rich?" She also says to herself: “I wish we were rich” (Dreiser 5-6).

When she first sees gadgets on the dresser, magnificent carpets and rugs in Brander’s room, she holds “What comfort, what luxury” (Dreiser 8)! She is deeply fascinated by the comfort and luxury around this man. When Brander gives her a valuable watch, Jennie shows her deep gratitude for his generosity as depicted in “‘Mine!’ exclaimed Jennie. ‘Mine! Oh, isn’t it lovely!” and “You’re so good!” (Dreiser26). In fact, Jennie has never looked so excited in her life.

If the man is charmed by her youth and beauty, then Jennie is addicted to his money and status. Money connects them all the time, for as a matter of fact, the man is old enough to be her father. Jennie is eager to live a rich life to the extent that the feeling of hatred for poverty hides in her heart, of which Brander is firmly aware so he exploits her vanity and desire for material wealth, and then traps her into the fallen abyss with money as the bait. Therefore, the weakness in Jennie’s character is another important cause of her tragedy.

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