Abstract Theodore Dreiser is one of the most famous American realistic writers in the 20th’ century。 Sister Carrie, the first novel of him,  describes the story of Carrie, pursuing her American Dream from a poor country girl to a famous Broadway superstar。 To some extent, Carrie does possess what she has longed for but she fails in realizing her American Dream。 As the representative of studying the disillusion of American Dream, Sister Carrie not only reflected the cruel reality but also reveals the tragedy life of ordinary Americans in the consumer society context of 20th century。75227

Based on Masloe’s theory of hierarchy of needs, the author tries to analyze the four essential choices in Carries life and the way to her “success”。 Besides, from the perspective of consumer culture, the author aims to further analyze the causes of the disillusionment of Carrie’s American Dream except for her internal reasons。

This thesis firstly introduces American Dream。 This part briefly introduces the definition of American Dream and the origin of American Dream。 And then it introduces the development of American Dream in the consumer culture society influenced by industrialization in the 20th  century。Next, it analyzes Carrie’s American Dream。 It includes the formation, development and disillusionment of Carrie’s dream based on Carrie’s four essential choices in her life and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs。

Next, the thesis introduces the consumer culture。This chapter firstly introduces the concept of consumer culture under the influence of industrialization and then introduces the reflection of consumer culture in Sister Carrie。

Then,the thesis  mainly analyzes the causes of the disillusion of Carrie’s American Dream。 It covers two parts: the eternal reasons from the perspective of consumer culture and the internal reasons of Carrie。

At last, there comes to the conclusion: in such a society, where people regard material possession as a kind of conspicuousness rather than a physical needs, the American Dream pursued by ordinary Americans can not come true。Sister Carrie gives today’s readers a warning as well as an inspiration that in modern society, people should not blindly pursue the material possession, but emphasis the significance of spirit satisfaction。

Keywords: the American Dream; Sister Carrie; hierarchy of needs; disillusion; consumer culture

浅析嘉莉妹妹的美国梦摘  要西奥多。 德莱赛是20世界美国文学史上最有名的现实zhuyi作家之一。《嘉莉妹妹》，德莱赛的处女作，讲述了女主人公嘉莉，从一个贫穷的乡村少女到百老汇的超级巨星的追梦过程。在某种程度上，嘉莉最终获得了她梦寐以求的财富，可是她的美国梦却并没有实现。作为研究美国梦幻灭的代表作，《嘉莉妹妹》不仅反映了20世界消费zhuyi影响下的残酷的社会现实，而且揭示了当时美国普通人民的悲惨命运。

本文试图根据嘉莉的四次至关重要的选择联系马斯洛的需要层次理论，分析嘉莉是如何走向“成功”的。以及，从消费文化这个角度，试图分析导致嘉莉美国梦幻灭的原因除了她自身的原因外，还有哪些更深层次的原因。

首先，论文介绍了嘉莉的美国梦。这个部分首先简要介绍了美国梦的定义以及起源以及后来在工业化和消费文化影响下20世纪美国梦的发展。然后着重介绍了嘉莉的美国梦。基于嘉莉的四次至关重要的选择和马斯洛的需要层次理论，这个部分分析了嘉莉的美国梦的形成、发展和幻灭。

接着，论文介绍了消费文化。 这个部分首先介绍了在来在工业化的影响下的消费文化的内涵。然后，介绍了消费文化在《嘉莉妹妹》书中的表现。

然后，论文分析了导致嘉莉美国梦幻灭的原因。这个部分包括两部分：在消费文化影响下的外因和嘉莉的内因。