♪Money, Money, Money, Money... MONEY!♪

 In Sister Carrie, it obvious that Carrie abhors the routine of daily life. She wants the finer things in ligr. She wants to dress as nice as possible. She wants to go to the theatre all the time. Her choice in men also... interesting. Now, I'm not saying she's a gold digger, but she's not messing with... any broke gentlemen. That is, I don't think that she would intentionally. From the beginning of the book, Dreiser writes that Carrie brought with her to Chicago "her total outfit (in a small trunk), ... a cheap imitation alligator purse, containing her ticket, a scrap of paper with her sister's address in Van Buren Street, and four dollars in money." (page 1) The reader is not given much background information on Carrie's past other than the possessions from her past that she brought with her. What speaks the most about her character to me is the imitation alligator purse. This says to me that she wants people to think she has the money for the high life, but in reality, she cannot afford a real alligator purse, but merely an imitation. Also, the fact that she did not have but four dollars of spending money with her is astounding. She took less than what she would make in a week at the shoe company with her to Chicago. At the shoe company, she made $4.50 per week. So, she took barely no money with her. This emphasizes to me that she literally started from nothing and worked up. She was led by her fancy for the finer life rather than by reality. She found money by it being given to her rather than her working hard for it. First Drouet buys her clothes and a place, but then she sees an even greater profit through Hurstwood. Then, when he loses everything he has, she loses interest in him. Only after her options are exhausted does she decide to pursue her interest of acting. However, when she finally does achieve spending money, the very thing she was so lustful for, she felt a bigger hole in her heart. Something was still missing. I did not like the ending because of the message it brings. In the beginning, it says "money should be desired, because routine is boring". In the end, it says "Money is not the path to happiness." It seems that no matter how hard the characters of the book tried or did not try to gain happiness, they did not find it. I am depressed.