Dreiser’s Sister Carrie: Carrie’s way to socialization and presentation of self: A study from the point of view of symbolic interaction

Abstract

Abstract: The present article constitutes an approach of Dreiser’s novel Sister Carrie, based on the symbolic interaction theory and an application of Goffman’s dramaturgical model as presented in his book The Presentation of Self in Every Day Life (1956). The study reveals how the central female character of the novel, learns to interact within a certain social group and environment, how successfully she chooses, uses and controls the appropriate techniques in order to present an acceptable and likeable self and how she undertakes and performs different roles in everyday life.