Sister Carrie

A year passes. Carrie is increasingly distressed over her life with Hurstwood, who struggles to make his bar succeed. A couple moves into their complex, the Vances, and Carrie sees that Mrs. Vance, stunningly beautiful and an accomplished pianist, enjoys the wealthy life Carrie always dreamed would be hers. Mrs. Vance takes Carrie to dinner at a swanky restaurant on Broadway, and Carries feels immersed in the energy of privilege and its “showy parade” (212). But given the reality of her marriage, she feels out of place amid the “riches and show” (213).

When Mrs. Vance takes Carrie to a matinee performance on Broadway, Carrie feels at home in the theater. As she returns home, the performance still playing her head, she is more discontented than ever with her life.

The next time Mrs. Vance takes Carrie to the theater, she is introduced to Mrs. Vance’s young cousin, Bob Ames, a graduate student in electrical engineering. Carrie is enchanted by Ames—he is genial, well-dressed, articulate, and so much younger than Hurstwood. With enthusiasm, he talks to Carrie about big ideas, which suggests that he respects her. When she returns to her flat, she does not join Hurstwood in bed but rather spends the night in her rocking-chair: “Through the fog of longing and conflicting desires, she was beginning to see” (223).