sister carrie

Chapter 66 (1)

Chapter 38 Playing in the Demon's Cave: The Grim World Outside the Cave (1)
Carrie went out again the next day looking for an opportunity, and went to the Casino.She found it as difficult to get a job in the opera chorus as in any other.Good-looking women who can perform tricks are as easy to find as finding a workman who can wield a cross-shovel.She found that there were no other criteria for discriminating applicants other than the customary ones of beauty and stature.As for their insight and talent, it doesn't work at all.

"Where can I find Mr. Gray?" she asked a sullen porter at the gate of the Casino Theater.

"You can't see him right now, he's busy."

"Do you know when I can see him?"

"A prior appointment?"

"No."

"Well, then you have to ask in his office."

"Oh!" exclaimed Carrie, "where's his office?"

He told her the house number.

She knew it was useless to find him now.He won't be there.In addition, there is no other way but to use the free time to find opportunities.

Look elsewhere, and soon realize that it is futile.Mr. Darry never saw anyone except by prior appointment.Carrie waited for an hour in a dark office, regardless of all kinds of obstacles, before learning about this rule from the calm and indifferent Mr. Dunn.

"You have to write beforehand asking him to see you."

She just walked away.

At the Empire Theatre, she saw an unusually listless and indifferent group of people.Everything is covered with rich cloth covers, everything is very delicate, everything is particularly reserved.

At the Lyceum she went into a secluded little room under the stairs, with a carpeted floor and paneled walls.The reserved and indifferent attitude is vividly reflected in the conductors, porters and assistants of such eminent positions.

"Oh, to be very humble--to be very humble. Tell me what you want. Say it hastily, hurriedly, without a little pride. If in any case it doesn't give us Get in trouble and maybe we can see what we can do."

That's the mood in the Lyceum Theater -- the attitude of every manager's office in New York.The petty masters of these trades are indeed like noble lords in their own domains.

Carrie walked away exhausted, only more humiliated by her pain.

That evening Hurstwood heard the details of this exhausting and fruitless search.

"I didn't see anyone at all," said Carrie. "I just walked and walked and waited and waited."

Hurstwood just looked at her.

"I reckon you'd have to have some friends to get in," he went on worryingly.

Hurstwood saw the difficulty of the matter, but thought it not very difficult.Carrie was tired and depressed, but now she had to rest.He observed the world from the rocking chair, and felt that the bitterness of the world hadn't approached so quickly.There is still tomorrow.

Tomorrow comes, and another friend, and another tomorrow.

Carrie once saw the manager of the Casino Theater.

"Early next week," he said, "come on, I might move some people around then."

He was a big, fat man, overdressed and overfed.He judges women as others judge horses.Carrie was beautiful and personable.Even if she has little experience, she might as well put it in.Some of the bosses have suggested that among the extras, the group dancers are a little weaker in terms of beauty.

There are still a few days until the beginning of next week, and the beginning of next month is approaching.Carrie had never had such apprehensions in her mind.

"Were you really looking for work when you went out?" she asked Hurstwood one morning.This was the moment when she herself felt the most painful.

"Of course I did," he said sullenly, a little offended by the scorn of the insinuation.

"Right now," she said, "I'll do anything. It's the beginning of the month again."

She looked hopeless.

Hurstwood put down the newspaper and changed his clothes.

"I'll have to look for some work," he thought. "I'll have to see if there's a distillery that'll take me. But, if possible, I'd rather be a bartender."

This is a repeat of the old tour.After one or two minor setbacks, he was discouraged.

"It's no use," he thought, "you'd better go home."

Now that his money was dwindling, he began to notice his clothes, and it seemed to him that even his best clothes had become ordinary.It's so bitter to think about it.

After he had considered this, Carrie came in.

"I've been to a few vaudeville managers," she said aimlessly. "You've got to have an earlier program. They don't want any of them."

"I went to see a few winery people today," Hurstwood said, "and one of them said to me, try and find me a place in two or three weeks."

Seeing Carrie in such embarrassment he was compelled to show it, and so he did.This is nothing more than to push casualness into enthusiasm.

On Monday Carrie went again to the Casino.

"Did I tell you to come today?" said the manager, looking at Carrie standing before him.

"You're talking about Zhou Chulai," said Carrie shyly.

"Any experience?" he asked again, almost sternly.

Carrie admits she doesn't know anything.

As he flipped through some documents, he looked at her again.He was secretly pleased at such a beautiful, bewildered young woman. "Come to the theater tomorrow morning."

Carrie's heart was pounding in her throat.

"I'll come." She said it with difficulty.She can see it.He wants her.So he turned around and left.

"Is he really going to put me to work? Oh, thank God, is it true?"

The noise of the city outside the window suddenly felt pleasant.

A categorical sentence is an answer to the question in her heart, and it also dispels all her fears in this regard.

"Attention, you must be on time," said the manager in a gruff voice, "or you will be dismissed."

Carrie hurried away.Nor would she quarrel now about Hurstwood's idleness.She had a job—she had a job! The voice sang in her ears.

In the midst of her elation, she was anxious to tell Hurstwood.However, on the way home, she further expanded her thinking and reviewed the events of the matter, and she felt that she had been looking for a job for a few weeks, and he had been loitering for several months. There's something out of the ordinary here.

"Why not find something else to do?" she asked the question plainly to herself. "If I can, he can too. It's not hard."

She forgot her own youth, her own beauty, and in her excitement she could not see the barriers of age.

Successful people always talk like this.

She couldn't hide it either.She tried to be calm and poised, but it was a fake that could be seen through at a glance.

"Yeah." He said, looking at her relaxed face.

"I found a spot."

"You found it?" he said, with a sigh of relief.

"Yes."

"What kind of job?" he asked, thinking that he might find a good job himself now.

"Chorus dancers," she replied.

"Is that the Casino Theater you told me about?"

"Yes," she replied, "I start rehearsing tomorrow."

Carrie offered some more explanations, for she was happy.Hurstwood later said:
"Do you know how much money you can make?"

"No, I don't want to ask," said Carrie. "I suppose they pay twelve or fourteen dollars a week."

"I think it's about that," said Hurstwood.

There was a nice dinner in the house that night as the dreaded stress lifted.Hurstwood went out to shave and came back with a tender steak.

"Ah, to-morrow," he thought, "I'm going to look for it myself." He raised his eyes from the floor and hoped again.

Carrie reported punctually the next day, and was given a place in the parade of dancers.What she saw was an empty and dimly lit grand theater, with the lingering fragrance and style of last night, showing a luxurious oriental style.Such a wonderful sight made her feel awe, and it also made her love it.What a marvelous place this is.She had to work hard not to be unworthy.This is beyond the masses, idleness, poverty, and obscurity.People dressed in fashion and came to the theater in carriages.It has always been a center of light and joy.And she's a part of it now.Oh, how happy she would be if only she could stay here.

"What's your name?" the manager asked.He is in charge of the drill.

"Matonda," she answered.She remembered at once the name Drouet had chosen in Chicago, "Carrie Macdonda."

"Well, well, Miss Maconda," said he.To Carrie it sounded very kindly, "You go over there."

Then he called out a young woman who was already on the team.

"Miss Clark, you and Miss Maconda are a pair."

The young woman stepped out of the ranks, so that Carrie might know where to go.The rehearsal then resumed.

(End of this chapter)