sister carrie

Chapter 7 (1)

Chapter 4 Expenses in Fantasy: Facts Are Laughed at (1)
For the next two days Carrie was preoccupied with wild thoughts.

She fantasized idly about the privileges and entertainments she would have enjoyed had she been born as a baby in a wealthy family.With her long-planned intention and the bright choice in her mind, the small money of four and a half dollars a week was scattered through her agile and graceful hands.Yes, these days before going to bed every night, she sits in the rocking chair, looking at the bright lights and pleasant streets, and this sum of money gives the future owner all kinds of conveniences, and she enjoys all the most beloved pleasures of women . "I'm going to have a great time!" she thought to herself.

Her sister Minnie knew nothing of it, though all these extravagances gave her pleasure.She was busy in the kitchen and calculating how much she could get for Sunday lunch at eighty cents.When Carrie came home, her face flushed from her first victory, she was very tired, but she was cheerfully telling the ins and outs of the interesting things that had led to her success. Her sister just smiled with satisfaction and asked if she should Car fare is included.This account has not been included in the original.Counting it in now, it still won't affect her excitement too much.She was also happy, since she counted from the vantage point, and allowed subtractions from a number without feeling any diminution of the total.

When Han Sheng came home at seven o'clock, he felt a little awkward—this was his old temper before dinner.This is not manifested in what he said, but in the fact that he put on a straight face and remained silent.He had a pair of yellow woolen slippers, which he liked to wear, and replaced his stiff leather shoes as soon as he got home.Then I washed my face with the usual kind of soap and got it bright and red.These were the only preliminaries he did before dinner, after which he read the newspaper in silence.

It was a morbidity of character in a young man, and it had its effect on Carrie.Yes, it affected the atmosphere of the whole floor of the house.That's how it often is.This also makes the character of his wife form the characteristics of self-control and caution, so as to avoid being answered without words.He was somewhat brightened, however, under the influence of Carrie's announcement of hers.

"You're not missing time at all, are you?" he said, smiling slightly.

"No," replied Carrie, not without boastfulness.

He asked her a question or two, then went off to play with the boy, and dropped the question, only to be brought up again by Minnie at the dinner table.

Carrie, however, refused to descend to the usual level of conversation in a house on this floor.

"Looks like a big company," she said once. "Big windows, lots of clerks. The guy I met said they always hired lots of people."

"It's not too hard to find a job these days," interposed Hanson, "as long as you look good."

Under the influence of Carrie's high spirits and her husband's interesting conversation, Minnie told Carrie that there were some notable things to see--places to play at, which cost nothing.

"You'll like Michigan Avenue, nice house, nice street."

"Where's H. Le Jacobs's?" put in Carrie, asking about a theater specializing in romantic melodramas, as it was then called.

"Oh, it's not very far from here," replied Minnie, "on Halstedt Street right here."

"I'd love to see it. I walked down Holstedt Street today, didn't I?"

Speaking of which, he hesitated for a while when answering.Oddly enough, thoughts and emotions are the most contagious things.When it came to the theater, the shadow of disapproval of these things (again costing money)—a shadow of feeling that rose in Hanson's heart and then passed to Minnie—had no influence on the atmosphere at the dinner table. .Minnie answered, "Yes." But Carrie could tell right away that going to the theater was not encouraged here.The topic was put aside for a while, and after dinner, Han Sheng picked up the newspaper and went to the front room.

When only the two sisters were together, the conversation was more or less casual.While they were washing the dishes, Carrie hummed a few times.

"If Halstedt Street isn't very far, I'd like to go and see," said Carrie after a while. "Why don't we go to the theater to-night?"

"Oh, I don't think Sven wants to go tonight," Minnie replied. "He's got to get up early."

"He won't blame--he'll like it," said Carrie.

"No, he doesn't come often," answered Minnie.

"Oh, I want to go," said Carrie again, "you come with me."

Minnie thought about it, not whether she could or would go—for, for that matter, she had already denied it—but how to divert her sister's thoughts to other subjects.

"We'll go another time," she said after finding no ready excuse.

Carrie at once grasped the root cause of the objection.

"I have some money," she said, "you come with me."

Minnie shook her head.

"He can go with him," said Carrie.

"No," said Minnie softly, jingling the dishes to silence the conversation, "he won't be going."

Minnie only met Carrie a few years ago, and Carrie's personality has changed a bit in the past few years.She is always timid when it comes to self-motivation, especially when she has no strength or money.But her desire for pleasure was so strong that it became the dominant feature of her character.That's all she talks about, and she doesn't say anything about anything else.

"Ask him." She begged her sister softly.

What Minnie was thinking about was how much Carrie's income would be increased by boarding and lodging here.This can subsidize some rent.It would have been less difficult to talk to her husband about expenses, but it would have been difficult if Carrie had tried to move around from the start.Unless Carrie is willing to work hard all day, not just want to play.So what good will it do them if she enters the city this time? These thoughts are not callous at all.These ideas are nothing more than serious considerations, nothing more than a determination to work hard, adapt to the environment, and work hard to make a living.

Finally, she agreed to ask Han Sheng.It was a half-hearted remark, and she herself was not enthusiastic.

"Carrie wants us to go to the theater," she said, looking in at her husband.Han Sheng raised his head from the newspaper, and the two exchanged gentle glances, apparently saying, "This is not what we were looking forward to."

"I don't want to go," he replied, "what does she want to see?"

"Her Le Jacob's family," said Minnie.

He buried his head in the newspaper, shaking his head.

Carrie saw their way of life more clearly from their reaction to her proposal.This annoyed her, though she didn't express any obvious displeasure.

"I want to go down and stand on the stairs for a while." After a while, she said.

Minnie made no objection to this.Carrie put on her hat and went downstairs.

"Where's Carrie?" asked Hanson.When he heard the door close, he walked into the dining room.

"She said go to the landing," replied Minnie. "I see, she just wanted to see for a while."

"She shouldn't be thinking of paying for the theater now, don't you think?" he said.

"I think she's just a little curious," said Minnie. "Everything is new."

"I don't understand," said Hanson, bending over the baby, whose brow was already wrinkled a little.

He thought of a young girl's tendency to indulge in a life of pomp and waste, and wondered how Carrie, who had so little money to spend, should go in this way.

On Saturday Carrie went out alone--towards the river first, which interested her very much.Then I turned back and walked along Jackson Street, which was lined with beautiful houses and lawns, making the street a boulevard.She was quite tempted by these rich styles, although perhaps no one on this street owns furniture worth more than 10 yuan.She was happy when she walked out of the house, because she felt that this place was narrow and monotonous, and that the joy lay elsewhere.Her thoughts at the moment were rambling, and while she was thinking about this, she wondered where Drouet had gone.She didn't know, but maybe he'd come to see her on Monday night.She was a little disturbed by the possibility, but also a little hopeful.

On Monday, she got up early to go to work.She wore an old blue-dot cotton shirt, a faded buff serge skirt, and a little straw hat that she had worn all summer in Columbia.The shoes are old and the tie is wrinkled from wearing it for a long time.She was dressed like an ordinary shop girl, except for her appearance, which was slightly stronger than ordinary people, sweet, reserved, and pleasing.

Carrie always slept until seven or eight o'clock at home, and it was not easy to get up early.When she was half asleep, she looked into the dining room at six o'clock and saw Hansheng finishing his breakfast in silence, and she saw something of his character in it.By the time she was dressed he was out, and she, Minnie, and the child had breakfast together, and the child had just been able to sit in the high chair, take a spoon, and stir the dishes.Now she was going to do a job she had never done before, and the thought of it made her lose her spirits. All her fantasies were now only a few ashes-but in these ashes, perhaps A few remaining ashes of hope are buried.She was so depressed that she ate breakfast in silence, imagining everything about the shoe company, the nature of the work, the attitude of the boss.She had a vague feeling that she would meet the big bosses, that dignified and stylishly dressed people sometimes visited her place of work.

"Well, good luck to you," said Minnie, as Carrie was about to go in, and they decided it would be best to go on foot, at least this morning, and see if I could do it every day—the fare was six cents a week. , which is quite a number in the current situation.

"What it is, I'll tell you to-night," said Carrie.

Once on the sun-lit avenue, workers came and went, horse-drawn streetcars drove past, and the carts were crowded with small clerks and handymen in the large wholesale stores, and men and women came out and walked through the neighborhood. In this way, Carrie felt somewhat more at ease.In the morning when the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and the wind is blowing, what fear can hide but the most dangerous thing? At night, or in a darkened room by day, fears and doubts are easy to breed, but as soon as they come In broad daylight, sometimes even the fear of death disappears.

Carrie went straight on, crossed the river, then turned and walked on Fifth Street.The avenue in this section is like a canyon of brown stone and deep red brick.The big windows are bright and clean.Trucks rumbled by, more and more.Men, women and children moved in all directions.She met girls her own age who looked at her as if they disdained her for her shyness.Life is so grand, she thought.I also thought about how important it is to have more knowledge in order to do anything.I am deeply worried that I will not do well.I am deeply afraid that I will not be able to do it, and I will not do it well.Isn't it precisely because she doesn't know anything that she is rejected everywhere? She will be reprimanded, scolded, and even fired in shame.

She came to the big shoe company on the corner of Adam Street and Fifth Avenue, and when she stepped into the elevator, her knees were weak and her breath was out of breath.When I got out of the elevator on the fourth floor, there was no one around, but I saw rows of boxes in the corridor, piled up to the ceiling.She stood there, terrified, waiting for someone to come.

Mr. Brown came at once, and he did not seem to recognize her.

"What do you want?" he asked.

Carrie's heart sank.

"You said you wanted me to come and see the work this morning—"

"Oh," he interrupted her, "um—well? What's your name?"

"Carrie Meebe."

"Oh," he said, "you come with me."

(End of this chapter)