THE NOVEL I AM READING

    I began to read another novel, SISTER CARRIE, by Theodore Dreiser. It is a tougher task than THE GODFATHER, but an easier job than LORD JIM.

    As one of the representative masterworks of Theodore Dreiser's , SISTER CARRIER is widely acknowledged as a great accomplishment.

    What impressed me most is not the words or the plot, but what Dreiser described the job-hunting experience of Sister Carrier. Like what Dreiser put it a waif, Sister Carrier wandered in the street of Chicago seeking a job. Most of what she met was polite declination, there were also some ruthless rebuff. The poor thing, feeling so much frustrated and discouraged, finally managed to find one with so meager pay.

    Despite that fact that Carrier humbled herself so much, from time to time she met with rude and impatient remarks made by the bosses of the department stores. unlike the prosperous economy in Chicago now, the working conditions of the people there were only too pathetic. I don't know whether it was at the stage of the primitive development.

    Job chances were so rare that it was so difficult for Carrier to find one.