《嘉莉妹妹》中人物服饰的多重意蕴

Multiple Connotations of the Characters’ Garments in Sister Carrie

美国现代自然主义作家西奥多·德莱塞的小说《嘉莉妹妹》中的服饰具有多重意蕴:男性人物服饰象征着权力话语,女性人物服饰体现出男权文化对女性“他者”角色的规训。主人公嘉莉通过建构自己的服饰审美品位,改变了自己的生存空间,拓宽了包括心理、地理、物质和精神意义上的空间。服饰不仅成为嘉莉从底层向上层社会流动的工具,也是嘉莉精神力量的象征。通过服饰的改变,嘉莉在一定意义上确立了自我身份,获得了社会认同,实现了阶层跃迁,拓展了女性生存的边界。

In the modern American naturalist Theodore Dreiser’s novel Sister Carrie,garments have rich connotations:those of male characters symbolize their discourse of power,while those of female characters embody the discipline of patriarchal culture to women’s role of“the other”.By constructing her own aesthetic taste of garments,the female protagonist Carrie changes her living space and broadens her space in psychological,geographical,material and spiritual dimensions.In this sense,garments have not only become a tool for Carrie to realize the flow from the bottom to the upper social stratum,but also served as a symbol of Carrie’s spiritual strength.Through the transformation of her garments,to some extent,Carrie has established her self-identity,obtained social recognition,achieved class transition and expanded the boundaries of female survival.