How Did Theodore Deiser Write Sister Carrie Chemism

Theodore Dreiser often incorporated traits of his own life experiences in his writing. At an early age, Dreiser’s life was impacted with many family hardships. His father struggled to maintain employment and his family often battled with economic instability. They relocated many times and Dreiser received very few educational opportunities. This is similar to Sister Carrie in the story when she leaves her mother and father and their village to head up to Chicago to see her sister, at the age of eighteen. In the late 1890s, after reading the philosophies of multiple scientists, Dreiser acknowledged that there was no true meaning or purpose in life. For example, even though Caroline Meeber thought she had everything in life, she still had a sense of meaningless on the inside. Dreiser described the term mechanism as “chemisms”. Dreiser used “chemism” to explain that all human behavior was because of chemical or physical science. He concluded that life, personality, emotions, and needs were all chemisms

Many of Dreiser’s ideas were seen as too realistic and despairing for its audience. The book’s publication was halted after a senior representative in a publication firm, named Frank Doubleday, expressed his disapproval on it. Doubleday felt that a book with such indecency and immoral ideas would not sell to the general public. After appealing the firm’s decision, Dreiser managed to have 1000 copies of his novel printed and listed on the market. Despite his attempts, Dreiser’s novel still remained unpopular. There were many negative reviews written on the book, and many people criticized the content of the book. Dreiser still kept his hopes high for the novel and continued to have copies printed, and over the years, his novel finally gained recognition from the public, and it eventually landed a spot on Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels