Social Determinism and Blind Fate in McTeague and Sister Carrie In the nineteenth century, many writers were influenced by several theories. One of these theories is the theory of social determinism. Social determinism is a belief in the central nature of people whose society has a strong effect to shape their characters according to their needs. Frank Norris and Theodore Dreiser, considered as Naturalist writers, have employed the theory of determinism in their works. Both of them argue that people have shaped by certain social forces, and these social forces play an important role to control people’s fate. Frank Norris’s McTeague is set in San Francisco, California, in poor neighborhoods populated by lower-class and middle class residents. It is about McTeague who is much in love with Trina and wants to marry her. At the end of the story, this relationship breaks down into violence and death. On the other hand, Sister Carrie is a story of an ordinary girl, Carrie Meeber, who is from a lower-middle class. Carrie leaves her parents and her small Midwestern town. She travels to Chicago to get a new job. She believes that she can achieve her dreams and be a famous actress. After Carrie meets Hurstwood, her life changes and becomes a well-known actress in New York. Both Frank Norris’s McTeague and Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie examine the theory of social determinism and how this theory manipulates characters’ desires to achieve their dreams. Norris