“Many individuals are so constituted that their only thought is to obtain pleasure and shun responsibility. They would like, butterfly-like, to wing forever in a summer garden, flitting from flower to flower, and sipping honey for their sole delight. They have no feeling that any result which might flow from their action should concern them. They have no conception of the necessity of a well-organized society wherein all shall accept a certain quota of responsibility and all realize a reasonable amount of happiness. They think only of themselves because they have not yet been taught to think of society. For them pain and necessity are the great taskmasters. Laws are but the fences which circumscribe the sphere of their operations. When, after error, pain falls as a lash, they do not comprehend that their suffering is due to misbehavior. Many such an individual is so lashed by necessity and law that he falls fainting to the ground, dies hungry in the gutter or rotting in the jail and it never once flashes across his mind that he has been lashed only in so far as he has persisted in attempting to trespass the boundaries which necessity sets. A prisoner of fate, held enchained for his own delight, he does not know that the walls are tall, that the sentinels of life are forever pacing, musket in hand. He cannot perceive that all joy is within and not without. He must be for scaling the bounds of society, for overpowering the sentinel. When we hear the cries of the individual strung up by the thumbs, when we hear the ominous shot which marks the end of another victim who has thought to break loose, we may be sure that in another instance life has been misunderstood--we may be sure that society has been struggled against until death alone would stop the individual from contention and evil.”
Quote by Theodore Dreiser
Work
Sister Carrie is a seminal work of American literature, exploring themes of ambition, social mobility, and the complexities of urban life. The story follows the protagonist, Carrie Meeber, as she navigates the challenges and opportunities presented by the bustling cities of the Midwest during the late 19th century. more
Author
Theodore Dreiser was a prominent American novelist known for his profound social realism. His works often focused on the lives and moral dilemmas of the American middle class, with notable novels including 'The Financier' and 'An American Tragedy'. Dreiser's writing style had a significant impact on 20th-century American literature. more
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“Niemand ist hoffnungsloser versklavt als jene, die fälschlicherweise glauben, frei zu sein.”
“I find that the world is changing much, much faster than I can even bitch about it.”