Sister Carrie

Now set up by Drouet, Carrie sees herself as compromised morally. The feeling is underscored when Drouet asks her to pretend to be his wife when she is to meet Hurstwood, even though his friend will know it is a pretense. Drouet begs her to play along, promising that he will marry her as soon as he completes a major real estate deal.

When Carrie meets Hurstwood, she is impressed. Drouet has begun to wear on her. She is “more clever than he in a hundred ways” (68). When the three play cards, Carrie and Hurstwood form an alliance and outplay a hapless Drouet. At Hurstwood’s invitation, they head to the theater. Hurstwood tells Drouet how intriguing Carrie is and how happy he would be to show her around town when Drouet is busy with work. 

Carrie dreams of becoming a better woman. She studies the fashion and hairstyles of other women. Listening to a neighbor play piano, Carrie wishes she knew how to play, seeing in piano an elegance and sophistication.

Hurstwood cannot stop thinking about Carrie, certain that the philandering womanizer Drouet is only stringing her along. It would be easy, he decides, to make Carrie his own.