Abstract:Sister Carrie and Tess of the d'Urbervilles are always the hot spots in research on English and American literature. Under the guidance of the theoretical framework of naturalism and pessimistic fatalism, this paper tries to make comparison and contrast between Carrie and Tess. Through detailed analysis of their different attitudes to love and life, different social environments, this paper finds the causes of the similar tragic endings of the two characters. According to this paper, though Carrie and Tess show unyielding struggle against their fates, their different social environments and the two authors’ pessimistic fatalism are major reasons for their tragedies .

Key words:Tess of the d'Urbervilles; Sister Carrie; fatalism

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要：

1.Introduction1

1. 1 Introduction to Theodore Dreiser and Sister Carrie

1. 2 Introduction to Thomas Hardy and Tess of the D’Urbervilles

2. Literature Review and Theoretical Framework..2

2.1 Literature Review

2.2 Theoretical Framework

3. A Comparative Study of Carrie and Tess4

3.1 Differences

3.1.1Different Attitudes to Life

3.1.2Different Attitudes to Love

3.1.3Different Social Environments

3.2 Similar Tragic Fate6

 3.2.1 Tess’s Tragedy

 3.2.2 Carrie’s Tragedy

4.Causes of Their Similar Tragic Fates7

4.1 Social factors

4.2 The Two Author’s Pessimistic Fatalism

5.Conclusion .....9

Bibliography.......11

Acknowledgments..12