Students
Teachers & SchoolsStudents
Teachers & SchoolsCompassion and Forgiveness
Compassion in Sister Carrie eventually becomes a matter of life and death; we might indeed argue that Hurstwood dies from a lack of compassion on the part of others. Characters' abilities (or inabilities, as the case may be) to sympathize with and show compassion for others are given quite a bit of emphasis throughout the novel. As the novel shows us, feeling compassion for others is often the easy part. Putting that feeling into action, however, is often a whole other matter.
The narrator doesn't show much compassion for the novel's characters.
Neither poor nor rich characters are very compassionate in Sister Carrie.