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.
Questions About Compassion and Forgiveness
- Why doesn't Carrie sympathize with Hurstwood's failure to find a job considering she was in his exact same position earlier in the novel?
- Do the novel's depictions make readers sympathetic to the plight of the poor or not?
- What makes compassion difficult for characters in Sister Carrie?
- Should Carrie have done more to help the poverty-stricken Hurstwood?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
The narrator doesn't show much compassion for the novel's characters.
Neither poor nor rich characters are very compassionate in Sister Carrie.