"(1) Under the mandatory code of decency, the time and effort of the members of such a household are required to be ostensibly all spent in a performance of conspicuous leisure, in the way of calls, drives, clubs, sewing-circles, sports, charity organisations, and other like social functions.... (2) Under the requirement of conspicuous consumption of goods, the apparatus of living has grown so elaborate and cumbrous, in the way of dwellings, furniture, bric-a-brac, wardrobe and meals, that the consumers of these things cannot make way with them in the required manner without help. Personal contact with the hired persons whose aid is called in to fulfil the routine of decency is commonly distasteful to the occupants of the house, but their presence is endured and paid for..."
What happens to family life under these circumstances – where the husband must provide for the conspicuous leisure of wife, son and daughter – can well be imagined. Mrs. Hurstwood is the mirror-image of Carrie – the former, too, at one time, had been a desirable love-object. Now, her place has been taken over by Carrie – but Carrie soon comes to occupy the same place. She abandon's Hurstwood, as Mrs. Hurstwood abandons her husband, when he can no longer be relied on to provide.
Feminists at this point will rub their hands with glee. If only women would work, things would be better. Women do work in certain societies and are financially independent there. Indeed, Carrie becomes entirely independent and rich – as an actress. It is fitting that she finds wealth in the kind of activity that the leisure class holds valuable. Acting is not industry. So Dreiser was aware that female emancipation would not mend the matter. The ideal of family life would be crushed, no matter what.
"A lovely home atmosphere is one of the flowers of the world, than which there is nothing more tender, nothing more delicate, nothing more calculated to make strong and just the natures cradled and nourished within it. Those who have never experienced such a beneficent influence will not understand wherefore the tear springs glistening to the eyelids at some strange breath in lovely music. The mystic chords which bind and thrill the heart of the nation, they will never know."
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