在德莱塞的小说《嘉莉妹妹》中,嘉莉看似在以非道德的方式获得舒适、富足的生活,但她自始至终没有堕落。她一步步实现自己的渴望却并不满足,她的不满足实际上是对生活美和高尚精神生活的追求。德莱塞通过艾姆斯大胆地批评挥霍性消费现象,引导嘉莉去思考物质追求的意义,这是德莱塞对化解消费社会中人们对物质与精神追求矛盾,最终到达理想境界的探索。艾姆斯正是德莱塞探索人生意义的一个“新青年”的代表。他的短暂出现使嘉莉的形象更加丰满和立体,反映了德莱塞理想主义的一面。德莱塞是一位思想复杂并呈动态变化的伟大作家,这主要归因于他对人生孜孜以求、对人类精神归宿的探寻和生命意义的思索。 In Dreiser’s novel Sister Carrie, Carrie appears to be enjoying a comfortable and affluent life in an unethical manner, but she has not fallen from beginning to end. She is not satisfied with her desire to realize her step by step. Her dissatisfaction is actually the pursuit of beautiful life and noble spiritual life. Dreiser boldly criticized the consumption of sex consumption through Ames, and guided Carrie to think about the significance of material pursuit. This was Dreiser’s exploration of the contradiction between material and spiritual pursuit in the consumer society and finally the ideal state. Ames is the representative of Dreiser exploring the meaning of life in a “new youth.” His brief appearance made Carrie’s image fuller and more stereoscopic, reflecting Dreiser’s idealistic side. Dreiser was a great writer with complicated thoughts and dynamic changes, which was mainly attributed to his devotion to life, the search for the spiritual end of humanity and the contemplation of the meaning of life.