Sister Carrie: Chapter 37 Summary & Analysis

Hurstwood’s funds are rapidly depleting and “in due time the last fifty dollars was in sight.” One day, Hurstwood hints to Carrie that they ought to spend less, as “all but a hundred” remains. Hurstwood looks “so disconsolate” that it scares Carrie, and she asks him to look for a position. Hurstwood replies that he “can’t do anything more than look.” Carrie begins to think about looking for a job, as “something must be done if he did not get work soon.”

A morning or two later, Carrie asks Hurstwood how people get on the stage. Hurstwood replies that “there must be dramatic agents” but is apprehensive that Carrie should get on the stage again, as he no longer thinks she has the potential to be an actress. To Hurstwood, Carrie seems “too simple, too yielding.” He expresses this apprehension to Carrie, who feels indignant, considering she “did real well in Chicago.” Hurstwood replies that there is a big difference between Chicago and New York. Carrie feels “slightly aroused” and “hurt.”

Hurstwood momentarily “[thinks] he [foresees] the result of this thing […] Carrie would get on the stage in some cheap way and forsake him.” Hurstwood underestimates Carrie because “he [does] not understand the nature of emotional greatness.” Hurstwood tells Carrie that acting is “not much of a profession for a woman.” Carrie retorts that “it’s better than going hungry” and that if Hurstwood does not want her to work, then he ought to get a job. Hurstwood indifferently tells Carrie to “let up.”

Carrie secretly resolves to get on the stage, thinking that she will not sacrifice herself and fall into poverty just to appease Hurstwood. Interestingly, Hurstwood also begins to think that Carrie ought to act, since the money she would earn would supplement his lack of income. Hurstwood tells Carrie that a friend is going to open a hotel and he’d get “fourteen hundred a year” if he could only get through the summer. He also relates that only fifty dollars remain and “maybe [Carrie] could get something in the stage line.” Carrie is glad that Hurstwood finally approves of the idea.

One morning, Carrie dresses neatly and heads for Broadway. She stops at the Madison Square Theater to ask for agents. The clerk tells her to look in the “Clipper,” a newspaper that advertises dramatic agents. Carrie purchases the paper and looks it over, but the streets where the agents reside are “a number of blocks off.” She returns home, “carrying the precious paper and regretting the waste of time." Hurstwood is at home and, upon seeing the paper, tells Carrie that he could have told her the addresses of the agents. Carrie asks, “Why didn’t you?” and Hurstwood responds, “You never asked me.”

Carrie looks through the paper, all the while distracted by Hurstwood’s indifference to her. Carrie tears up but does not cry. Hurstwood “[notices] something” and asks to look. Carrie hands him the paper and he writes three addresses of agents down for Carrie. Carrie immediately leaves to look for these agents and Hurstwood feels “some faint stirrings of shame.” Hurstwood sits a while but feels it to be “too much” and leaves the house, “strolling nowhere in particular.”

Carrie visits the first agent, Mrs. Bermudez, who tells Carrie that she “doesn’t know of anything” for a young lady with no legitimate acting experience. Carrie feels dejected but leaves her name with the office as “Mrs. George Wheeler.”

Carrie then visits the second agent, Mr. Jenks. After Carrie tells him that she’d “like to get a part in a play,” Mr. Jenks respond that “it’ll cost [her] something to do that.” As Carrie asks him regarding this payment, Mr. Jenks realizes that “he [is] dealing with an inexperienced soul” and tells her that she would “want to deposit fifty dollars.” Carrie feels hopeful but upon learning that it would take a week to a month to get a position, leaves with a “[half-smile] to be agreeable.”

Carrie considers selling her jewelry so that she could get fifty dollars. Carrie meets Hurstwood at home and tells him regarding her experiences, relating her need for fifty dollars. Hurstwood advises Carrie against paying the sum, “as if he were deciding, money in hand.” Carrie responds that she may “try some of the managers.” Hurstwood “[chews] at his finger,” defeated and “dead to the horror of [his condition].”