Chapter 6 Chapter 6 The Machine and the Maiden: The Modern Knight

When she got home that night, Carrie felt that the atmosphere in the apartment was different. Nothing had changed, but her mood had changed, which gave her a new understanding of the home. Affected by excitement from time to time, and now he is waiting to hear the good news, while Han Sheng thinks that Carrie should be content with having a job. "How was it?" he asked Carrie through the door, as he entered the hall in his overalls, and she was in the adjoining dining room, "how are you doing today?" "No," said Carrie, "it's too tiring, and I don't like it."

There was an air about her that expressed her weariness and disappointment more clearly than any words. "What's the job?" he asked, pausing for a moment before turning back into the bathroom. "Turn on a machine," answered Carrie. Apparently all he cared about was the fact that Carrie's wages would increase the family income, and nothing else. He was a little annoyed that Carrie, who had been so lucky to have a job, should be dissatisfied with it. Minnie cooked with less gusto than before Carrie came back, and the sizzling of the meat was not as pleasant as it had been: Carrie had already expressed her displeasure at work. As for Carrie, after a hard day The only consolation she longs for hereafter is a happy home, one that receives her with sympathy, a happy supper, and hearing someone say to her, "Well, hold on a little longer, and you'll Find a better job." But now it's all gone. She sees that they don't take her complaint seriously, they just want her to keep going without complaint. She knows she's going to pay four dollars for board and lodging Money. She felt that living with these people was too boring.

Minnie is not really a good companion to her sister... She is too old. Her thoughts are fixed, and she is content to conform to reality. As for Hanson, if he has any pleasant thoughts or happy emotions , at least not on the surface. His thoughts and feelings never show, he is as quiet as an unoccupied room. As for Carrie, her body is full of youthful blood, and her head is full of She is not in love yet, and love is still a mystery to her. She indulges in imagination, imagining things she wants to do, clothes she wants to wear, places she wants to visit. Her mind is full of This is what God thinks about. But here, no one mentions what she is interested in, and her emotions cannot be echoed, which makes her feel that everything is not going well.

Preoccupied with the events of the day, and explaining her work to her sister and her husband, she forgot the possibility of Drouet's visit. She wished he hadn't come. She didn't know what she would do, explain to him if Drouet came. She changed after supper. She was a lovely little girl when she was fully dressed, with With big eyes and a sad mouth, her face showed a complex expression of expectation, dissatisfaction and melancholy. After the dishes were put away, she wandered around the room for a while, chatted with Minnie, and then decided to go downstairs. She stood for a moment at the foot of the stairs. If Drouet came, she could meet him there. She put on her hat and went down, with a look of somewhat joy on her face.

"Carrie doesn't seem to like her job," Minnie told her husband when Hanson came up to sit in the dining room for a few minutes with the newspaper in his hand. "Anyway, she ought to work for a while," said Hanson. "Has she gone downstairs?" "Yes," she replied. "If I were you, I'd persuade her to go on. Otherwise, she might be out of work for weeks." Minnie promised to speak to Carrie. So Hanson went on reading his paper. "If I were you," he began again after a moment, "I wouldn't let her go downstairs and stand at the door. It's not proper for a girl to stand outside."

"I'll tell her," said Minnie. Carrie watched for a long time with interest the people who came and went on the street. She kept wondering where the people in the cars were going and what entertainment they had. Things to do with money. Grooming. Clothes. Entertainment. She sometimes thought of distant Columbia, or thought with regret of her day. But generally, the little world of the road around her attracted her full attention. Hanson's apartment was on the third floor, and the first floor was a bakery. Carrie was standing there when Hanson came downstairs to buy bread. She didn't notice him until he was beside her.

"I've come to buy bread," he said, as he approached Carrie. Thoughts are contagious, and that was shown again now. Though Hanson had indeed come down to buy bread, it occurred to him that now he could see what Carrie was up to. He had just approached She, she realized what he was thinking at once. Of course she herself didn't understand how she could think of it, but she began to hate him in her heart. She realized that she didn't like him because he was too suspicious. Thoughts affect one's perception of one's surroundings. Carrie's thoughts were interrupted, so that soon after Hanson went upstairs, she followed her. A quarter of an hour had passed, and she knew that Drouet would not be coming. For some reason she was somewhat displeased with Drouet, as if she were a dislike and an unworthy favor. She went upstairs. It was quiet upstairs, Minnie was sitting at the table, sewing by the light, and Hanson had gone to bed. Yes. Fatigue and disappointment made her not in the mood to talk, and she only said that she wanted to go to bed.

"Yes, you'd better go to bed," replied Minnie. "You have to get up early to-morrow." Carrie was not in a better mood the next morning. When she came out of her room, Hanson was going out. Minnie wanted to talk to her at breakfast, but there was nothing of common interest between them. Not much. Like the day before, Carrie walked to work. She had realized that her four-and-a-half dollars, after board and lodging, would not leave enough money for even the bus fare. Such an arrangement might be a sad one. , but the morning sun drove away the first doubts of the day: the morning sun always does.

In the shoe factory, she had survived a long day, not as tired as the day before, but the freshness was also much less than the day before. The foreman stopped by her machine when he was patrolling the workshop. "Where are you from?" he asked. "Employed by Mr. Brown," she replied. "Oh, he hired it." Then he added, "You've got to catch up and don't let people wait for you." The women workers made a worse impression on her than yesterday. They seemed resigned to their fate, and mediocre. Carrie had more imagination than them, and she was not used to foul language. In dress, her eyesight and Her taste is naturally superior to others. She doesn't like to listen to the female worker next to her, who can be said to be an old man.

"I don't intend to work here," the man was saying to the female worker beside him. "The wages here are so low, and I have to work so late every day. I can't bear it." They and the men in the workshop, young and old, were very casual, bickering and joking with each other with rude words. The rough words really startled her at first. She saw that they regarded her as one of the same kind, so she used the words the same tone. "Well," said a thick-armed shoe-sole worker to her during the noon break, "you're a pretty little beauty." He thought she'd answer him like the other girls: "Go away!" But Carrie Walking away without a word, he made fun of it, and walked away with an embarrassed grin.

That night in her sister's flat, she felt even more lonely... the dreary life was becoming more and more unbearable. She could see that the Hansons had few visitors, perhaps none at all. Standing at the street gate and looking out, she ventured a little outside. Her leisurely pace and air of idleness attracted attention, which, though exasperating, was in fact quite common. As she was walking, a well-dressed man in his thirties walked past her, looked at her, slowed down, then turned back and said to her: "Going for a walk tonight, aren't you?" Carrie was slightly taken aback by this initiative. She looked at him in amazement, and replied in a panic: "Well, I don't know you," drawing back as she spoke. "Oh, that's all right," replied the man kindly. She didn't dare to say anything more, and retreated in a hurry, and was out of breath when she fled to the door of her own house. There was something in the man's eyes that frightened her. The rest of the week was pretty much the same. One or two nights after get off work, she was too tired to walk and had to pay for a ride home. She wasn't strong, and sitting around working all day made her back sore. Pain. One night, she even went to bed earlier than Han Sheng. Transplanting flowers is often not successful, and the same is true for girls who change their environment. For transplanting to survive, there must be more fertile soil and a better growing environment. If Carrie did not change her life so drastically, but gradually Things might have been better if she hadn't found a job so quickly and had time to see more of the city she wanted to know. On the first rainy morning, she found herself Needed an umbrella. Minnie lent her one, an old faded umbrella. Carrie, vain in her mind, was troubled by the old umbrella. She went to a big department store and bought one. The new umbrella cost $1.25 out of her little savings. "What did you buy that for, Carrie?" said Minnie, seeing the new umbrella. "Well, I'll use it," said Carrie. "You are a silly girl." Carrie took Minnie's rebuke very lightly, but she said nothing. She didn't want to be an ordinary working girl, she thought, and they couldn't mistake her. On the first Saturday night, Carrie paid four dollars. Money for board expenses. When Minnie took the money, her conscience was very disturbed. But she dared not accept less money, because she would not be able to account to Han Sheng. The money was used for family expenses, and she thought about increasing investment to buy land. As for Carrie, she was thinking about how to use the remaining 50 cents to solve the problem of buying clothes and entertainment. At last she was too troubled to think about it any more. "I'll go for a walk in the street," she said after supper. "Aren't you going alone?" Han Sheng asked. "I'm going alone," answered Carrie. "I wouldn't go out alone if it were me," said Minnie. "I'd like to go and see," replied Carrie. The way she said those last words made them realize for the first time that she didn't like them. "What's the matter with her?" asked Hanson, as she went into the front room to fetch her hat. "I don't know," said Minnie. "She should know something, she can't run outside alone." But Carrie didn't go far in the end. She turned back and stood at the door. The next day they went to Garfield Park to play, but Carrie didn't have a good time. She looked bad. The next day in the workshop , she heard the working girls elaborating on their trivial pastimes. They had a good time on Sunday. Then it rained for several days, and Carrie ran out of car money. One evening when she left work, she went to Van Buren She got wet all over the street when she took the tram. All night, she sat alone in the front room looking out at the street, and the lights reflected on the wet road. The more she thought about it, the more depressed she felt. On the second Saturday, she again Paid 4 yuan. When she pocketed the remaining 50 cents, she felt hopeless. She and some of the women workers in the workshop were now acquainted and could talk a few words together. From their conversation, she Knowing that they kept themselves out of their wages for more money than she did, and they had boys to take them out with. But those boys were the kind of people Carrie had dismissed since she knew Drouet. She hated those Frivolous young workers, none of them behaved elegantly. Of course, all she saw was this side of them when they were usually working. Finally one day, the first cold current, which foretells the coming of severe winter, invaded the city. The cold wind caused white clouds to gallop in the sky, and the smoke from the tall chimneys made the wind blow into thin banners, which floated far away Far away. The wind was raging on the corner of the street. Carrie was now faced with the problem of winter clothes. What was she to do? She had no winter coat, hat, shoes. It was hard to tell Minnie about it, but she finally Mustered up the courage. "I don't know what to do with my winter coat," she began one evening when they were together; "I need a hat." Minnie looked serious. "Then why don't you save a little money and buy one?" she suggested, but she wondered what would happen to Carrie when she underpaid. "I'd like to pay a little less for a week or two, if you don't mind," said Carrie tentatively. "Can you pay two dollars?" Carrie hastily nodded her assent. She was delighted to be free from this embarrassing question. Relieved that the winter clothes had been settled, she immediately began to calculate with enthusiasm. She needed to buy a hat first. As for Minnie Explained to Han Sheng, she never asked. He didn't say anything, but from the atmosphere in the room, it could be seen that he was very unhappy. The new arrangement would have been possible if illness had not interrupted it. Carrie had not yet had a coat when it picked up a cold wind after the rain one afternoon. Coming out of the warm workshop at six o'clock, the cold wind blew her up and shivered. The next morning she started sneezing, which was aggravated by going to work in the city. That day her bones ached and she felt light-headed. By evening, she felt very ill. When she came home, she had no appetite. No. Minnie noticed her languid look, and asked her what was the matter. "I don't know," said Carrie, "I feel bad." She curled up by the stove, shivering with cold. When she went to bed, she was quite ill. The next morning she had a high fever. Minnie was very worried about it, but she was always very gentle. Hanson said that maybe she should go back to live for a while. When she was able to get up three days later, of course she had lost her job. Winter was coming, and she had no winter clothes. , and now she is unemployed again. "I don't know what to do," said Carrie; "I'll see if I can get some work on Monday." Her search for work this time, if anything, turned out to be worse. Her clothes were not at all suitable for autumn, and the last little money was spent on a hat. For three days, she was in the Walking around in the street was dingy. The atmosphere at Minnie's house soon became unbearable, and she was afraid to go back there every evening. Hansheng looked very cold. She knew that the present situation could not last long, and soon Soon she had to give up everything and pack her bags and go home. On the fourth day, she was running around the business district all day, borrowing a dime from Minnie to eat lunch on the street. She went to the cheapest places to apply for jobs, and still Nothing came of it. She even applied for a job as a waitress in a small restaurant, but they wanted inexperienced girls. She was walking among a crowd of strangers, completely discouraged. Suddenly someone took her arm and made her turn around. "Hello, hello," was called to her. She saw at once that it was Drouet. He was not only looking good, but glowing, the very embodiment of sunshine and joy. "How are you, Carrie?" He said, "You're such a beauty. Where have you been?" His kindness was such an irresistible current that Carrie could not help smiling. "I'm going out for a walk," she said. "You see," he said, "I saw you across the road, and I guessed it was you. I was going up to you when I came out. Anyway, how are you?" "I'm all right," said Carrie, smiling. Drouet looked her up and down, and saw a change in Carrie. "Well," he said, "I want to talk to you. Where are you going?" "Not at present," said Carrie. "Then let's go up there and get something to eat. My God, it's such a pleasure to see you." Carrie felt at ease in the company of the cheerful Drouet, and felt that she was cared for and cared for, so that she agreed to his proposal cheerfully, though with a little reserve. "Come," he said, taking her arm. He said it with such affection that it warmed her heart. They crossed Monroe Street and came to the Old Windsor Restaurant. It was a large and comfortable restaurant, with excellent cooking and friendly service. Drouet chose a table by the window, from which he could see the street. Noisy scene. He likes the ever-changing street scene. While eating, he looks at the pedestrians, and at the same time lets the pedestrians see himself. "Well," he began, when Carrie and himself were comfortably seated, "what would you like to eat?" Carrie looked at the large menu which the waiter handed her, and did not think of ordering anything. She was very hungry, and the items on the menu whetted her appetite, but she noticed that the prices on it were very expensive." Chicken . . . seventy-five cents; tender steak with mushrooms . . . $1.25." She had heard vaguely about these things, but ordered them off the menu Dishes are a little weird. "I'll have some," cried Drouet. "Hello, waiter." The waiter was a broad-chested, round-faced negro. He approached the table and listened to orders. "Tender steak with mushrooms," said Drouet, "stuffed tomatoes." "Yes," answered the Negro with a nod. "Potato Bolognese." "yes." "asparagus." "yes." "One more pot of coffee." Drouet, turning to Carrie, said: "I haven't had anything since breakfast. I just got back from Rock Island. I was going to lunch when I saw you." Carrie laughed and laughed happily. "What have you been doing?" he went on, "tell me about yourself. How is your sister?" "She's very well," said Carrie. She only answered his last question. He looked at her carefully. "I said," he went on, "you're sick, aren't you?" Carrie nodded. "Oh, that's too bad, isn't it? You don't look well. I thought you were a little pale just now. What are you doing?" "At work," said Carrie. "Really! Where?" She told him. "Ross Moss . . . I know that firm. It's on Fifth Avenue, isn't it? It's a stingy firm. Why do you work there?" "I can't find another job," confessed Carrie. "It's a disgrace," said Drouet. "You shouldn't work for a man like that. Their factory is right behind the high store, isn't it?" "Yes," said Carrie. "That's a bad business," said Drouet. "In any case, you shouldn't be working there." He talked on and on, asking this and that, talking about himself, telling her how wonderful the restaurant was, until the waiter came back with a big tray of the delicious food he had just ordered , still steaming. Drouet was very good at serving dishes. He sat behind a table covered with a white cloth and silver plates, with his arms outstretched, his knife and fork in the air, and he cut the meat with his knife. His rings were shining brightly and conspicuously. When he reached for a plate, torn bread, or poured coffee, his new clothes whistled. He brought Carrie a large plate full of food. , and with such a warm attitude, it made Carrie feel warm and made her a completely different person. He was indeed what people usually think of as a beautiful character, so he completely fascinated Carrie. The little knight in pursuit of happiness accepted this new good fortune without shame. She felt a little uneasy, but the large dining room reassured her, and the sight of the gorgeously dressed people outside the window seemed refreshing. Ah! , how distressed it is to have no money! What a pleasure to have money to dine here! Drouet must be lucky. Nice place to dine. He looked a real man, and she was amazed that such a man should show her friendship and concern. "So you lost your job because you were sick, didn't you?" he said. "What are you going to do now?" "Looking for work everywhere," she answered, and a trace of sadness flashed in her eyes at the thought of the necessity of earning a living, waiting like a hungry dog ​​in hot pursuit outside the grand dining room. "Oh, no!" said Drouet, "how can that be? How long have you been looking?" "Four days," she replied. "Think about it!" he said, speaking as if addressing someone who had doubts. "You shouldn't be doing this kind of thing. These girls," he said with a wave of his hand, all the shopgirls and The female workers are all included, "It won't be of much value. You can't live on it, can you?" His manner was like a brother's. When he had had enough of the thought of drudgery, his thoughts turned to other things. Carrie was so pretty, and even in her modest dress she was of a remarkable figure, and her eyes were large. And tender. Drouet looked at her, and looked at her. She felt his admiration. His admiration, combined with his generosity, his cheerfulness, made her think she was in love with him. . . She would She has always liked him so much. There is an undercurrent of emotion in her heart that is deeper than liking. Their eyes meet from time to time, exchanging and communicating their feelings. "You will stay in the center and go to the theater with me, will you?" he said, moving his chair closer to the table, which was not very large. "Well, I can't," she said. "What are you doing tonight?" "It's all right," she said gloomily. "You don't like where you live now, do you?" "I do not know either." "What are you going to do if you can't find a job?" "Go back home, I suppose." There was hardly a tremor in her voice when she said this. Somehow he had such an influence on her. They understood each other without speaking...he understood her situation and she understood the fact that he understood it . "No," he said, "you can't go back." For a moment he was filled with real sympathy. "Let me help you, and I'll give you money." "Oh, no!" she said, leaning back. "Then what do you do?" he asked. She just shook her head as she sat there in thought. He looked at her very tenderly, very tenderly for his nature. In the vest pocket of his suit were some loose bills... green dollar bills. They were soft without rustling. His fingers took the notes and squeezed them in the palm of his hand. "Come," he said, "I'll help you out. Get yourself some clothes." It was the first time he had mentioned the subject of clothes, and it reminded her of her poor clothes. He hit the point in his own direct way. Her lips trembled a little. Her hand was on the table. There was no one else in the corner where they were sitting. He put his large, warm hand on hers. "Come, Carrie," said he, "what can you do alone? Let me help you." He held her hand tenderly, and she wanted to pull it out, but he held it tighter. So she stopped resisting, and he stuffed the banknotes in her hand into her palm. When she wanted to refuse, he Whispered in the ear: "For what I lent you...that's all right. For what I lent you." He forced her to take it. She felt now a bond of affection which bound them together. He talked as they came out of the restaurant, and walked with her as far south as Bourke Street. "You don't want to live with those people?" he asked, thinking, as they walked. Carrie heard his question, but paid little attention to it. "Come and see me downtown to-morrow, won't you?" said he, "and we'll go to the afternoon play together." Carrie balked for a while, but finally agreed. "You don't do anything. Buy yourself a nice pair of shoes and a coat." She hardly thought about her embarrassing situation. It didn't start to bother her until after the breakup. With him, she shared his optimism that everything would work out. "Don't worry about those people," he said at parting, "I'll help you." Carrie felt as if, as she left him, a strong arm was stretched out to drive her all trouble away. She accepted two limp, pretty green ten-dollar bills.