Character guide

Caroline Meeber

major

Also known as Carrie, Sister Carrie, Carrie Madenda, Caddie, Miss Madenda

Carrie arrives in the city with little more than nervousness and appetite, and the men who help her — Drouet, then Hurstwood — quickly become the terms on which she eats, dresses, and lives. Her defining tension is between a pliant, imitative nature that mirrors whoever surrounds her and a dawning hunger for a self she can call her own. When Hurstwood's money runs out and his gloom fills their shrinking flat, she begins to see the stage less as a fantasy than as the one door she might open herself.

George Hurstwood

major

Also known as Mr. Hurstwood, Hurstwood, the manager

Hurstwood is the well-dressed, well-liked manager of Fitzgerald and Moy's, a man whose whole standing rests on appearances he can no longer afford to keep. His affair with Carrie forces him into lies at home and a slow, humiliating slide from manager to dependent, a man who talks of breaking free while his money and nerve drain away. By the time the flat shrinks to four rooms on Thirteenth Street, he has become the thing he most feared: a gloomy, jobless husband whose decline measures exactly how far Carrie has come.

Charles Drouet

supporting

Also known as Charlie Drouet, Charlie, Charley, Mr. Drouet, Charles

Drouet is the drummer who spots Carrie on the train to Chicago, buys her a meal, and later sets her up in a flat with the easy generosity of a man who never quite counts the cost. He is vain, breezy, and genuinely fond of her, but his real gift to the story is accidental: his casual praise of her dramatic ability kindles the ambition that will eventually outgrow him. He believes he is doing Carrie a favor; the novel quietly shows him lighting a flame he cannot control.

Julia Hurstwood

supporting

Also known as Mrs. Hurstwood, Mrs. Julia Hurstwood

Mrs. Hurstwood presides over the family's respectable Chicago home with a sharp eye for status and a sharper tongue for her husband's shortcomings. Her suspicion of his absences and her determination to protect her own position push the marriage toward open warfare, forcing Hurstwood to choose between the life he has built and the desire pulling him elsewhere. She matters because she is the pressure that makes his fall inevitable — not a villain, but a woman defending the only ground she has.

Jessica Hurstwood

minor

Also known as Jessica

Hurstwood and Julia's fashionable daughter who cares little for her father.

George Hurstwood Jr.

minor

Also known as George, young George, George Jr.

Hurstwood's son who works at a Chicago department store.

Minnie Hanson

minor

Also known as Minnie

Carrie's older sister who lives with her husband in Chicago.

Sven Hanson

minor

Also known as Hanson, Mr. Hanson

Minnie's stern and frugal husband who disapproves of Carrie.

Mrs. Vance

supporting

Also known as the young Mrs. Vance, the dashing Mrs. Vance

Mrs. Vance lives one floor away in the same respectable building, but her flat, her playing, and her manner belong to a more luxurious world that Carrie studies with hungry attention. Their acquaintance begins with a forgotten key and grows into visits, card games, and theater outings that teach Carrie how the comfortable live. She is not cruel, only oblivious, and that is precisely her function: she shows Carrie the standard against which her own shrinking circumstances will look unbearable.

Mr. Vance

minor

Also known as Vance, the portly Vance

Mrs. Vance's wealthy husband who enjoys socializing.

Lola

supporting

Also known as Lo, little Lola

Lola is the little actress who shares a room with Carrie when the chorus pay starts coming in, quick to celebrate a notice and quicker to warn her to save for the summer. She is generous with praise and practical about money, and her easy pleasure in clothes, suppers, and carriage rides pulls Carrie into the metropolitan whirl. She matters because she makes Carrie's stage success feel real and social rather than solitary — the first person who treats her as a working actress rather than a kept woman.

Robert Ames

minor

Also known as Mr. Ames, Ames, young Ames

An intelligent young man who offers Carrie intellectual companionship.

Dr. Beale

minor

A physician who treats Hurstwood during his decline.

Harry Quincel

minor

Also known as Mr. Harry Quincel, Mr. Quincel, Quincel, Harrison

A theatrical manager who helps cast Carrie in a play.

Mr. Bamberger

minor

Also known as Bamberger, poor Bamberger, That fellow Bamberger

A theatrical figure involved in the production Carrie joins.

Mrs. Morgan

minor

A landlady who rents rooms to Carrie in New York.

Miss Osborne

minor

Also known as Little Osborne

A young actress in the same theatrical company as Carrie.

Mr. Withers

minor

The manager of the shoe factory where Carrie briefly works.

Moy

minor

Also known as Mr. Moy

A Chinese man who runs a laundry in New York.

Shaughnessy

minor

A neighbor who helps Hurstwood during a snowstorm.

Mrs. Hale

minor

A wealthy acquaintance of the Hurstwoods in Chicago.

Oeslogge

minor

Also known as grocer Oeslogge, Mr. Oeslogge

A grocer who extends credit to Hurstwood.

John B. Drake

minor

Also known as Drake

Owner of the Drake Hotel in Chicago.

Frank Hale

minor

Also known as Mr. Frank A. Hale, Hale, Mr. Hale

A wealthy Chicago businessman and friend of Hurstwood.

Sagar Morrison

minor

Also known as Morrison

A man who works at the theater.

Mrs. Wheeler

minor

Also known as Mrs. George Wheeler, Wheeler

A woman who rents a room to Hurstwood in New York.

Mr. Daly

minor

Also known as Daly

A friend of Hurstwood's at the Chicago saloon.

Pearl

minor

Also known as Poor Pearl

A young girl who works in the shoe factory with Carrie.

Fitzgerald

minor

Also known as Messrs. Fitzgerald

Co-owner of Fitzgerald and Moy's saloon in Chicago.

Laura

minor

A young woman Carrie meets at the theater in Chicago.

Harry McGarren

minor

Also known as McGarren

A theatrical manager involved in casting.

Dr. Norman McNeill Hale

minor

A doctor and friend of the Hurstwood family.

Mrs. Harrison

minor

Also known as Harris

A neighbor of the Hurstwoods in Chicago.

Olsen

minor

A worker at the shoe factory with Carrie.

Mr. Millice

minor

A man who interviews Carrie for a job.

Cargill

minor

A friend of Drouet's in Chicago.

Sven

minor

A Swedish worker at the shoe factory.

Hazenstab

minor

A man who hires Carrie for a chorus line.

Mr. Gray

minor

A manager at a Chicago department store.

Clark

minor

Also known as Miss Clark

A woman who works with Carrie at the shoe factory.

Frank Taintor

minor

Also known as Mr. Frank L. Taintor, Taintor

A young man who socializes with the Hurstwoods.

Bob

minor

A worker at the shoe factory.

Kitty

minor

A young woman Carrie meets in Chicago.

Eddie Fahrway

minor

A young man who works at a Chicago store.

Miss Palmer

minor

A woman who works at the shoe factory.

Blyford

minor

Also known as young Blyford, Mr. Blyford

A young man who socializes with the Vances.

Georgine

minor

A young woman in the theatrical company.

Hennessy

minor

A policeman who encounters Hurstwood.

Barney

minor

A bartender at Fitzgerald and Moy's saloon.

Kenny

minor

Also known as Mr. Kenny

A man who hires Carrie for a theatrical role.

Mrs. Bermudez

minor

Also known as the affable Mrs. Bermudez

A landlady who rents to Carrie in New York.

Elvers

minor

Also known as Miss Elvers

A young woman in the theatrical company.

Mr. McManus

minor

A man who hires Carrie for a job.

Martin

minor

A worker at the shoe factory.

Maggie

minor

A young woman who works with Carrie.

Caryoe

minor

A man who works at the theater with Carrie.

Partridge

minor

A man who works at the theater.

Herbert Crane

minor

A young man who socializes in Chicago.

Harry Burbeck

minor

A man who works at the theater.

McGregor

minor

A man who works at the theater.

James

minor

A worker at the shoe factory.

Hay

minor

A man who works at the theater.

Nat Goodwin

minor

A famous actor mentioned in the theater world.

Mayhew

minor

A man who works at the theater.

Mr. Barclay

minor

A man who interviews Carrie for a job.