| Abstract (in English) | 第5-6页 |
| Abstract (in Chinese) | 第7-9页 |
| Acknowledgements | 第9-12页 |
| Introduction | 第12-19页 |
| Chapter Ⅰ: The American Dream with a Deep Root in America | 第19-30页 |
| 1.1 A brief review of the American Dream | 第19-21页 |
| 1.2 The origin and evolution of the American Dream | 第21-24页 |
| 1.3 The reflection of the American Dream in the history of American literature | 第24-30页 |
| Chapter Ⅱ: The Disillusioned American Dream in Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy | 第30-47页 |
| 2.1 The "vague" American Dream of Carrie and Clyde | 第31-35页 |
| 2.2 Carrie and Clyde's degenerated dream | 第35-45页 |
| 2.3 The illusion of the American Dream | 第45-47页 |
| Chapter Ⅲ: The Consumer Culture: A Primary Cause of the Disillusioned American Dream | 第47-71页 |
| 3.1 A brief introduction to the consumer culture | 第47-50页 |
| 3.2 The reflections of the consumer culture in the two novels | 第50-64页 |
| 3.2.1 Clothes and residence--the signs of wealth, social status, and identity | 第51-59页 |
| 3.2.2 Women's roles as consumers and the consumed | 第59-62页 |
| 3.2.3 The conspicuous consumption enjoyed by the leisure class | 第62-64页 |
| 3.3 Consumer culture's negative impacts | 第64-71页 |
| 3.3.1 The swell of desire | 第66-68页 |
| 3.3.2 The alienation of human nature | 第68-71页 |
| Chapter Ⅳ: Dreiser's Complicated Outlook on Life in the Consumer Culture Context | 第71-77页 |
| 4.1 An American Dream pursuer | 第71-72页 |
| 4.2 Critical attitude toward the American Dream | 第72-74页 |
| 4.3 An earnest practitioner of the consumer culture | 第74-75页 |
| 4.4 Doubts about the consumer culture | 第75-77页 |
| Conclusion | 第77-80页 |
| Works Cited | 第80-82页 |
