In What Respect Can Theodore Dreiser’s Character Caroline Meeber Be Called a Typical Picaresque Heroine?

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 2,3 (B), University of Stuttgart (Institute for American Studies), course: American Studies Advanced Seminar: American Picaresque Fiction, 8 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Caroline Meeber is one of the most fascinating characters American author Theodore Dreiser ever came up with. The life sequences she goes through have got a picaresque dimension comparable with the bildungsroman. I want to examine in how far those picaresque elements are of deep importance for the work itself. Is this Dreiser novel a real picaresque masterpiece or does he only use certain features of the respective genre?