Try as you might to be a corporate agitator, you will become a corporate shill. Theodore Dreiser delivers this grim message in “The Toil of the Laborer” (1913), a journalistic depiction of his predicament working for a “great corporation . . . a vast lever,” otherwise known as the New York Central Railroad (“Toil” 20). Employed as a manual laborer, Dreiser observes how the wealthy corporation relies on “unjust exaction” from its workers, a dynamic he vows to combat if opportunity knocks (22). Yet, when promoted from laborer to foreman, Dreiser breaks his moral promise, working his men just as hard as his foreman worked him. The reason is not ignorance, denial, or befuddling of his ethical compass; he still sees that “in so far as the corporation was concerned,” the laborers were “mere machines” for exploitation. Nor is the problem his will or intention, since he tries “to adjust [his] new relationship to the ideal which [he] had held before [him]self,” while complying with the company’s rules. Instead, Dreiser struggles with how to avoid performing the role of replaceable corporate cog: “If [he] did not fulfill the company’s orders, someone else would” (23), just as Sister Carrie’s (1900) desperate George Hurstwood becomes a trolleydriving scab (424). Foreman Dreiser cannot discover a way to act on the company that was not also to act for the company’s “unjust

中文翻译：

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德莱塞的反公司工具：揭开面纱与公司代理小说

尽你所能成为一个公司的鼓动者，你将成为一个公司的骗子。西奥多·德莱塞（Theodore Dreiser）在“劳动者的辛劳”（1913 年）中传达了这一严峻的信息，这是一篇新闻报道，描述了他为一家“大公司”工作的困境。. . 一个巨大的杠杆”，也称为纽约中央铁路（“Toil”20）。作为一名体力劳动者，德莱塞观察了这家富有的公司如何依赖其工人的“不公正的苛求”，如果机会来临时，他发誓要打击这种动态（22）。然而，当从工人晋升为工头时，德莱塞违背了他的道德承诺，像工头一样努力地工作。原因不是对他的道德指南的无知、否认或迷惑；他仍然认为“就公司而言”，工人只是剥削的“机器”。问题也不是他的意愿或意图，因为他在遵守公司规则的同时，试图“将 [他] 的新关系调整为 [他] 在 [他] 自己之前所持有的理想”。相反，德莱塞努力避免扮演可替换的公司齿轮的角色：“如果 [他] 不履行公司的订单，其他人就会”（23），就像嘉莉修女（1900 年）绝望的乔治赫斯渥变成了手推车司机一样(424)。Foreman Dreiser 无法找到一种对公司采取行动的方法，而不是同时为公司的“不公正行为”采取行动。其他人会”（23），就像嘉莉修女（1900）绝望的乔治赫斯渥变成了手推车司机一样（424）。Foreman Dreiser 无法找到一种对公司采取行动的方法，而不是同时为公司的“不公正行为”采取行动。其他人会”（23），就像嘉莉修女（1900）绝望的乔治赫斯渥变成了手推车司机一样（424）。Foreman Dreiser 无法找到一种对公司采取行动的方法，而不是同时为公司的“不公正行为”采取行动。