FREE ESSAY ON MAGGIE: A GIRL OF THE STREETS

MAGGIE: A GIRL OF THE STREETS

Maggie and Jimmie are two siblings being raised within the slums of New York City in the
Stephen Crane novel; Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. The parents of these two are
constantly fighting as broken furniture and fistfights are an everyday occurance in the
decrepid family apartment. The mother and father fight while their children hide
frightened as There was a clash against the door and something broke into clattering
fragments .... (Jimmie) heard howls and curses, groans and shrieks, confusingly in chorus
as if a battle were raging (11). Crane exxagerates the furniture destruction as every
night when the two parents battle, seemingly all the furniture in the apartment is
destroyed. Obviously, this poor family couldn't afford to fix and/or buy new furniture
everyday. This then is the environment that Maggie and Jimmie struggle with throughout
the novel, but both respond to in opposite ways. Maggie dreams of a better life than of
her roots while Jimmie excepts his roots and becomes nihilistic. However, the hope of
Maggie sadly goes unfulfilled.
Maggie is introduced into the storyline quite subtle and quickly becomes the main focus
of attention by the other three main characters. From the beginning, Maggie is a harsh
contrast to the slum environment she has to endure. She blossomed in a mud puddle ... a
most rare and wonderful production of a tenement district, a pretty girl (16) that not
only had the physical beauty that her family seemed to lack, but also the hope that she
could be better than what was around in her environment. Therefore, the slum environment
that surrounds her contrasts her character greatly. None of the dirt of Rum Alley was in
her veins (16) as she became the talk of numerous males in the neighborhood.
Pete; an acquaintance of Jimmie, became Maggie's infatuation. They meet when Pete is
called to the Johnson apartment by Jimmie after Pete promised to attend a boxing match
with him. Although only a bartender, Maggie finds Pete as a man of personal superiority
(17) that is capable of providing her with any dream she desires. She views the contrast
between Pete and her environment when:
The broken furniture, grimy walls, and general disorder and dirt of her home all of a
sudden appeared before her and began to take a potential aspect. Pete's aristocratic
person looked as if it might soil. She looked keenly at him, occasionally, wondering if
he was feeling contempt .... Maggie perceived that here was the beau ideal of a man.
(19)
Therefore, Pete is the infatuation of Maggie because she has never known anything or
anyone better than of her environment. Pete; although somewhat sly and charming, isn't
the best that Maggie could do. However, a rather normal hustler such as Pete is
practically god-like compared to her rotten state of life. In the above quote, Crane
hints in Maggie's lack of self-confidence. Although Maggie does have hope to exit the
slums, she is embarrased by the condition in which she lives as she fears that Pete is
looking at her with contempt.
Once Pete notices Maggie he doesn't waste anytime in taking her out on the town. An
average night for them is watching an entertainment of many hues and many melodies (21)
and other various performance acts. Maggie grows more feelings for him after wining and
dining around all the local dinner halls and concerts. Pete continues to impress upon
Maggie at these outings as she begins to conger visions of Pete having some half dozen
women in love with him .... he must live in a blare of pleasure. He had friends and
people who were afraid of him (21). Her hopes of an extravagant life grow rapidly while
with Pete. This relationship builds to the point where Maggie decides to move out of her
family apartment and in with Pete. Not that Maggie can be blamed for wishing this as even
after the death of the father, Jimmie and the mother still bicker and break furniture as
Jimmie had grown large enough to take the vague position of head of the family (17).
Jimmie virtually replaces his father at this point in the novel as he stumbled up-stairs
late at night, as his father had done before him. He reeled about the room, swearing at
his relations, or went to sleep on the floor (17). The mother chastises Maggie for
leaving yelling 'Yeh've gone teh deh devil ... Yer a disgrace teh yer people' (30) yet,
the devil is what she is really leaving. Her mother can never realize that she is the bad
in the situation and that Maggie simply hopes instead of accepts her position in life.
Unfortunately, Maggie's hopes and dreams wither away as Pete leaves her without notice to
chase after a woman of briallance and audacity (43). Pete did not consider that he had
ruined Maggie (49) and simply brushed her off as just another fling. Maggie never
recovered from Pete's dumping of her and instead of heading home to the sure temper
tantrums and scornful attitude of her mother, Maggie turned to the streets.
Jimmie provides the first scene in the novel as the little champion of Rum Alley (3). At
an elementary school age, Jimmie already is an experienced fighter and has been hardened
to thug life. Crane hints at Jimmie's innocence a couple of times, but the reader can
easily perceive that Jimmie will grow up to what he naturally becomes. He finds a job as
a driver and begins his descent into nihilism as:
During that time his sneer became chronic. He studied human nature in the gutter, and
found it no worse than he thought he had reason to believe it. He never conceived a
respect for the world .... After a time his sneer grew so that it turned its glare upon
all things. He became so sharp that he believed in nothing. To him the police were always
actuated by malignant impulses and the rest of the world was composed ... of despicable
creatures who were all trying to take advantage of himand with whom, in defense, he was
obliged to quarrel on all possible occasions. He himself occupied a down-trodden position
that had a private but distinct element of grandeur in its isolation. (13 - 14)
As mentioned earlier, Jimmie is accepted as male head of the family after his father
dies. Although Jimmie seemingly hated his father, he instantly takes over his spot as the
mother's antagonist. Jimmie and the mother begin to parallel the father and the mother in
their numerous battles, fortunately there are no more children in the apartment to
scare.
Jimmie sinks into the world his father knew all to well; that being a typical day of
working at a job that promotes his rotten argumentative attitude, drinking, coming home
just to fight with the mother, and never realzing there is any better in the world than
this.
In the end, Maggie commits suicide after realizing that she cannot escape her
environment. Jimmie brings the news to the mother who begins to weep and while mourners
gather in the apartment. The final lines in the novel provide an ironic insight into the
character of the mother as:
1The mourner essayed to speak but her voice gave way. She shook her great shoulders
frantically, in an agony of grief. Hot tears seemed to scald her quivering face. Finally
her voice came and arose like a scream of pain. Oh, yes, I'll fergive her! I'll fergive
her! (58)
The mother; while sobbing over the death of her daughter, still doesn't understand the
situation. She never perceives that she is the bad and that Maggie is the blossoming
flower from the mud puddle. Therefore, the mother should be apologizing to Maggie.
Another ironic twist added by Crane in the bipolar world of Maggie's hopes and Jimmie's
nihilism.