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Stephen crane maggie: a girl of the streets analysis
Stephen crane maggie: a girl of the streets analysis
Stephen crane maggie: a girl of the streets analysis
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“Maggie: Girl of the Streets,” written by Stephen Crane, is the common tale of girl fallen
victim to the environment around her. Embedded in the story is the Darwin theory survival of
the fittest, in which Maggie, the main character does manage to survive, but with drastic
consequences. Born into a hell-hole with no positive role models around her, her tragic fate was
expected to some degree. Prostitution for women in poverty was not an uncommon occupation
and suicide as death was also a common form of an ends to means for literature of that time as
well. Crane uses Maggie and her outcome to expose the solemn slums of New York. Maggie is
viewed as a victim of her bowery lifestyle and her fate is also attributed to her victimization of
the hypocrisy of religion as well. She is frequently condemned to hell by her mother and brother
for her choice of lifestyle, but on the contrary she was never taught that there was another means
to her lifestyle. The Johnson’s public damnation of Maggie’s behavior provides some evidence
that “they are keen on respectability as the primary moral goal,” stated Nazmi Al-Shalabi author
of “Authenticity and Role-Playing in S. Crane’s Maggie: A girl of the streets” (200). Everyone
who had any power of influence over her life, such as her mother, brother, Pete, and the reverend
failed to teach her the moral integrity of which they claimed to live by but instead were more
focused on keeping their pointed a finger to her flaws. I am suggesting that Crane wishes to
expose the hypocrisy of religion by creating a character whose death is attributed to her lack of
knowledge of moral ethics, which George Wilhelm Hegel argues is achieved by completing
three phases that he adapted from the Christian Doctrine with the purpose of obtaining self-
knowledge.
Understanding Hegel’s phases will provide insight to how Maggie was unable to obtain
moral ethics as well of self-knowledge due to the lack of positive influences in her life. The three
phases are when man experiences the following: self-estrangement or the fallen state,
objectification, and self-knowledge or appropriation. Self estrangement can be identified as the
phase when man fails to uphold the moral standard of which he created for himself and, as a
result, develops a guilty conscious. The Christian doctrine would probably deem...
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Works Cited Page
Al-Shalabi, Nazmi. “Authenticity and Role-Playing in S. Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of The
Streets.” International Journal Sept. 2009: 199-203. Academic Search Complete. Web.
16 Nov. 2012.
Brace, Charles Loring. The Dangerous Classes of New York; and Twenty
Years’ Work Among Them. New York: Wynkoop & Hallenbeck, 1872.
114-19. Print.
Crane, Stephen. Maggie Girl on the Streets. Ed. Thomas A. Gullason. New York: W.W. Norton
& Company, 1979. Print.
Fudge, Keith. “Sisterhood Born from Seduction: Susanna Rowson’s Charlotte Temple, and
Stephen Crane’s Maggie Johnson.” Journal of American Culture None: 43-50. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 16 Nov. 2012.
Hussman, Lawrence E. Jr. “The Fate of the Fallen Woman in Maggie and Sister Carrie” The
Image of the Prostitute in Modern Literature. Ed. Pringle, Mary Beth and Pierre L. Horn.
New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing CO, 1984. 91-100. Print.
MacDonald, Susan Peck. “Jane Austen and the Tradition of the Absent Mother.” The Lost
Tradition: Mothers and Daughters in Literature. Ed. Broner, E.M. and Cathy N.
Davidson. Pennsylvania: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1980. 58-69. Print.
One of the main factors of this was the neglect of her parents. It was not stated directly but the fact that her parents did not know what was g...
influence all her life and struggles to accept her true identity. Through the story you can
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, is a realist outlook on the gritty underside of Industrialized America. It is a story that doesn't withhold the dirt and grime that came with living in highly populated impoverished areas. The young Stephen Crane does a very good job portraying the destruction of a young, beautiful, and optimistic Maggie by forces outside of her own control. The rather dreary realism of the novel was a little unheard of at the time. Crane had to publish his book himself, as no publishers wanted to take the chance on a novel so negative about human nature. However, over time his story quickly cemented its roots as a fundamental column of American Realism Literature.
her will to survive by responding to the negativity that surrounded the lives of females, especially the
...her to feel despair. Her misery resulted in her doing unthinkable things such us the unexplainable bond with the woman in the wallpaper.
...ontradicting herself, and pointing the finger. Although she most likely has experienced these acts of unjust treatment, she seems to put the reader in the position to doubt the credibility of what she has to say time and again.
His basic idea was this: In any given situation, a person should do what he called "the loving thing" rather than follow rigid rules derived from Divine revelation--or for that matter, any set of rigid rules, even those coming from simple reasoning. This idea is based on the worship of the person! That humankind, in its natural state, is "fundamentally, decent, enlightened, reasonable, and eager to do the right thing".
In Maggie, it lets you peer into the life of a girl that lives in the slums with an unsupportive and unkind family yet she still seems able to remain hopeful despite all of her disadvantages. Maggie’s mother is an alcoholic, her brothers are aggressive and nasty, and her father died early on. She somehow is able to move forward with a sort of naiveté that warmed my heart. The book O Pioneers! gives you an inside look at what life would be like on the prairie and the difference in morals and values when people have to actually work for and make an effort for every single thing that they want in life. The characters all have a resolve that is very unlike any in Maggie.
Stephen Cranes novella, ‘Maggie: A Girl of the Streets’ recounts the experience of children growing up in a violent and morally decadent society. It raises fundamental question as to the extent of man’s helplessness in certain circumstances. Moreover, it juxtaposes issues of personal choice and responsibility on one side against immense social circumstances on the other side. To the reader and critic, the thought to ponder is whether human beings can rise above a morally corrupt edifice and ride to the high pedestal of decency. In Cranes’ novella, the environment condemns characters to irredeemable and inevitable vanity. Vanity exacerbates the situation as characters are engrossed in vainglorious pursuits.
... she developed her own beliefs, which were nothing like those that had been taught by her environment.
Booth, Alison, and Kelly J. Mays. The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print.
tragedies that befell her. She is an example of a melancholic character that is not able to let go of her loss and therefore lets it t...
He had found, "God had, in the obedience of Jesus Christ, reconciled humanity to himself." "What was required of mankind, therefore, was not strict adherence to law or the fulfillment of religious obligations, but a response of faith that accepted what God had done." In other words he realized that religion is based on love and not fear. Basically, he realized that everyone is burdened by sin because it happens as a result of our weaknesses. He concluded that man could never earn his salvation by leading a blameless life or by performing holy acts. Instead, man's salvation was a divine gift from God resulting from faith in Jesus, especially the saving power of his death and resurrection. This was known ...
had and the fact she lived in a world where women were to become obedient wives. Mary's sister,
Despite the similarities in the time periods of the pieces, the use of language in them is very different. In Stephen Crane's “Maggie,” the audience is given the story of a poor family whose children grow up and experience difficulties due to their social position. As already noted, the dialog is treated in the story in a much different manner than the paragraphs which are written in a more eloquent manner. An example of this is: