Essay on "Maggie Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl"

Essay 3 pages (1122 words) Sources: 1 Style: Chicago

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Maggie

Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, though a fictional novel, offers one of the best glimpses of lower-class life in the late 19th century in urban America that one could expect to find. As a result, the novel helps demonstrate how desperate financial circumstances alone do not create the problems associated with poverty; instead, other environmental factors combine with the poverty create the desperation usually associated with poverty. Violence, alcohol abuse, ethnicity, gender, and religion all help shape the environment surrounding the characters in the novel, and contribute to the characterization of these people as lower-class, possibly in an even more significant manner than their actual economic status.

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets tells the story of the Johnson family, Mary Johnson and her husband (unnamed in the novel), and their children Maggie, Jimmie, and Tommie. The novel opens with Jimmie, the middle child in the Johnson clan, in a street fight with a rival gang of children. Jimmie stands alone against them and is clearly outnumbered until he is rescued by Pete, a teenage acquaintance. The violence of Jimmie's street fight pales in comparison to the violence at home, where Mary Johnson terrifies her children after her husband slinks off to the bar to drink. The entire house seems tainted by poverty, except for Maggie, who possesses both physical beauty and a seemingly innocent and sweet spirit. For example, when her youngest brother Tommie dies in childhood, Maggie steals a flower for his coffin. Mr. Johnson also dies, leaving Jimmie and Maggie solely at the mercy of their mother Mary, a violent alcoholic. Maggie maintains her serenity, but J

Continue scrolling to

download full paper ⤓

immie becomes increasingly aggressive and cynical. Pete returns to the bowery and takes a job as a bartender. Soon, Maggie and Pete begin dating, and, presumably, having sex. Mary accosts Maggie about the relationship, and Jimmie accosts Pete, accusing him of ruining Maggie. Maggie flees from the Johnson family home and goes to live with Pete. Mary and Jimmie react dramatically to Maggie's flight, turning her relationship with Pete into the local scandal. However, even with Pete, Maggie is not able to escape the hardness of her childhood. Nellie, whom the story leads one to believe is a prostitute, steals Pete from Maggie, leaving Maggie homeless and without a reputation. Maggie tries to return home, but Mary and Jimmie refuse to have her back. For a short period of time, Maggie finds refuge with a neighbor. Maggie also tries to get Pete back, but he refuses her.

Jimmie's behavior towards Maggie is especially egregious, since the novel reveals that Jimmie has seduced and abandoned at least one girl. Though Crane does not name Maggie as a prostitute, the story concludes with scenes of a lone prostitute, walking the streets of New York; with Pete being abandoned and robbed by Nellie, and with Jimmie giving Mary the news that Maggie's been found, dead.

The overall impression one gets when reading the novel is that of filth. It opens up with Jimmie fighting on top of a pile of gravel, which one knows must be filthy, and which the reader must automatically contrast to the areas where a child should play. Jimmie and his father return to their tenement, which Crane describes in a vivid manner, capturing filth in all of its details:

wind of early autumn raised yellow dust… READ MORE

Download Full Paper

Write a New Paper for Me

Quoted Instructions for "Maggie Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl" Assignment:

“

First Short Essay Assignment for Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, by Stephen Crane.

Due Oct, 20th.

The story Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, is a devastating portrait of the Johnson family, particularly the siblings Jimmie and Maggie, living in New York City*****s Bowery during the late 19th century. First published by Crane himself in 1893, Maggie offers a naturalistic portrait of lower-class life in the immigrant neighborhood of New York*****s lower east side.

While I hope you enjoyed Crane*****s story, what we are more interested in here is what Crane*****s story tells us about the conditions of those who lived in the Bowery during the late 19th century, and, by extension, all those living in lower- and working-class urban situations during this period. To that end, your assignment is to write *****“ using Crane*****s Maggie, and only Maggie, as evidence for your argument *****“ a two-to-three page essay that answers the following questions:

What are the general outlines of Crane*****s story Maggie: A Girl of the Streets? Who are the story*****s main characters? What happens to them?

What are the general conditions in which the story is set? What are the conditions in which Jimmie, Maggie, and Pete lived? In which they worked? In which they played? What were the conditions that influenced the contours of their lives?

If you were an upper-class reformer, which problems associated with lower-class life in the Bowery would you try to address? How specifically did these problems effect the characters in Maggie? And how would you attempt to solve them?

When answering the above questions you might also keep in mind the following questions. What role did violence play? Alcohol? Religion? What role does environment play? How does the issue of class effect these characters? Ethnicity? Gender? What kinds of work is being done by these characters, or is available to them? What types of entertainment was available to these characters and how is that important?

Be sure to begin your essay with a strong thesis paragraph that tells me how you intend *****“ specifically - to answer the questions.

You will need to provide evidence for your answers using specific information and this information needs to be footnoted using the Chicago Manual of Style format. I*****ll provide a separate document on Blackboard to show you how this is to be done.

Be sure to use short essay format that I outlined in your syllabus. Papers must be typed, double-spaced, using a 10-12 inch font, with 1***** margins. You must also have a cover page with your name, date, title, etc. Your name must not appear anywhere in the body of your essay.

Note that I*****ve pushed back the due date of this essay. Remember too that your paper will receive a full letter deduction for every day your paper is late *****“ no excuses!

How to Reference "Maggie Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl" Essay in a Bibliography

“Maggie Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2008, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/maggie-stephen-crane/313598. Accessed 6 Jul 2024.

Maggie Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl (2008). Retrieved from https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/maggie-stephen-crane/313598

A1-TermPaper.com. (2008). Maggie Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl. [online] Available at: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/maggie-stephen-crane/313598 [Accessed 6 Jul, 2024].

”Maggie Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl” 2008. A1-TermPaper.com. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/maggie-stephen-crane/313598.

”Maggie Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl” A1-TermPaper.com, Last modified 2024. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/maggie-stephen-crane/313598.

[1] ”Maggie Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl”, A1-TermPaper.com, 2008. [Online]. Available: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/maggie-stephen-crane/313598. [Accessed: 6-Jul-2024].

1. Maggie Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl [Internet]. A1-TermPaper.com. 2008 [cited 6 July 2024]. Available from: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/maggie-stephen-crane/313598

1. Maggie Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl. A1-TermPaper.com. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/maggie-stephen-crane/313598. Published 2008. Accessed July 6, 2024.

Related Essays: