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maggie a girl of the streets on the society setting
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maggie: a girl of the streets essay
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The novel, Maggie: A Girl Of The Streets, by Stephen Crane, takes place in the slums of New York City during the 1890’s. It is about a girl, Maggie Johnson, who is forced to grow up in a tenement house. She had a brother, Jimmie, an abusive mother, Mary, and a father who died when Maggie was young. When Maggie grew up, she met her boyfriend, Pete. In Maggie’s eyes, Pete was a sophisticated young man who impressed Maggie because he treated her better than she had been treated to all of her life. Once Maggie’s mother and brother found out that Maggie was sleeping with this man, Mary threw Maggie out into the streets, condemning her to a life of evil. Eventually, Pete decided he no longer wished to see Maggie. Therefore, Maggie had no other place to go. She was driven into prostitution and eventually suicide. The theme of this novel is that the environment in which one lives in will affect the way in which the person will become when they are older. This is proven by the characterization of Jimmie and Mary, the setting of this novel, and the characterization of Maggie Johnson.
Jimmie Johnson went after whatever he wanted. The only thing that would stand in his way was a person of greater power. He often dreamed of wealth and fortune. “When he had a dollar in his pocket his satisfaction was with existence was the greatest thing in the world.'; Also, there were two different women in different parts of the city who had had children by him. Jimmie did not care about those children. However, when Jimmie found out that Maggie had been sleeping with Pete, he denounced his sister’s actions. But when Jimmie slept with various women, this seemed permissible in his mind. He suffered from a sense of self-delusion that he was unshaken against a world that was constantly trying to take advantage of. “To him…the rest of the world was composed, for the most part, of despicable creatures who were all taking to take advantage of him…'; Mary Johnson also suffered from a sense of self-delusion. She believed that she was a good mother and an honorable member of society. However, this act was interrupted by her numerous brawls and drunken rages. There is also evidence that suggests that Mary too was a prostitute because of a mention of a thirty day cycle. “&...
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...trees of her dream-gardens there had always walked a lover.'; Therefore, she was subject to self-delusion, as her mother and brother were. Maggie also seemed to find herself in a world that was hostile to her ideals. She strived to close the breach between the harsh realities and her impossible illusions. She eventually found herself in such a mess that the only choice left for Maggie was to commit suicide.
This is not only a story about how the streets corrupted a young girl, but the theme can be applied to mankind. The theme is that man’s future is decided through his heredity and environment and is utterly hopeless to change those things and is powerless to the contribution to the development of his own character. But this story was not just about that. If you look at Maggie’s dreams and hopes, you will find she is nothing more than a little girl with the same ambitions of any other girl. If she had been anyone else’s child, and grown up somewhere else, she could have had a chance to achieve anything she wanted, perhaps even wealthy beyond her wildest dreams. She just grew up with the wrong family, in the wrong place.
The 1946 novel, “The Street” by Ann Petry establishes a struggling relationship between the main character; Lutie Johnson, and her new surroundings. Lutie seeks, her overall objective in finding a safe refuge to live, however; the description of 116th street seems less than an ideal home. Petry uses decrepit imagery and forceful personification showing a battle between Lutie, the town, and the wind. The combination of the destructive town, and the winds haunting figure creates an overall feeling of caution within this gloomy road, making the goal seem near impossible.
After evaluating the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, I came to the conclusion that the narrator made the right choice of giving her daughter, Maggie, the family quilts. Dee (Wangero), her older sister was qualified for the quilts as well, but in my opinion Maggie is more deserving. Throughout the story, the differences between the narrator’s two daughters are shown in different ways. The older daughter, Dee (Wangero), is educated and outgoing, whereas Maggie is shy and a homebody. I agree with the narrator’s decision because of Maggie’s good intentions for the quilts and her innocent behavior. In my opinion Dee (Wangero) is partially superficial and always gets what she wants.
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Maggie is a major character in Everyday Use. Because Maggie is quite and withdrawn, she is hardly recognized. “She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since that house burned the other house to the ground”(316). While Maggie loved that house abundantly, Dee despised it. Although she became attached to her previous house, she portrays that materialism is not as important as remembering spiritual values. She has a true, un-superficial sense of family, or heritage, as she tells her mother that Dee may have the quilts because she "can 'member Grandma Dee without the quilts" (321). Maggie comprehends that she can recall her spiritual values without material possessions, unlike Dee. Dee becomes more concerned
Maggie and Jimmie, siblings whom Cranes uses as protagonists, live in deplorable and violent conditions. The setting is America West, during the industrialization era. The change from agricultural to industrial economy led to many casualties, including Maggie and Jimmie’s parents. They found themselves in periphery of economic edifice where poverty was rampant. Now alcoholics, they are incapable of offering parental care and support to their children. This leaves the children at the mercies of a violent, vain, and despondent society that shapes them to what they became in the end. Cranes’ ability to create and sustain characters that readers can empathize with is epic though critics like Eichhorst have lambasted his episodic style (23). This paper will demonstrate that in spite of its inadequacy, Cranes Novella caricatures American naturalism in a way hitherto unseen by illustrating the profound effect of social circumstances on his characters.
Connie was born into a very poor family. She described herself as living in poverty for the first eighteen years of her life. She often went without food, shelter or financial support. Connie’s mother worked extremely hard to support the household; she worked shampooing hair for only $50 a week. Connie’s father did not work at all, he was in charge and demanding yet put no effort into any aspect of the family. Connie was the first in her family to graduate from high school. It was more common for women to become pregnant, and marry young than finish high school. College was not even an option for Connie because of a lack of means. Subsequently, she followed in her mother’s footsteps; and the cycle of poverty and worked low paying, unfulfilling jobs for many years. "All Americans do not have an equal opportunity to succeed, and class mobility in the United States is lower than that of the rest of the industrialized world " (Mantsios 200). It is very difficult to get out of the cycle of oppression, when the system is created to keep the poor in the same socioeconomic status. Connie stayed very poor until she was about eighteen years old.
Ever since she was a young girl. Jeannette had set high goals for herself. Since she was so advanced in school and genuinely enjoyed learning, it made sense that she would want to do big things with her life. Whether it was being a veterinarian or a geologist, her dreams extended far beyond her homes in little desert towns or Welch, West Virginia. However, because of her poverty-stricken home life, many people believed it didn’t seem likely that she would be so successful. One day, while living in Welch, Jeannette goes to the bar to drag her drunk father back home. A neighborhood man offers them a ride back to their house, and on the ride up he and Jeannette start a conversation about school. When Jeannette tells the man that she works so hard in school because of her dream careers, the man laughs saying, “for the daughter of the town drunk, you sure got big plans” (Walls 183). Immediately, Jeannette tells the man to stop the car and gets out, taking her father with her. This seems to be a defining moment in which Jeannette is first exposed to the idea that she is inferior to others. Although this man said what he did not mean to offend her, Jeannette is clearly very hurt by his comment. To the reader, it seems as if she had never thought that her family’s situation made her subordinate to those
Language is an important part of who we are. It influences the way we think and behave on a great scale. However, sometimes it is forced upon us to go in different directions just so we can physically and mentally feel as if we belong to the society in which we live in. Just as we see in Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez’s “A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, both authors faced some challenges along the way by coping with two different languages, while still trying to achieve the social position which they desired.
Although the author, Betty Smith, denied ever writing a novel with socially political motives, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn abounds with references to class issues. Nearly every scene, every character illustrates or deals with the problem of poverty in early twentieth-century America. For the Nolan’s, being poor means they must always think about being poor – how they will buy the next load of coal, where their food will come from, their insurance, rent, medicine, all the necessities of raising a family. The novel also shows that poverty is not just the absence of food or comfort, it is the direct cause for Uncle Flittman to leave, Johnny’s utter nothingness and Francie’s inability to go to a high school. Every action in the novel is based around a limited amount of resources, as not only the Nolan’s but also the entire community suffers. Exploitation abounds, whether in the overpriced sale of candy, child labour in metal collection, dishonest grocers and butchers and employers with impunity to set their own rules. Katie does her best with the household money, and we find that for the poor sometimes a luxury isn’t in getting something, but in being able to waste it.
The first reason monogamy is a good thing is because it promotes peace. Monogamy will lead to less anger and more people loving one another. When someone has an affair, most times it leads to someone getting angry. By living a monogamous relationship, there is no chance for this type of anger and hatred
Anne Gray Harvey Sexton was a famous poet and playwright of her time. She was born in Newton, Massachusetts. Her father was Ralph Harvey who was a successful woolen manufacturer. Her mother was Mary Gray Staples. She was an unwanted third daughter in the family. She was raised in a middle-class environment. Her life remained uneasy due to the fact that her father was alcoholic and her mother has been frustrated by family life. Fighting with her tough family environment, Anne found peace in tying a close relationship with her maiden great-aunt, Anna Dingley, whom she used to call ‘Nana’. Whatever Anne could not share with her parents, she used to discuss with Nana. Anne went through difficult situations because of her parents. She faced a hostile behavior from them and feared that they might abandon her. Later, Nana’s death also gave Anne a big trauma (Sexton 3).
The two texts convey the theme of freedom over confinement by the use of symbols. In The Story of an Hour, after Mrs. Mallard rushes to her room she sits down in a comfortable chair and “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were aquiver with new spring and life.” The open window symbolizes freedom and opportunities that await her now that her husband is gone. Everything she is experiencing while looking out the window suggests feelings of joy and
Life is a serious of events. Each person comes and goes from one activity to another, a run to the Starbucks on the corner for a morning brew or the boarding of the evening commute back home. In the genre of realism, these every-day monstrosities are explored. This concept, combined with the “scientific principles of objectivity and detachment” (Campbell), creates the style of naturalism in literature. Through his detailed usage of realism, the author Stephen Crane is often portrayed as one of the leading founders of naturalism in American literature. Having been raised in a religious family during the rise of Darwinist ideals, Crane uses the trends of the times and the world around him to create works that are celebrated by critics as some
Everyone wants to be something from a doctor to a stylist, I want to be a mechanical engineer. This is something I have always wanted to do in my life, the opportunities that exist in this field can lead to anything. Mechanical engineers are able to do many tasks in the job environment from designing, to developing, and also building. In addition, as new companies are starting up they will need mechanical engineers to help them develop their product. All of the engineering fields have great pay, that is able to support my family and also my parents. In the work environment of a mechanical engineer, they usually are around an office and sometimes where their product is being used at. To be able to apply for a mechanical engineering job you
Engineering is a good fit for me because it involves lots of math and problem solving which are two of my favorite things to do. Also I am good at working with my hands and with other people. Mechanical engineering requires a good understanding of math and science