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maggie a girl of the streets setting
maggie a girl of the streets why couldn't she take advantage of opportunities
maggie a girl of the streets setting
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Some people are made tough; others are born with a certain resilience that makes them less susceptible to being brought down by their surroundings or their predispositions. Stephen Crane’s character Maggie in his work Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is one of those unique few who has a little something extra in her being, some fiber that is stronger. Others in Maggie’s situation would likely fold under the pressure and succumb to what some might see as an inevitable destiny. Maggie, however, withstands great amounts of pressure and survives it for much longer than a weaker personality would. She does fall prey to the stereotype that a person is born either exceptional or lowly, but Maggie shows great potency and will power throughout her trials. It is her strength that fights the evil that surrounds her. She is in a battle with herself: On one side, there is Maggie, the girl not of the streets but rather the girl who wants more for herself. On the other hand, there is Maggie, the stereotype, the girl who cannot escape who she is destined to become. Influenced by forces beyond Maggie’s control, she falls prey to the novella’s title and becomes of the streets. Maggie, as Crane describes her, “blossomed in a mud puddle” (Crane 18), but even though the beautiful flower is visible, it is covered in mud. Maggie would be a character easily forgotten if it were not for her resilience that is manifest in her resistance to what becomes her fate.
Crane uses many vehicles to change Maggie: the surroundings in the Bowery, her role as a surrogate mother for baby Tommie, the juxtaposition of Maggie the child and Maggie the adult during her confrontation with brother Jimmie. Likewise, Maggie is exposed as a romantic interest to another character ...
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...est battle is within herself; the girl of the street’s most daunting task is between her ambition and her learned lifestyle. Though she does fail at the end, it is the journey she took that sets her apart from her opposites in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets.
The novella ends with ambiguity surrounding Maggie’s true fate and the possibility of her death. Whether her heart no longer beats by Crane’s final period is superseded by the obvious death of Maggie’s ambition and aspirations, the Maggie she wanted to become. She ultimately fails and becomes of the streets, but the blame belongs to Maggie’s circumstances. The Bowery brings out the worst in everyone, but that is especially true for Maggie Johnson. While it is possible to overcome certain situations, the Bowery and the life Maggie is forced to live kill the flower that “blossomed in a mud puddle” (Crane 18).
In the novella Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Other Short Fiction by Stephen Crane, Crane tells a story about Maggie, a girl who lives in the slums of New York City in the 1800s with her family and friends. In novella it is portrayed that Maggie desperately tries to escape the slums, however, because of Maggie’s environment and social forces, it ultimately led to her downfall and demise within society.
Have you ever seen the Disney movie Cinderella? Cinderella was always jealous of her step sisters always being up lifted, while she was always degraded by her step mother however, at the end everything changed for Cinderella just as it did for Maggie. There are a numerous of themes throughout the story “Everyday Use”. Race is showed when Dee leaves home and comes back embracing her African American cultural. Family also plays a major role in “Everyday Use”. In “Everyday Use” Maggie’s characterization presents her as ignorant; however, a closer look reveals Maggie ignorance is not a representative of her potential but, rather her mother’s bias.
Maggie, although not the main focus of Recitatif, plays an extremely important role in the sense that she represents the idea that there is more to a person’s identity as well as oppression than just their race.
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.
In this story we see a classic example of a poverty-stricken family to its fullest extent. The brother Jimmie gets into numerous fights because of the bad influences in the community. Both parents looked out only for themselves and decided that if they could forget the conditions they were living in and let life pass by, hoping for the best, it would come. Crane describes the parents: "In the middle of the floor lay his mother asleep. In one corner of the room his father's limp body hung across the seat of a chair...Her [mother's] face was inflamed and swollen from drinking" (Crane, p.13). We can really see how this example illustrates how real Crane's writing is. As we see later on in the story Maggie leaves for a couple of weeks to live with Pete, her "boyfriend" because being with him giv...
characters created to display a woman’s search for a way out of the bonds of her society.
But it didn’t last, this happiness of Helga Crane’s. Little by little the signs of spring appeared, but strangely the enchantment of the season, so enthusiastically, so lavishly greeted by the gay dwellers of Harlem, filled her only with restlessness. Somewhere, within her, in a deep recess, crouched discontent. She began to lose confidence in the fullness of her life, the glow began to fade from her conception of it. As the days multiplied, her need of someth...
... the liberation of women everywhere. One can easily recognize, however, that times were not always so generous as now, and different women found their own ways of dealing with their individual situations. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s character created a twisted image of the world in her mind, and eventually became mentally insane. While most cases were not so extreme, this character was imperative in creating a realization of such a serious situation.
Everyday Use ends with Dee leaving, not with the quilts, thus making room for the new bond between Mama and Maggie. Dee may believe that she has won in some way because she is the educated sister who appreciates her heritage, but the reader sees it is in fact Maggie who has become victorious by having her way of life validated by Mama’s support and Dee’s envy. Maggie’s system of values is redeemed by creating a new relationship, with herself, in which she is no longer silenced and can truly appreciate the beauty of her home even in its everyday use. While there is little growth seen from the experience on Dee’s side, we know that Maggie is forever changed, giving her more power than she ever had. There is still and will always be a struggle between her and her sister, but Maggie now knows she does not need redemption from Dee, nor anyone else, because it is she who carries the importance of the past into the future.
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:
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.
Maggie lives with a poor and dysfunctional family and a hopeless future with only the small possibility of change. The environment and setting she grows up in do not support anything more than a dull, dreary and pathetic future for her. An old woman asks Maggie's brother Jimmy: "Eh, Gawd, child, what is it this time? Is yer fader beatin yer mudder, or yer mudder beatin yer fader? (Maggie, 10)" while he runs to Maggie's apartment one night. The lack of love and support of her family hinders Maggie's ability to live a happy and fulfilling life. Without knowing that someone loves her no matter what she does or how she acts Maggie may feel desperate enough to change her situation by any means she can, and without any useful guidance. Even without any positive influences Maggie grows up different from the low-life's living with and around her. Crane explains Maggie's uniqueness in the passage "None of the dirt of Rum Alley seemed to be in her veins. The philosophers up-stairs, down-stairs and on the same floor, puzzled over it" (Maggie 16). Maggie's uniqueness gives her the chance to improve her life, but only a slim chance. Even though Maggie differs from the people around her they remain sleazy, making it harder for her to change her life because she must go outside of her community for help.
...e relationship with men, as nothing but tools she can sharpen and destroy, lives through lust and an uncanny ability to blend into any social class makes her unique. Her character is proven as an unreliable narrator as she exaggerates parts of the story and tries to explain that she is in fact not guilty of being a mistress, but a person caught in a crossfire between two others.
In this story, Maggie is a lot like her mother. They both are uneducated, loving, caring, and allow Dee to run over them. Maggie has been through more things than her mother has though, because of the incident that happened. Maggie has scars like Emily, except Maggie’s scars are from a house fire (319). The house fire has impacted Maggie’s life tremendously, since she is very self-conscious and shy. Walker stated that Maggie is “ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs (318). The mother is protective of Maggie and will be there for her whenever she needs her too. Even though her mother knows all her struggles, she still supports her and pushes her to be better. I think that is one reason she pushes her to marry John Thomas, because she wants her to become her own person and to be strong (319). The mother of “Everyday Use” is opposite from the mother in “I Stand Here Ironing”, because she is there for her children no matter what their financial status
The story shows that one can make significant progress in life as a result of choice or circumstances, and the clearly opposite side of social-class that are high and low class level. Maggie is truly the low class who is always feel inferiority complex because she doesn’t have education: “I never had an education myself…She knows she is not bright” (472), and nice body as Dee because of home fire “Maggie will be nervous…homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs” (470). From the other point of view, Dee is totally different. She has the education: “her education from high school” (472). The mother was the sole breadwinner hence, she plays the role of a man as well as a woman. In fact, she views her physical characteristics equating herself to a man, “big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands” (470). Maggie is a character that is put down by circumstances and physical appearance; this is a typical representation of the struggles of the African Americans: “I am a large…I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man…I can work outside all day” (470), The way Maggie’s walking is kind of “a lame animal” (471). Most women were not able to rise due to the unfavorable environment. As for Dee, her views were more accepted outside the boundaries of her