Maggie: Agirl of the streets
In the novella ?Maggie: A Girl of the Streets?, brutality, of the setting and the characters, plays a huge role in Maggie Johnson?s life. For her, growing up in New York City meant living without decent food, shelter, clothing, education and medical attention. Not only was her body starved, there was not nearly enough good will, sympathy, understanding or love to nourish her soul. Maggie?s introduction to humanity started in the tenement houses and gutters, with the neighboring drug addicts, alcoholics and abusers to guide her. Her vulnerability and sympathetic nature define her as weak, and in this society the weakest are rooted out by the strongest, most malicious characters- Darwin?s theory of competition put to life. In this tragic tale by Stephen Crane, the people dearest to Maggie?s heart take turns in ripping it to shreds, causing its beating to slowly whither and halt. The draining of Maggie Johnson doesn?t take long, but it is relentless and unforgiving. Her victimization starts the day nature?s cruel forces cast her into the slums of New York and will continue until the streets of her home finally devour her completely. The woman who bore Maggie, a mother in name only, is as hostile as one could imagine and begins
Pete?s abandonment is the ultimate factor into Maggie?s destruction. Now, with the only source of human interaction resembling affection gone, she is forced to return home. Not surprisingly, Maggie finds no support from her mother and brother after her reputation is soiled by Pete?s mysterious doings (not so mysterious, apparently, to the other people in the district). Ironically, they feel shamed by Maggie?s behavior and are shocked that the girl could ruin herself and the family?s ?good name? after what seemed to be a flawless upbringing! Maggie is truly alone and awaits final destruction on the streets of New York with no one to turn to for shelter. Her final days of existence are sordid. A once beautiful flower who ?blossomed in a mud puddle? (pg 16) is now a soiled miscreant who repelles the men who cross her path. As Maggie desperately tries to catch the eyes of the potential customers she walks by, trying to find a new means of escape, all of them turn away, able to see the rot that has been set deep into her. To them, she is a harbinger of disease, a creation of the darkest pits of society that could stain their pure, respectable facade. So, Maggie is left unwanted in the gutters, to be swallowed up by the streets that bore her. Her death comes at the hands of a greasy, fat man in a deteriorating alley way- almost a fitting end to a life beginning in decay. The slow severing of Maggie from Pete?s life is finally completed in one devastating blow, and one night is all it takes. It happens after he picks her up at her house, finding her drunken mother and brother brawling. He takes Maggie out to forget about her troubles. What happens between the two that night is never spelled out, but we know from an eyewitness account of a local drunk that Maggie returns home destitute. A bag woman watches the girl?s fall from grace with Pete, and describes with vivid apathy the events to Jimmie the next morning. ?? I was by me door las? night when yer sister and her jude feller came in late? An? she, the dear, she was a-cryin? as if her heart would break, she was. It was deh funnies? ting I ever saw. An? right out here by me door she asked him did he love her, did he. An? she was a-cryin? as if her heart would break, poor t?ing. An? him, I could tel
Some common words found in the essay are:
York Unlike, Maggie Petes, York City, Girl Streets, Maggie Johnson, Stephen Crane, Maggie Johnsons, a-cryin heart break, stephen crane, maggie girl streets, Maggie Girl, hell yes, maggie desperately, a-cryin heart, heart break, girl streets, , maggie girl,
Approximate Word count = 1537
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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