Steven Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets :: Maggie: A Girl Of The Streets

Maggie A lady friend Of The StreetsMaggie and Jimmie are two siblings being raised within the slums of New York City in the Stephen Crane novel Maggie A Girl of the Streets. The parents of these two are constantly fighting as broken furniture and fistfights are an everyday occurance in the decrepid family apartment. The mformer(a) and father fight while their children secrete frightened as There was a clash against the door and something broke into clattering fragments .... (Jimmie) heard howls and curses, groans and shrieks, confusingly in chorus as if a battle were wild (11). Crane exxagerates the furniture destruction as every night when the two parents battle, seemingly all the furniture in the apartment is destroyed. Obviously, this poor family couldnt afford to catch and/or buy new furniture everyday. This then is the environment that Maggie and Jimmie struggle with throughout the novel, but both respond to in opposite ways. Maggie dreams of a give way life than of her root s while Jimmie excepts his roots and becomes nihilistic. However, the hope of Maggie sadly goes unfulfilled.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 rattling(prenominal) 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 bankrupt 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.Pete an friend of Jimmie, became Maggies infatuation. They meet when Pete is called to the Johnson apartment by Jimmie after Pete promised to attend a boxing match with him. Althoug h only a bartender, Maggie finds Pete as a man of personal transcendence (17) that is capable of providing her with any dream she desires. She views the contrast between Pete and her environment when The broken furniture, grimy walls, and general disorder and dirt of her home all of a sudden appeared before her and began to take a potential aspect. Petes aristocratic person looked as if it might soil.