Naturalism in Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets Essay

Naturalism in Stephen stretch forths Maggie A Girl of the Streets Maggie A Girl of the Streets, is a novelette indite by Stephen hold out and published in the year 1893. This work was published during the term of the Industrial Revolution, when factories were appearing e genuinelywhere. Their workers were often non nonrecreational enough to lead a decent life, and suffered from their situation. They were non very civilized and some(prenominal)magazines aggressive in their behavior.Perhaps beca purpose of this radical change from a more agricultural lifestyle to nonpareil of industry and factories, some pieces of literature were starting to transition from the classification of practical writings to work that ar now reason as works of Naturalism. While the two categories be related, Naturalistic works often argon base in urban landscapes and focus upon the unworthy and little educated whereas the character focus and formattings of Realistic works were ordinary pe ople biography in some(prenominal) cities and small towns.Cranes novella was written right as the literary movement of naturalism ended and Naturalism began, and understandably includes elements of both movements. Cranes history, though, locoweed be concretely set in hotshot category. His story occurs in urban New York. The p pot of it is set on a community of its poor residents who cannot change their situation. The issues and tenets used in this work, as well as the aforementi unmatchedd mount and p jam choices, concretely set this novella in the classification of a work of Naturalism. Crane uses foreshadow to allude to storylines that are created and events that occur later in the story.In the opening of the novella, we are greeted with a nip of a bloody and intense fight. Those involved are mere kidskinren, who are fighting intensely and outline all the blood they can from their adversaries. The names of the neighborhoods from which the boys are from Rum Alley and Devils rowing, imply to the contributor that the inhabitants are both intemperately dependent on alcohol and rough in their personalities. The fact that young children are fighting battles wish well animals echoes the similar make-ups of Naturalists portraying the metropolis as a jungle, and its inhabitants equal to the animals that occupy it.Crane uses both similes and metaphors to leave intensity and detail to his work. His work is peppered with colorful phrase that allows the endorser to perceive an occurrence or feature of speech with greater intensity. Crane implies that Maggie is a flower by mean of stating that she blossomed in a mud puddle (ch. 5). When referring to the f number with which Maggie at her food, Crane states that she ate comparable a small pursued tigress (ch. 2). Later, Jimmie confronted Pete at the bar, and snarled like a wild animal when he menace Pete into a fight (ch. 11).Soon before the fight, Jimmie, his companion, and Pete stood confining together and bristled like three roosters (ch. 11). From these similes and metaphors can be pulled Cranes portrayal of the city. The use of animal comparisons to refer to the actions of people expose the animal-like and savage nature of those described. Crane and other Naturalists used this technique of describing the city as a jungle to grant to their readers the mankind of city life. The lifestyle and living conditions of the poor were animal-like. They fought one another in a difference to survive.Whoever was larger was al modes considered superior oer the small. When Pete approaches the b newling children and hits one on the head to stop him from fighting, the young boy scrambled to his feet, and perceiving, evidently, the size of his assailant, ran quickly out, shouting alarms (ch. 1). Cranes use of diction is overly telling of the lifestyle of those living in the Bowery. The characters speech is systematically made up of curses and broken words. It shows that the inha bitants are either poorly educated or uneducated, and lack a civilized lifestyle.The male inhabitants, at least in this story, are constantly challenging another to a fight if he feels insulted by something the other does or says. These traits further demonstrate the uncivilized and animal-like existence of those living there. Cranes use of characterization helps the reader form ideas or hypotheses almost the way a character will act passim the story. In Chapter One, as Pete is approaching the brawl on the street, he is given the following description Down the pathway came boastfully sauntering a lad of sixteen years, although the inveterate sneer of an ideal manhood already sit upon his lips.His hat was tipped with an air of challenge everyplace his eye. Between his teeth, a cigar stump was tilted at the angle of defiance. He walked with a certain pretermit of the shoulders which appalled the timid. He glanced over into the vacant lot in which the little raving boys from Dev ils speech seethed about the shrieking and tearful child from Rum Alley. constant of gravitation he murmured with interest. A scrap. Gee He strode over to the cursing circle, swinging his shoulders in a manner which denoted that he held victory in his fists.He approached at the back of one of the near deeply engaged of the Devils Row children. Ah, what deh hell, he said, and smote the deeply-engaged one on the back of the head. This description of Pete portrays him as a person with a lot of confidence and one that sees himself as having authority over others and can do what he would like. Maggie is a story that is pessimistic. It is not only a story of a character who ultimately succumbs to her situation by change state a prostitute because she feels she has no other way if supporting herself, but also one of the tremendous conditions of the lower class. The residents of the area are stuck in the alike situation of those who before them and cannot change.This is especially s een in Jimmie, because when he gets older, he adopts the aforesaid(prenominal) traits his father had. The story also is detached. Crane is merely telling the story. He does not intrude upon the writing by stating that anything was right or wrong. In every situation that could render an legal opinion or analysis by the author, Crane does not interject with his ideas or thoughts about what is happening he merely tells the story as it happened with no intent toward it. He states something as it is and does not embellish it.When Tommie dies, it is state exactly as it is The babe, Tommie, died (ch. ). No sad reminisces about his life or the tragedy of his destruction is given. He does not judge the characters. Naturalist writers often gave very detailed accounts of situations in their stories, but left model and interpretation to the reader. Tied to the fates of the characters is the storys theme of survival of the fittest. The baby, Tommie, dies because he is too weak to survive. The same is the case for Maggie she is dependent upon Pete for support. When she no longer has a relationship with him, she succumbs to her lowly situation and dies before her cause and Jimmie.Jimmie and his mother survive because they have the toughness to stay the rough lifestyle that living in the city requires. Violence and aggression are persistent themes throughout Maggie. The novella opens with a violent fight scene. When Jimmie returns sign of the zodiac from the fight, his mother is furious and angrily scrubs him raw while washing the blood from the fight off of him. Pete, when breaking up the fight that Jimmie was in, just hits one of the kids on the head instead of speaking. Jimmie fights Pete when he discovers he has ruined his sister.While Pete leads Maggie through a herd sidewalk, he threatens to fight some who are in their way. This aggression is another way that Crane implies to the reader that the city is a jungle and those who reside in it are animals. A final similar theme of Maggie and other works written in the time of Naturalism is the use of irony. The first character of it occurs later Jimmie tells his mother Maggie had asleep(p) to the devil, which is a phrase the novella uses for having premarital sex. She curses Maggie for a bit, the says Ah, who would tink such(prenominal) a bad girl could grow up in our fambly (ch. 0).This is a statement of great irony, because the surroundings Maggie grew up in was horrible, and her family was by no means a good one. A second instance of this occurs when Jimmie comes home to report Mags deathlike (ch. 19). His alcoholic and abusive mother wildly mourns the death of her daughter. A group of mourners arrive at the apartment, and one of the women tells her Yehll fergive her, Mary Yehll fergive yer bad, bad, chil Her life was a curse an her geezerhood were black an yehll fergive yer bad girl? Shes gone where her sins will be judged (ch. 19).She responds by stating she would. This again refle cts irony by the fact that, in the household she grew up in it was hard not to commit a sin. (Word Count 1617) Cranes novella reflects themes and techniques unremarkably used in Naturalistic writings. The writers whose works were considered from the era of Naturalism all had common themes and tenets that characterized their stories. Through the use of these literary devices the authors were able to paint a pic of the lives of the members of the lowest class and bring their readers to realize the reality of the world in which they lived.