Maggie: a Girl of the Streets

     Maggie is illustrated as Dee’s foil. Dee is everything that Maggie cannot be externally. Maggie is implemented into the story to provide a greater emphasis on

All in all, Maggie is a very distinctive character. Her house burning to the ground, her arrogant sister, and the effect society has on her explains that. Alice Walker has a very interesting way of putting together two opposites to make one of their personalities very clear; Maggie’s persona would be

What’s Maggie’s smile have to do with anything? Why is it important for me to know the significance of Maggie’s smile? These are some questions that I would like to know the answer to as a reader of the short story Everyday Use (for your grandma) by Alice walker. In order to get to the bottom of what’s behind Maggie’s smile there is some analyzing to do. The author used a great approach, by setting the stage with a background of the characters. In my opinion all the main characters that play a major role in the buildup of Maggie’s smile ,are Dee the oldest sister, Mama (which whom is never given a real name), and their ancestors. There are other things which contribute to the importance of Maggie’s smile, but won’t make any sense without the characters background. With that being said Maggie, Dee, and Mama were in a house fire which resulted in a complete contrast between the two sisters. Maggie suffered from third degree burns whilst escaping the house fire. From then on out the oldest sister Dee was the center of attention, which made Maggie self-conscious.

“[E]nvironment is a tremendous thing in the world, and frequently shapes lives regardless.” (“Although it’s origins…”) Stephen Crane was influenced to write his 1893 novella, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, as a result of his religious family, the secrecy to publish a novel that reveals the reality and impurity of the real world and from the impact of needy, urban landscapes that ended realism and began naturalism.

While Maggie was a very shy person who loved her mother and liked their way of living and didn't wanted to travel away like Dee did. Mama was an uneducated woman but was confident about herself and liked her way of living and she looked about herself as a hero that she was very poor but she was able to well educate her children and to make them not to be like her and she was tough person who worked anything to get money for her children just to make them better than her and well

The way the burning house, her stuck-up sister, and society influenced Maggie make her unique in relation to others. Maggie was so damaged from her home burning down that she turned into a meek and undervalued young lady. Maggie is so unsure that her mother says she walks like a dog run over by a car: “chin on chest eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house on the ground.” This demonstrates that Maggie absence of self-confidence make her frightened to look. She imagines that on the off chance that she can’t see the individuals around her, then they can’t see her. What’s more, Maggie’s discernible scars have impacted on the way she conducts herself. As indicated by Mama, when she was pulling Maggie out of the fire, her arms were adhering, “her hair was smoking, and her dress was tumbling off her in minimal dark papery pieces.” This is huge light of the fact that indicates how much the flame really physically scarred her. This additionally clarifies why she is so apprehensive about individuals seeing her. Maggie’s apparent compressed version of confirmation in herself is created basically by the fire. The barbaric way Maggie’s sister, Dee, presents herself awful impact on Maggie’s certainly. At this point when Dee inquired as to whether she can have some unique quilts and Mama says no on the grounds that she

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.

The beginning of the story involved a lot of characterizing on the youngest sister Maggie. Before her older sister Dee arrived at the house, her actions showed that she was scared to see her sister. “Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe. She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that "no" is a word the world never learned to say to her” said the mother.

Mama said” I never had an education myself” (745) but Dee went off to college. This demonstrates how times were different and now Wangero does not want to be held back by old times. Also, because she is independent and intellectual and doesn’t want to be embarrassed by her family. To emphasize, Maggie character shows her being described as “lame animal perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car.” (744) This shows how Maggie isn’t educated with having any potential. Also, Maggie is an introvert and does not like to talk except to Mama. Wangero insults her sister by “Maggie brain is like an elephant” (747) which is saying she stupid. Then Wangero brings up the quilts and talks with Mama and Mama said “I promised to give them to Maggie, for when she marries John Thomas.” (748) Dee states ““Maggie cannot appreciate these quilts” (748) “She probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use”” (748). This represents again how Maggie is viewed as not bright person to not be able to have the

When Mary visits Twlya on Easter, the clothing that she has on is seen as inappropriate for chapel, the fact that she did not catch on to Roberta’s mother not wanting to shake her hand, and also the fact that she did not bring her daughter lunch, provide very clear examples of the failures Twyla sees within her mother. Using words like “simple-minded,” “twitched,” and “groaned,” before admitting that, she “could have killed her”(page 242). Twlya effectively links the failures she sees in her mother with Maggie’s disability. Viewing Maggie’s impairments as the physical representation of Mary’s undesirable traits gives the audience an explanation for why Twlya initially reacted negatively toward Maggie, whose physical shortcomings remind Twlya of the shortcomings she sees within her own mother. Taunting Maggie as a child was Twyla seeking vengeance upon Mary. She was only paying attention to Maggie’s physical traits, while her allowing her actual personality to go

Interestingly enough, Maggie knows exactly whom in her family made the items that Dee is claiming for house decorations. She informs Dee that, "Aunt Dee 's first husband whittled that dash…His name was Henry, but they called him Stash" (412). The girls' mother comments earlier in the story that "[Maggie] knows she's not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness passed her by" (409). However, unlike her older sister, she understands her family heritage and the importance of it in her life.

In the opening stages of the novella, Maggie tries to escape her troubling life through her relationship with Pete. As Maggie grows up, she becomes a beautiful girl who hates her life in Rum Alley. She sees Pete as a savior who could lead her away from her poverty stricken life and bring her into the world of leisure because he introduces her to popular music, dances, and dramas, all of which seem extravagant to her. Maggie “begins to note the well-dressed women she meets. She [envies the women’s] elegance (11).” Most of the melodramas that Maggie watches with Pete show the American dream of a person going from rags to riches, which is a goal that she thinks Pete will help her in achieve.

In Maggie a Girl of the Streets, Maggie also deals with family struggles. "While her mother, Mary, is an abusive alcoholic and her brother, Jimmie, is a brute, Maggie manages to grow up to be a

Without taking note of how many people make up Maggie or Huck’s, their poorly functioning homes are almost exact when considering their chaotic and unpredictable nature. With a mother like Mary and a father like hers, it can hardly be surprising, the novel implies, Maggie grow up as they do. Nonetheless, Maggie and Huck are seldom aware of what mood the drunk/abusive parent might be in.

He seemed to be doing better than Maggie, and could provide a way to a better life. Pete showers attention upon Maggie, leading her to believe that he is genuinely interested in her. Sadly for Maggie, Pete is not what he seems to be. He works in a bar, and regales Jimmie and Maggie with tales of the fights he got into at his job (Crane 969). His attitude is one of fighting, and he’s proud of that fact, which a reader would be hesitant to trust. Even his shoes are described as “[looking] like murder-fitted weapons” (Crane 967), which seems to scream that he’s not a man that is going to do better. Maggie doesn’t realize this, though, when she must decide whether to go with him or stay home after the battle of her mother and brother. For her, it’s either a chance to remain the way she’s always been, or the possibility of improvement. She chooses Pete, which leads her to the downward spiral ending with prostitution and death. Maggie could have avoided this by saying no and staying home. Her life may not have led to grandeur, and instead meant a life in a terrible factory, full of monotony and unhappiness, but it would have kept her away from the awful place she ends in. Even if neither option was fabulous, she did have a choice.