Young Maggie's Life example essay topic

Stephen Crane's short story Maggie: a Girl of the Streets takes place in New York City near the end of the 19th century. Maggie is a young girl growing up in the ghetto. Crane reveals to the reader the feelings of desperation, resentment, poverty, and violence that Maggie is exposed to as a part of her everyday life. The reader is transported directly to the slums that were a part of the everyday life for many immigrants at the turn of the century. The story gives the reader an in depth look at both the cause and effect of the violence and alcohol abuse that is responsible for the destruction and doom of many young people growing up in ghetto areas and tenement housing. The injustices that Maggie faced during her short life were common to all members of the community as well.

The plot of this story reveals the life and times of Maggie, her family, and the living conditions and lifestyle they experienced growing up in a tenement house. The story tells the tale of Maggie's parents who constantly abuse their children and fight amongst each other constantly. The central theme focuses on Maggie falling in love with her Brother Jimmie's friend Pete. Unfortunately the romance ends poorly for the couple, when Pete abandons Maggie for another woman.

Maggie then turns to prostituting herself to survive. When she can no longer live with the guilt of her miserable life, she chooses to end it by killing herself. The story examines how the life that Pete has created for Maggie is different from the violent and abusive home life in which she has grown up in. When Maggie makes the decision to leave her home to pursue a better life with Pete, she sadly discovers that he has nothing but ill intentions toward her. When Maggie attempts to return home she finds that her mother has disowned her and is forced to turn to a life alone on the streets.

Upon her death, neither her brother nor mother acknowledged any responsibility for the way that young Maggie's life turned out. Crane demonstrates to the reader both the difficulty and despair that the poor immigrants experienced growing up on the East of side New York and living in the tenements during the late 1800's. The reader is alerted to the harsh reality of the fact that the early and continued exposure to overcrowding, violence and alcohol abuse has on the young people growing up in the community. The latter half of the story reveals a young woman who is seduced into a fantasy world that Pete has created for her. As Maggie experiences the feelings of resentment from her mother, her life becomes filled with despair. The last chapter reveals to the reader the sense of entrapment that Maggie is feeling.

As she becomes overwhelmed by the sense of no way of escaping the horrific lifestyle of her past and overcome by no possible way to escape the poverty that surrounds her, Maggie chooses to take her own life. As the reader learns of the structure and culture of the immigrants that lived in the late 1800's as told in Crane's story, a destructive society is revealed. The characters in the story call out for public outcry against the many horrors faced daily in the tenements. The reader is removed from his comfortable surroundings and transported into an environment filled with widespread hatred and desperation. The environment that Maggie was forced to grow up in eventually contributed to her demise.

Maggie's death is the final blow to the reader by Crane, which serves to one last time reveal the horrible social conditions of living in the tenements in the 1890's. The story is written in simple English, and relies heavily on the use of the slang that reflects the culture and social setting of the time. The novel looks at violence, bloodshed, desperation, alcohol abuse, and feelings of resentment that were experienced by immigrants living in the tenements of New York City around the turn of the twentieth century. Crane reveals to the reader the image of a desperate young girl trying alone and trying to find her own way out of a difficult life, who when faced the finalization that death is her only way out.

He also portrays the overcrowding, violence, sense of entrapment, and desperation of the immigrants of the tenements of New York City..