"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets"

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes Stephen Crane's novella, "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" which was written during America's "Gilded Age" the era from the end of the Civil War to the turn of the Century. It examines how the differences between the social classes at the time is a focal point in "Maggie" and how Crane unwaveringly focuses on the determinism of social and economic forces on the lives of individuals. The story is about Maggie, who like many women of the time was forced to work at a collar and cuff manufactory in order to maintain her parents' alcohol addiction and to help keep food on the table and her desire to escape from it all. It looks at how Crane felt the need to expose the topic of poverty and life in the tenements that was very familiar to both the upper and lower sides of the city, but yet were seldom discussed or written about.

From the Paper:

"During this important historical time in America, The Industrial Revolution had made production more bearable, but was making life increasingly unlivable for those in certain low socioeconomic situations. The Industrial Revolution brought change and growth to areas such as New York City but mechanization in the work place led to harsher working conditions. Open factories gave way to cramped and unsafe institutions. Many of the new machines were crude versions of what we are aquatinted with today. These machines were often improperly developed and dangerous to use if the operator was not well trained."

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