"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets"

Analytical Essay # 64655

English > Analysis
Literature > American

Explores facets of realism and impressionism in Stephen Crane's "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets".

1,484 words () | 5 sources | APA | 2005 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at Stephen Crane's "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" in
reference to critical theories linking the text to both literary impressionism and literary realism or naturalism.

From the Paper:

"To say that Crane's work represents only realistic or only impressionistic
elements is to ignore the variety of styles which appear in the work. For example, in one of the early sections of the story, Jimmy is running from a pack of other children who have thrown rocks at him and knocked him from a pile of gravel. The narrative tone in this section of the story shows how Crane is going about portraying realism: Jimmy is
first described very rationally and scientifically. The author even goes so far as to count and relay to the reader the exact number of bruises covering various places on Jimmy's body. This represents a very realistic point of view where the narrator is trying to convey
the cold hard scientific facts. "In its simplest sense naturalism is the application of the principles of scientific determinism to fiction. It draws its name from its basic assumption that everything that is real exists in nature, nature being conceived as the world of objects, actions, and forces which yield the secrets of their causation and their being to objective scientific inquiry. The fundamental view of man which the naturalist takes is of an animal in the natural world" (Holman, 1972). But then as Crane continues to describe Jimmy, the tone switches from realism or naturalism and more to sensation, as the reader learns "his wan features wore the look of a tiny, insane demon" (Crane, 1893).
This description is not obviously taken from the natural world at all, even if some of the preceding statements were."

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APA Citation:

"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" (2012, January 15). Retrieved February 13, 2012, from http://www.academon.com/Analytical-Essay-Maggie-A-Girl-of-the-Streets/64655