Stephen Crane published his first novel Maggie: A Girl of the Streets in March 1893 on his own expenses under the pseudonym "Johnston Smith". As a young author "who was yet to find a public he was cautious about immediately identifying himself with a work that he himself regarded as shocking" (Ziff x) because it tried "to show that environment is a tremendous thing [...] and frequently shapes lives regardless" (Sorrentino 82).
That Maggie is one of the major works to criticize the environment of late 19th century New York City becomes obvious when the reader notices that the protagonist Maggie does neither occur in the first, nor in the last chapter of the novella.
Looking more closely at the word "environment" itself one can observe that the term is ambiguous. On the surface the term seems to describe the external living conditions, namely where and under which circumstances the characters live. But it is not the life in the Bowery and the tenements Stephen Crane is referring to since Maggie does not die of starvation or diseases, but of the mental influences, such as the Church and the theater that constantly affect the people. Exactly this environment, Jacob Riis argues, "is indeed a ’tremendous thing in the world’ and it frequently shapes the lives of children who grow up in it" (LaFrance 42).
Nevertheless, the external living conditions determine the way people are and act. "Crane depicts the influence the city exerts upon the perception of reality of its inhabitants, and this perception differs very much already from one member of the Johnson family to the other" (Schaetzle 19). This is the reason for me to argue that the bad circumstances in the Bowery of New York City contribute to the decay of the moral values and shape lives, as well. The very title of the 1893 version illustrates that the city is also an important factor in
the novella: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (A Story of New York). [...]
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- Topography of New York City around 1890
- Living conditions in New York City
- The Bowery
- The Tenements
- Mental influences
- The Media
- The Church
- Maggie's Family
- Maggie's Path of Life
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This term paper explores the role of environment in shaping the life of Maggie in Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. It investigates how the specific setting of late 19th-century New York City, particularly the Bowery and tenements, influenced the protagonist's fate.
- The impact of poverty and urban blight on individual lives.
- The influence of social institutions, such as the church and media, on morality and behavior.
- The role of heredity and environment in determining individual destinies.
- The portrayal of New York City as a character in the novella.
- The connection between societal structures and individual agency.
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The paper begins by examining the topography of New York City around 1890, emphasizing its role as a key factor in the story's setting and themes. It then focuses on the living conditions of the protagonist and her family, specifically in the Bowery and the tenements, to understand the factors contributing to Maggie's downfall.
The second part delves into the mental influences that shaped Maggie's life, exploring the impact of the media, the church, and her family dynamics. These factors, along with Maggie's own struggles and choices, paint a complex picture of her journey and the societal forces at play.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The primary keywords and focus topics include: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Stephen Crane, New York City, environment, urban poverty, social realism, naturalism, Bowery, tenements, media, church, family, morality, determinism, agency.
- Quote paper
- Kim Vahnenbruck (Author), 2011, The Environment of Maggie in Crane's "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/172566
