Maggie and Nellie, their similarity is their identity in Crane’s novel, Maggie: A girl of the streets, being regarded as prostitutes. However, the protagonists and her foil, although their identity are both hid under the cover of prostitution, their lives are totally different from each other. Maggie is a young, timid, and innocent girl; in contrast, Nellie, “the woman of brilliance and audacity”, is an experienced, dauntless and mature lady. Maggie mostly relies on others to live on, while Nellie grasps her fortune in her hand. Maggie ends in a gloomy night, but Nellie enjoys her night with revelry. These two opposite characters in Crane’s novel completely reflects the darkest corner of the world. At the very corner of the world, without striving for your life and relying on yourself, you will eventually disappear namelessly.
When Maggie meets Pete, she is only a teenager, she doesn’t know what love is, she only knows the tenderness from a stranger who warmed her frightened heart from her family. Maggie’s family consists of Mary, her mother, and Jimmie, her brother. However, because they all live under the same roof, the bad feelings or behaviors from one family member will strongly affect the others. Although, from the ending scene we know that Mary actually loves her daughter, but her behaviors are really inappropriate as a mother, because her expression brings Maggie fear. The light trauma from home really strikes Maggie’s feeling; therefore, only a little care from Pete just attracts Maggie deeply. When Pete invites Maggie to the bar for the first time, he says: “Say, what deh hell? Bring deh Lady a big glass! What deh hell use is dat pony?” (Crane, 32)Pete’s impolite, or even rude words doesn’t warn Maggie, she “perceived that Pete brought brought forth all his elegance and all his knowledge of high-class customs for her benefit. Her heart warmed as she reflected upon his condescension.” (32)If she can be more sophisticated, she will realize Pete is only just a normal stranger from the scene in the bar. If she can accept even a bit of education, she should know how rude Pete is at that time. However, the little unsophisticated, naive and innocent girl just falls love in Pete. She loves him so much that she can even give up her family. After Maggie’s argument with her mom, she decides to leave the house and live with Pete because she believe he is the only one she can rely on. But the appearance of Nellie, the sexy lady with strong appeals, finally shatters Maggie’s dream.
Different from Maggie, Nellie knows what she is seeking. After her appearance in the bar, her dresses and her vibe immediately let her become the focus of the pool; however, during this time Maggie just stares at Pete being allured to Nellie. This is the difference from people who can actually catch their dreams. When Pete talks to Maggie, he owns the dominance; however, when he talks to Nellie, he just tries to ingratiate Nellie. “‘Well, I’m glad teh see yehs back in deh city,’ said Pete, with awkward gallantry.” (65) He tries his best to avoid having embarrassment as talking to Nellie, but Maggie, the actual girlfriend of Pete, “sat still, unable to formulate an intelligent sentence upon the conversation and painfully aware of it.” (66)Maggie can only stare at them, because she doesn’t know how to strive for Pete. If she could be more decisive here and join the conversation and show clearly dominance on Pete, she could’ve win, she does have advantages: she is young, she is pretty, and she is pure from the soul. However, she just stares at them having the conversation then finally leave. After the accidental meeting with Nellie, Maggie’s life changed dramatically. She finds out that once her backing leaves, she actually become unfamiliar to the world. She doesn’t know how to survive in the society because she didn’t have any education, which is the tragedy of the social hierarchy system. People who live at the bottom of the society have limited chance to avert their life; thus, they will have to grasp any opportunities they face, or they will silently disappear in the deepest corner, usually die namelessly. Maggie unfortunately became the type of the person who died in silence, she just disappeared in the dark corner around the street, but, at this time, Nellie enjoys her night. She meets Pete again in the bar; however, this time Nellie has the dominance. She just played Pete to pay for all the drinks and she just let him get drunk and pass out on the floor in the bar; she even took the last dollar in his pocket to maximize his value to her. “What a damn fool.” Nellie left with the last piece of scorn to Pete. Even though the method is not honored, Nellie can still enjoy the ravelry for her rest of years.
Crane exposed many dark secrets of the society in his novel, Maggie and Nellie’s contrast shows that people will have to be on their own initiative to grasp their opportunities, or they will just disappear in the overgrown society. Maggie put all her faith in Pete and hope he can bring her a bright future; however, she was being abandoned and finally died at the dark corner, silently. Nellie, the one who grasps chances to live on, still enjoys her night. The author tries to remind us the importance of being independent rather than being dependent on others. Maggie represents the dependent part of human nature, she died, while Nellie is the independent character, she lived. At the very deep corner of the society, people have to rely on themselves to live on, because even the closest person can betray you. One and the most important key to live is being independent on yourself.