How She Went from Maggie to A Girl

Many believe that Maggie is tragic hero in the novel Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane; however, she is the complete opposite. To be a tragic hero is to be responsible for your own downfall. This does not occur in Maggie’s case which is a high controversy in the literary world. Although Maggie did become a prostitute, her actions were not the reason for her downfall; instead, her downfall was caused by her violent home life, her relationship with Pete, and her lack of self-respect.

In the time period when this story was written a violent home life was common and not thought to be domestic abuse like it would be in present day. This was the lifestyle for the Irish immigrants who lived in bad areas and were poor. Although it was no surprise for a family to hit their children and scream at each other, it left a lasting impact on Maggie and contributed to her overall downfall. One of these moments occur when Jimmie is carrying a pail of beer and is seen by his father, “The man caught his breath and laughed. He hit his son on the head with the empty pail. As it rolled clanging into the street, Jimmie began to scream and kicked repeatedly at his father’s shins” (Crane). Here is one of the first scenes where the readers see the violence occurring inside Maggie’s home. After her father takes the pail filled with beer and drinks it all Jimmie acts out and starts hitting his father as he hits him on the head with the pail. What is surprising to most readers is how the kid is just as violent to their parent even though they are inferior to their guardian. As the story progresses Maggie’s mother, Mary, is a constant reason for Maggie wanting to leave the house. Her mother acts surprised when she finds out that Maggie has gone to the dark side when she says, “ ‘Ah, who would t’ink such a bad girl could grow upin our fambly, Jimmie, me son. Many deh hour I’ve spent in talk wid dat girl an’tol’her if she ever went on deh streets I’d see her damned’” (Crane chap. 10). What Mary says is ironic because she says that she brought up Maggie teaching her to not become a prostitute; however, she didn’t raise her at all. This quote also shows how her mother was unstable in that she changes her story based on facts she has heard. Although Maggie’s home life contributed to her downfall there was another aspect that led to it which was her relationship with Pete.

At the beginning of the story Maggie doesn’t even realize that guys exist; however, as the story progresses she begins to fall for one of Jimmie’s friends, Pete. As the readers see her fall for Pete they see how she falls for him because of the way he acts and how he dresses. She thinks that he is a complete gentleman, but the readers know that he isn’t. For example, one day when he is visiting Jimmie, Maggie walks into the room and Pete says to her, “ ‘Say, Mag, I’m stuck on yer shape. It’s outa sight,’” (Crane). To Maggie this is a compliment and she takes it with happiness; however’ the readers know that getting comments on your physical appearance is not considered a compliment. Maggie believes it is a compliment because she has never had anything nice said to her so she embraces it. The readers see this as part of her downfall because of how naive she is to the actual world around her. As the story of Pete and Maggie continues Maggie becomes dependent on him since her whole family has shut her out. This is dangerous for her because Pete does not have her best interests at heart. In the following quote the readers are able to see how Maggie has changed in time, “She leaned with a dependent air toward her companion. She was timid, as if fearing his anger or displeasure. She seemed to beseech tenderness of him” (Crane). Not only is Maggie now dependent of Pete, but she is now scared of him. Also she is trying to ‘beseech’ tenderness otherwise known as begging for his affection. To watch this happen to Maggie is hard because of the future she could have had if she had come from a different home. Although her relationship with Pete and her home life were two important factors in her overall downfall her lack of self-respect was the biggest factor that ultimately led to her downfall.

During the time period of this story women weren’t well respected which was one of the reasons why Maggie did not have self-respect but she lost complete self-respect for herself when she became a girl of the streets. When she was younger Maggie was an innocent young girl looking for a better life. She thought she found it with Pete but was sadly wrong. The readers start to see her losing self-respect for herself when she no longer believes that her clothes are good enough. Maggie starts trying to be someone that she is not. The narrator explains by saying, “She envied elegance and soft palms. She craved those adornments of person which she saw every day on the street, conceiving them to be allies of vast importance to women” (Crane). This is a heartbreaking scene to read because Maggie is jealous of other women for having more than she does when she should be happy with what she has. At this point she is still innocent at the beginning of this want for something more than what she has, but this is also where her self-respect fades away and no longer does she realize that she is fine on her own. In one of the final chapters of the book the readers see that Maggie has now completely changed and is living on the streets. She is no longer afraid to look at men on the street; instead, she embraces it because she enjoys getting that tiny amount of attention. “She threw changing glances at men who passed her, giving smiling invitations to men of rural or untaught pattern and usually seeming sedately unconscious of the men with a metropolitan seal upon their faces” (Crane). Maggie has officially hit rock bottom in this scene where she is completely alone on the streets embracing any kind of attention she could get. It is devastating to watch because of what she could have been if she had had a better life in the beginning.

To have no self-respect, to have a violent home life, to have a bad relationship takes a toll on a person. It can ruin a person which is exactly what happened to Maggie. Although there were some things she could have done to save herself from spiraling into her downfall, she did not know this because there was no one there to help guide her in the right direction. Maggie’s overall downfall came in stages throughout the story where we were able to see the clear reasons why she ended up in the streets. Maggie, a young innocent child became “a girl of the streets” where her final downfall was not even depicted because of the lack of care in the society, and for the the society that was their downfall.