Was the Downfall Worth It?

Was Maggie the one responsible for her own downfall; or was it her mother, brother, place she grew up, or even the people she met in her lifetime? Taking responsibility for something as big as your own downfall speaks a lot about a person’s character; especially when the downfall leads to your own death. Some people might consider Maggie a tragic hero in this story and some might not. A tragic hero is a character that usually has a harder life, the character is someone that people feel badly for and want to help. Depending on the type of reader, I can see Maggie as the type of character to draw out a person’s empathy and want to help her. The real question is: What is a real tragic hero to the reader and will they be sympathetic to Maggie’s situation and her downfall?

Tragic heroes are often protagonists. “Tragic heroes are failed pragmatists. Their ends are unrealistic and their means are impractical.” Adam Phillips. There is no exact definition of a tragic hero, no matter how many people you ask you will always get answers that vary. The differences are small but they could also change the entire meaning of the person’s opinion. A tragic hero by definition is “a character in a dramatic tragedy who has virtuous and sympathetic traits but ultimately meets with suffering or defeat.” (Dictionary.com). Maggie has a poor, hard, simple life at the beginning of the story, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, but towards the end of the story she has gotten herself into trouble. Maggie could have tried to become something other than a prostitute, but in reality what exactly could a poor, young, immigrant woman do? The readers are almost made to automatically feel badly for Maggie but in some parts of the story you can see the author staying neutral with which idea he wants you to decide on. The author gives Maggie as a character one of the upper hands by making her so beautiful, this could arguably have helped her downfall as well. “ The girl, Maggie, blossomed into a mud puddle. She grew to be a most rare and wonderful production of a tenement district, a pretty girl. None of the dirt of Rum Alley seemed to be in her veins.” (Crane)   This introduction description of Maggie shows how her beauty could possibly make her stand out in both a good and bad way. 

The story often puts Maggie in a difficult position. Since Maggie is portrayed as one of the most beautiful girls in Rum Alley she is often sexualized by many men, young and old. “There came a time, however, when the young men of the vicinity said: ‘Dat Johnson goil is a puty good looker.’ About this period her brother remarked to her: ‘Mag, I’ll tell yeh dis! Yeh’ve edder got teh go teh hell or go teh work!’ ” (Crane)  This shows how even her brother is telling her to start working in order to stop the men from ogling her. Her brother tells her to either go to hell or go to work. This implies that if she didn’t start going to work the boys would start making advances on her. This would eventually lead to her having relations with them and therefore losing her innocence and being damned to hell for having sex out of wedlock. When Maggie meets Pete she is very sheltered and doesn’t know a lot about relationships in general. When Pete notices this he decides to take advantage of her lack of knowledge for his own pleasure. Maggie is easily drawn to Pete because of his high class style. “ Swaggering Pete loomed like a golden sun to Maggie.” (Crane)  This shows Maggie’s thought process of Pete, she is in awe of him like a golden sun in the sky. To Pete, Maggie was just another girl, but to Maggie, Pete was her entire world. He showed her bars, “luxury”, and clubs she had never seen before, to her he was an escape from the shadows of Rum Alley. Maggie, still, didn’t know much about how men like Pete are because this was her first time experiencing love and affection. Which is why it was so easy for Pete to persuade her into having relations with him. “An’ she, the dear, she was a-cryin’ as if her heart would break, she was. It was deh funnies’ t’ing I ever saw. An’ right out here by me door she asked him did he love her, did he. An’ she was a-cryin’ as if her heart would break, poor t’ing. An’ him, I could see by deh way what he said it dat she had been askin’ orften, he says: ‘Oh, hell, yes,’ he says, says he, ‘Oh, hell, yes.” (Crane)  This scene shows how fragile Maggie is and how sensitive she is reacting to the subject. She is begging for Pete to love her after their relations but Pete just saying “yes” doesn’t reassure her enough. Her reaction might be a mix of the emotions she was still feeling after their night together; guilt, regret, and shame. It shows how badly she already relies on Pete. Since this moment her downfall had started. Once Pete left Maggie for Nellie her downfall was rapid.

Maggie’s downfall was quick. Once she had “ thrown away her innocence” she was in Pete’s full control. She relied on him for many things, to her he was an escape from her terrible life that she lived in Rum Alley. She was emotionally attached to him ever since they had had sex; their relations meant a lot to her because it was a very vulnerable experience for her but for him it was just another action. When Nellie came back into Pete’s life, Pete didn’t think twice about going back to her over Maggie and towards the end of the book you can tell he feels very guilty. “ Yehs know how ter treat a f’ler, an’ I stays by yehs ‘til spen’ las’ cent! Das right! I’m good f’ler an’I knows when an’body treats me right!” (Crane) Pete realizes what he has done to Maggie and her life, he feels guilty about it therefore he has the group of people he is with repeatedly tell him how good of a person he is. 

Maggie’s story isn’t very complicated or long but it has very important key factors that trigger her downfall. Maggie is a tragic hero but is not responsible for her own downfall, Pete is. Maggie’s downfall wouldn’t have started if Pete treated her correctly and with some empathy, instead he solely cared about himself which is why he feels so guilty after learning about Maggie’s life and death.