Rose-tinted Glasses

“When he takes me in his arms, and speaks to me softly, I see the world through rose-tinted glasses.” – Edith Piaf. In the novella Maggie: Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane, the main character Maggie slowly sees the world around her change as her relationship with Pete changes. Her sugar-coated vision that previously covered her relationship slowly fades away throughout the novel, like the luxury of the dance halls Pete brings her to. Maggie’s high hopes slowly fall like the smoke in each hall, and the audience becomes less adoring of the performers, mirroring Pete’s treatment of her.

In the first dance hall scene, the hall is described as “great and green-hued”. Maggie sees everything as very extravagant and new, a world she has never been a part of before. The people  there were “men with calloused hands and attired garments that showed the wear of an endless trudge for a living,” (Crane 22)  and “a mere sprinkling of kid-gloved men,” (Crane 22). Here it is suggesting that most of these men work for their money and are not naturally wealthy. The few that are “kid-gloved” are assumed to be the only ones born into money or did not work as hard. Maggie, having never have seen such wealthy people, is captivated by the glamour. The smoke in the air “rolled and wavered high in the air about the dull gilt of the chandeliers,” (Crane 22). The chandeliers and height of the ceiling suggests that this is an elegant dance hall, and that the tobacco smoke only “rolls and wavers” about the chandeliers, and not around the people themselves. In this scene, Maggie is introduced to a world completely different from the one she has been living in, and sees this new world as beautiful and lovely. Even Pete, the greasy bartender, is described as having “brought forth all his elegance”. Maggie still sees Pete as a high-class and respectable man, and not for what he really is, much like the dance hall. Her vision of his world and everything in it, including him, is still bright and glittering with her hopes of fitting in.

Maggie’s hopes, much like the smoke, begin to fall in the second dance hall, where the smoke now fills the room. Maggie and Pete’s relationship has changed drastically since the last dance hall scene, and she is now almost completely dependent on him. “From her eyes had been plucked all look of self-reliance,” (Crane 38). She stares at him as he pays no attention to her and “leaned with a dependent air toward her companion,” (Crane 38). We see Maggie slowly losing herself to Pete, who couldn’t care less. This one-sided dependency comes later in the scene saying, “Her life was Pete’s,” (Crane 39). This second time we see the dance hall it is not as wonderful as the first, but still has a small orchestra and classy dancers. While Maggie watches the show with Pete, she “imagined a future, rose-tinted,” (Crane 39). This portrays the fact that she is not seeing the relationship clearly, either from wearing rose-tinted glasses or from the smoke that is filling the dance halls.

In the last dance hall scene, Maggie begins to see things more clear, but still has hope that everything will turn out better. This time the clouds of smoke were “so dense that heads and arms seemed entangled in it,” (Crane 42). The word “entangled” suggests that the people were entrapped in the thick smoke. In the far corner there is a bouncer that is not only watching the people and surveying to prevent fights as seen in modern clubs, but has an “immense load” of work to do, suggesting that the dance hall has more than a fight or two breaking out between its drunken patrons. The people are not the quiet, classy members of society anymore, but have been replaced by a wild, half drunk crowd. Pete seems unfazed by this, and Maggie’s disgust towards this hall leads us to believe that she is finally seeing things correctly. However, Maggie still clings tightly to Pete. Her dependency is now described as “spaniel-like”, and it wasn’t until Pete left Maggie for Nellie, a woman he previously knew, that she is shocked back to her reality.

Through the novel, Maggie’s rose-tinted vision slowly fades away, and she realizes that her life with Pete is not at all what she originally believed it would be. Pete, whom she loved and depended on, was nothing more than a drunk who took her from her family. Her transition of losing her hope was marked by each dance hall scene, where she quickly loses her sense of self. The increasing smoke in the dance halls stands as a shield from the terrible way that Pete treats her. Ultimately, Maggie realizes her downfall when Pete leaves her for another woman.