Product Description

"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets", Stephen Crane's first novel, is the story of a beautiful young girl living in the slums of New York in the late 19th Century. "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" is a shockingly explicit portrait of the brutal conditions that existed in the poverty-stricken slums of New York. Originally refused by all publishers that it was submitted to because of its brutal and sexual realism, "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" was first published by Stephen Crane at his own expense.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #174173 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 92 pages

Customer Reviews

Maggie:Girl of the Streets
The literary element that I chose to write about was conflict. The book is about a brother and a sister who grew up in a very poor part of New York. They did have a younger brother but he died. Maggie and Jimmies (the brother) parents were both abusive drunks. They were always telling each other to go to hell, always fighting, hitting, breaking furniture, and passing out on the floor. Their dad eventually dies and the mother lives. Jimmie and Maggie both get jobs. Jimmie ends up with a negative outlook on life and acts just as he was raised, but maybe a little bit soberer. Maggie on the other hand didn't seem to end up like Jimmie. She knew her life was crappie that she lived in a crappie place, her mother was a very big drunk but yet she seemed unfazed, infact Maggie turned into quiet a looker. So some of her conflicts started when she was young, but the got even worse when she met her brother's friend Pete. Pete was sort of like Maggie's brother, but maybe in my opinion a little more stupid and cockier. And to Maggie he was the classiest person she knew, even though in reality he really wasn't, so maybe Maggie really didn't understand what classy was. Pete took Maggie out a few times on dates and she was crazy about him and he seemed to be some what amused by her too for the minute. One day Maggie and Pete had came home after Maggie's mother had just finished a drunken fight with Jimmie and then her mother turned on her and basically suggested that she was a slut or a "fallen woman" and told her to leave and she was never welcomed again. Maggie ended up living with Pete and things were ok for a while, but he ended up tired with her anyways. Maggie did try to move back in but Jimmie and her mother had felt like she was a fallen woman, so to keep her going from time to time she ended up prostituting an d eventually killed her self when her Maggie's mom hered about Maggie's death she said she forgave her.

Portrait of desolate poverty
I thought I'd never read a book sadder than The Chocolate War, but I was wrong. Maggie: A Girl of The Streets is desolate. What I found most disturbing about it is that Maggie largely doesn't have parents, and certainly not loving parents. Both parents are alcoholics, and the father dies early. The mother is a brute who often smashes furniture in drunken rages. When Maggie disappears from the family's house while dating Pete (which is never really explained), her mother and older brother conclude that she's behaving scandalously with Pete, and disown her. This, and the mother's rants about how she raised Maggie better than that, make her hypocritical.

Characterization is not a strength of this novella. Maggie's mother is a completely flat and static character; so is Pete, and probably Jimmie, the older brother. The glimpses into Maggie's mind are limited; only during her dates with Pete do we see her thoughts extensively.

Sad but true
This book is a very fast read. it's a small book and also one that is hard to put down. It tells a story that is historical 19th century American(New York). A typical slum(immigrant) family. It's Brutal, shocking and sad. One you will think about for a long while after you read it.