Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

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Tenement Life and the Effects on the Family

Maggie A Girl of the Streets, by Stephen Crane, gives us a synopsis of life in the tenements and the relationship people had with others. Maggie's family was one of the many families during the 180s that went through crisis. The thesis of my paper is that tenement living deprived people of closed relationships. First by alcoholism, second by abuse, and third by denial.

The children (including Maggie and Jimmie) had easy access to alcohol. Each tenement contained a saloon on the ground level, making the availability to alcohol easy for children. The old woman downstairs states to Jimmie, "Go, now, like a dear an' buy me a can" (Crane 4). In return for buying the "can," Jimmie receives a place to stay for the night. The father assaults Jimmie, stealing his can and taking it for his own. "You've been drinkin', Mary," he said. "You'd better let up on the bot', ol' woman, or you'll git done" (41). After this is said to Mary, her and the father begin to argue and assault one another leaving them both passed out on the floor. "Ol' Johnson's raisin' hell agin," whispers a curious face in the door way of the tenement," after Mr. Johnson returns home from stealing whiskey from Jimmie at the saloon. Crane states, "Her mother drank whiskey all Friday morning. With lurid face and tossing hair she cursed and destroyed furniture all Friday afternoon" (54). Mary continuously drinks which aggravates Maggie, driving her to living with Pete. Mary's alcoholism takes her down the path of rage and abuse towards the others. Her soon rages influences Jimmie and he too soon takes on the violent, abusive personality.

Physical and verbal abuse plays an important role in the Johnson family. The majority of this abuse results from alcoholism. As Mary and Mr. Johnson continue to fight with one another Jimmie feels as though he is not safe in the home and goes downstairs to live with another resident in the tenements. After Mr. Johnson dies, Jimmie soon takes on the role of the "abusive man of the house." He would curse and hit Mary, and pick fights with others. "He developed too a great tendency to climb down from his truck and fight with drivers. He had been in quite a few of miscellaneous fights, and in some general barroom rows that had become known to the police" (4). Jimmie learns this behavior from his mother who is also known by name to the police. Mary quickly leaves this lifestyle to live with Pete, whom she has a romance with, leading Mary and Jimmie to add that "Yer gettin' teh be a reg'lar devil" (54). Jimmie and Mary feel if they degrade Maggie they will feel as that though they have accomplished their plan of cursing her for the sin she has committed. "Yeh've gone teh deh devil, Mag Johnson, yehs knows yehs have gone teh deh devil. Yer a disgrace teh yer people, damn yeh. An' now, git out an' go ahn wid dat doe-faced jude of yours. Go teh hell wid him, damn yeh, an' a good riddancde. Go teh hell an' see how yeh likes it" (65). Mary thinks they have finally driven her away when she goes to live with Pete.

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As Maggie leaves the Johnson tenement, Mary and Jimmie continue to abuse and begin to deny that Maggie is even apart of their family. "She's deh devil's own chil', Jimmie," (67) Mary remarks. As Maggie goes out to the streets, it is considered the most heinous sin, because only the devils' own would do this. Mary and Jimmie believe that no family member of theirs' could possibly do something like that. But if you look back Crane states, "Two women in different parts of the city, and entirely unknown to each other, caused him (Jimmie) considerable annoyance by breaking forth, simultaneously, at fateful intervals, into wailings about marriage and support and infants" (4). So we can see that hypocrisy is something that Jimmie is really getting himself into during this frame of time. He not only curses Maggie for going to the streets, he is hypocritical in that he impregnates two women. Early in the story, Jimmie and Pete argue about Pete and Maggie getting and living together We can begin to understand that Jimmie is dealing with much denial as he hides his impregnating the two woman as he joins Mary in cursing Maggie. Mary continues to say, "Ah, who would tink such a bad girl could grow up in our fambly, Jimmie, me son" (67). If Mary only knew what Jimmie has done himself, she wouldn't be so supportive of him. But in the 10s, men are considered powerful. And as we know, this wouldn't have much of an affect on Jimmie.

Maggie and her family are prime examples of what alcoholism, abuse, and denial can do to a family. As we see, togetherness was not a necessity.

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