|
|
<- Previous Page |
First Page
| Next Page ->
MonkeyNotes-Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
Table of Contents
| Printable
Version
Notes
In the brutal violence of the first chapter, Crane sets the tone for
the rest of the novel. The novel is not about the boy who fights the
other boys who gang up on him. ItÂ’s about his sister. In choosing to
open his novel with this boyÂ’s fight, Crane chooses to open the
novel with literal violence, but more than that, with the
participantÂ’s lack of resources for aiding him. The boyÂ’s older
friend comes along and breaks up the fight, but when his father
comes along later, he adds his own violence to that already being
committed. This is a world in which children are brutalized. They
brutalize each other because this is the only behavior they know.
The style of writing in the first chapter is a mix of styles. Crane
draws from the styles of the Bible, epic poetry, romantic narrative,
naturalism, melodrama, irony, and parody. For example, Jimmie is
called "the little champion of Rum Alley" a line which could be
from an epic narrative. A description of him--"His wan features
wore a look of a tiny, insane demon"--could come out of any
number of the popular melodramas being played for people of
JimmieÂ’s class during this time. The physical descriptions of the
boys and the neighborhood are naturalist ones; they have a social
scientistÂ’s tone, recording the space of the poor neighborhood. In
mixing styles, Crane treats his characters as types, not as
individuals. Their struggles are to be seen not as an anomaly of one
neighborhood, but as a scene that is repeated in hundreds of poor
neighborhoods in the United States.
Table of Contents
| Printable
Version
<- Previous Page |
First Page
| Next Page ->
MonkeyNotes-Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
|
|
