QUESTIONS

Examine the ways in which Crane uses atmosphere to create a sense of the oppression of poverty.

Trace the development of the character of Maggie from beginning to end. Is she a dynamic character (does she change)?

What is the role of Jimmie Johnson in the novel?

Examine the relationship between Mrs. and Mr. Johnson. How does Crane portray the power relationship between them?

Look at the support characters in the novel, such as the old beggar woman or the women who live in the JohnsonÂ’s tenement house, and examine their role in filling out the social world of the slums of New York.

How does Crane convey to his nineteenth-century readers what profession Maggie enters at the end of the novel without actually naming it?

Does Crane reject or endorse the sexual double standard which allows men like Jimmie to impregnate and then abandon women while at the same time condemning his sister to life on the streets for sexual activity?

Describe the central images of the Johnson home. How does Crane load those images with significance?

What happens to Maggie in the end? Does she commit suicide or is she murdered?

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