Maggie: A Girl Of The Streets

“Maggie: A Girl of the Streets”, is a short story from 1893, written by Stephen Crane. Through many literary devices, Crane is able to display the significance of naturalism in this time period. The story depicts the life of a poverty stricken girl from New York named Maggie. Throughout the story Maggie is faced with many issues such as an abusive family, a lack of independence, and brutal heartbreak. Within the story, Crane is able to portray Maggie and her family through the symbolism of the lotus flower while also foreshadowing her inevitable demise through the character and love of her life, Pete.
In many cultures around the world, the lotus flower carries the meaning of purity, faithfulness, love, and compassion. In the short story by

She grew to be a most rare and wonderful production of a tenement district, a pretty girl. None of the dirt of Rum Alley seemed to be in her veins.” (967) The lotus flower is a flower that begins its existence beneath the surface of muddy ponds. When the flower finally makes its way to the surface and blossoms, it is completely clean and free of the surrounding debris. Maggie is much like the lotus flower. As a child Maggie was raised in a broken household full of hatred and abuse. Despite her harsh upbringing, Maggie was able to grow and mature into a respectable, kind young woman. When you analyze the passage, Maggie’s family and lifestyle can be seen as the muddy water the lotus flower is forced to grow in while Maggie is the pure flower that blossoms without any filth in her veins. In a later passage, Crane makes note of Maggie’s continued purity when she refuses to kiss

As mentioned earlier, the lotus flower also carries the meaning of love, which unfortunately serves as a prerequisite to the ultimate demise of the young girl. Maggie unexpectedly falls for Jimmies friend, Pete. “He sat on a table in the Johnson home and dangled his checked legs with an enticing nonchalance. His hair was curled down over his forehead in an oiled bang. His rather pugged nose seemed to revolt from contact with a bristling moustache of short, with-like hairs. His blue double-breasted coat, edged with black braid, buttoned close to a red puff tie, and his patent-leather shoes looked like murder-fitted weapons.” (967) In the eyes of Maggie, Pete is perfect and even goes on to later mention, “…here was the beau ideal of a man” (968). In Maggie’s description, she mentions Pete’s “murder-fitted shoes”, which joined with many of the other symbols in the scene such as the emphasis on the colors on his clothes. The black on his coat symbolizes his cold, negative demeanor. Black is also commonly used to represent death and evil. The red on his tie symbolizes his immorality, while it is also commonly seen as a warning color for danger. All of these images combined ultimately foreshadow her death due to Pete taking back his love for her. Crane is also able to foreshadow the negative effect Pete has on Maggie’s life with his use of repetition. Many times Pete is involved in a scene