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    Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
    Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
    Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
    Audiobook2 hours

    Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

    Written by Stephen Crane

    Narrated by Deaver Brown

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is a ground breaking novel relating to the precarious state of women in the new industrial world at the end of the nineteenth century. One blemish on a reputation and a woman would often be banned from her house, subject to earning her living on the streets, and often dying young as Maggie does. The irony is that Maggie has two abusive parents, the father who dies early in the novel, and the mother who hurls her out, with much fussing and lamenting about "all she has done" for Maggie.

    Crane's irony builds from the beginning through Maggie's brother, who is upset his friend debauched Maggie and got her pregnant. The turning point is in Jimmy who starts to realize that he has done the same to other brothers' sisters. It is the early realization of this behavior that makes the most interesting psychological impact on the novel.

    As always, Maggie contains the beautiful word paintings of Crane. As Maggie descends towards her doom each successive bar/entertainment place Maggie is taken to becomes increasingly bawdy and unappealing. Maggie preserves what order there is in the family home, nurses her mother, but that does not protect her position in the end, when she gets hurled out.

    This is one of the most moving stories in American literature. If this novel doesn't break your heart a little, no novel will. In our mind, Maggie is the equal of Crane's more famous work, The Red Badge of Courage, which depicts war with a candor similar to the depiction of the tenements and people of the Bowery in New York. A must read for all students of American literature and a wonderful one for the rest of us.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimply Magazine Inc.
    Release dateDec 30, 2010
    ISBN9781614960676
    Author

    Stephen Crane

    Stephen Crane was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1871. He died in Germany on June 5, 1900.

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    Reviews for Maggie

    3.5/5

    182 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane; (4*)Novelist Stephen Crane (1871-1900) is familiar to many readers due to The Red Badge of Courage which he wrote in 1895. That one is a classic of the Civil War. This one is an 1893 classic of the hellish slums of late 19th century New York.Crane tell the story of Maggie, a girl raised in a brutal, alcoholic, tenement environment and how the despair of that culture rarely allowed for the successful growth; physically, mentally and emotionally, of the individual.The story opens with Jimmie, at this point a young boy, trying by himself to fight a gang of boys from an opposing neighborhood. He is saved by his friend, Pete, and comes home to his sister Maggie, his toddling brother Tommie, his brutal and drunken father and his mother, Mary. The parents terrified the children with their drunkenness and brutality. Years pass, the father and Tommie die, and Jimmie hardens into a sneering, aggressive, cynical youth. He gets a job as a teamster, having no regard for anyone but firetrucks who would run him down. Maggie begins to work in a shirt factory, but her attempts to improve her life are undermined by her mother's drunken rages. Maggie begins to date Jimmie's friend Pete, who has a job as a bartender and seems a very fine fellow, convinced that he will help her escape the life she leads. He takes her to the theater and the museum. One night Jimmie and Mary accuse Maggie of "Goin to deh devil", essentially kicking her out of the tenement, throwing her lot in with Pete. Jimmie goes to Pete's bar and picks a fight with him (even though he himself has ruined other boys' sisters). As the neighbors continue to talk about Maggie, Jimmie and Mary decide to join them in badmouthing her instead of defending her.Later, Nellie, a "woman of brilliance and audacity" convinces Pete to leave Maggie. Thus abandoned, Maggie tries to return home but is rejected by her mother and scorned by the entire tenement. In a later scene a prostitute, implied to be Maggie, wanders the streets moving into progressively worse neighborhoods until, reaching the river, she is followed by a grotesque and shabby man. The next scene shows Pete drinking in a saloon with six fashionable women "of brilliance and audacity." He passes out, whereupon one, possibly Nellie, takes his money. In the final chapter, Jimmie tells his mother that Maggie is dead. The mother exclaims, ironically, as the neighbors comfort her, "I'll forgive her!"I found this work strangely upsetting but still Crane's writing is brilliant.
    • 4/5
      Depressing but so powerful. I would teach this before I taught The Red Badge of Courage.
    • 4/5
      While the dialogue took some getting used to and some of the terms are no longer used today, I fell in love with this story. I watched Maggie grow up, fall in love and ultimately die. Crane not only gained my attention but also my sympathy for a character so lifelike I could almost see her. I felt like I was transported back in time to witness Maggie's life. Definitely worth reading and a critical piece of American Fiction.
    • 2/5
      Not a very good book, in my opinion. The dialect came across as ludicrous. The morality was ridiculous, but I suppose that was the point. The mother and son were probably worse morally than the daughter, but it was her state in life that destroyed her.
    • 2/5
      2-2.5
      I had to read this for my econ. class, interesting read. It was easy to read, but considering the time frame that the story was taking place in some of the dialogue was a little crud and hard to read. Again that was people on the street long ago with no education so I get why it was that way. I felt bad for Maggie considering the life she read, but the ending! WTH?! grrr
    • 4/5
      I highly recommend this short work by Stephen Crane, better known for The Red Badge of Courage. Maggie: A Girl of The Streets portrays a dismal picture of life at the bottom rung of the social order in 19th century NYC, and is a damning commentary on alcoholism, poor parenting and how much environment can negatively impact one's ultimate happiness.
    • 4/5
      Maggie is reared amid poverty nd two drunkard parents. Her brothers favourite past time is brawling. Her younger brother dies- more than likely from neglect - as does her father.As she grows into a young women she is rejected by her first love and her morals are questioned by her family, her mother not wanting her back home , claiming she cannot understand how anything in her upbringing could bring her to this point.A sad reflection on the degree to which "family" is responsible for the next generation, and the inability of some to see this.This is a short story, and was a luxury to read in the 1974 Limited Edition Club edition
    • 5/5
      I loved it. The characters and plot are haunting and realistic, the story absolutely drags you into every detail and you can't forget them once you're done reading.