Realism: The Rise Of Naturalism In Maggie By Stephen Crane

This work was written during the time of the industrial revolution, while the factories were a booming industry. The workers during this time were not compensated enough in which the people were low income, and often suffering from these conditions. The people weren't considered civilized and they were categorized as aggressive people. This traits were perhaps due to the change from the dated agricultural lifestyle to the upcoming industry of factories, due to this change also literary works were changing in style from Realistic writings to works to that of naturalism. although the two types of writings correlate with each other, naturalistic works often usually base their setting on urban areas all the while focusing upon the less fortunate, …show more content…
Cranes novella sets itself within the confines of urban New York. Maggie's plot consist of the poor who desperately cannot change their status and the suffering that comes along in these areas. Maggie's themes on this work, clearly gives the novella the classifications of Naturalism.Crane uses his skill of foreshadowing to imply that certain storylines and situations the character will experience later on .The beginning of the book, we the readers are given a scene of a scuffle, and those characters engaged are just simple children, who are battling and trying to maim one another. The neighborhood these boys are from are called, Rums alley and Devils row ,this insinuates to readers that the people who live in these areas are unpleasant and have rough personalities. Just the thought of children engaging in these tough battle amongst each other like their wild animals in a jungle reflects the similar themes of the naturalist illustrating the city as a jungle and the people are the equivalent of animals that occupy …show more content…
Stephen Crane implies that the main character Maggie is flower like by stating she “blossomed in a mud puddle”(Ch.5.pg). Another example in which he uses brilliant imagery is when he refers to how maggie eats her food in a speedy rate, Crane states that she consumed her food “like a small pursued tiger”(Ch.2.pg) Later on in the story when Jimmy confronted peter, Crane uses this metaphor to describe how jimmy thetrented pete to fight him he uses“snarled like a wild animal”(Ch. 11).the use of similes and metaphors describes cranes portrayal of the city and also portraying the characters as animal like. Cranes use of animal likeness to refer to the to the actions of the people to make them seem barbaric in nature. Cranes techniques of describing the city in his book as a jungle gives the perception to the readers the reality of how these part of city can be like. The conditions and lifestyle being portrayed by Crane in the story is like there fighting for survival, it's like whoever is the strongest within those confines of the slums will overtake those who are weak. Like when Pete approached the children who were fighting and to stop the fight pete hits one on atop of the head the young boy “scrambled to his feet , and perceiving,evidently,,the