Stephen Crane implied that the purpose of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets was ‘to show that environment is a tremendous thing in this world, and often shapes lives regardless.’ In the depiction of The Bowery, which significantly gets a longer description than any character, Crane uses personification and imagery to dehumanize the novella’s characters. The characters are quickly established as inhumane beings, in which violence is the predominant form of communication. This study will examine how the use of personification, imagery and affiliation to violence creates a narrative distance, which mirrors the characters isolation with society, one another, and their own morals. The personification of the tenement houses isolates the characters within
