EH200.12 Guided Argument Draft 2

EH200.12 10/30/12 Allison Manson Guided Argument Maggie a Girl of the Streets Maggie a Girl of the Streets is a story of a family in a city written by Stephen Crane. Crane’s idea was that people cannot move up in a society when they are in an environment that holds them back. Environment is what shapes a person. An idea is phycology is that of nature versus nurture, what really makes a person who they are. The answer is both. The nature side, which is the genetic side of a person, predetermines certain things about someone, such as their personality. However, on the flip side, nurture and the environment shape a person as well. There are many ideas in psychology and sociology that explains why characters act the way they do, and how it is engrained into human interaction. Humans are hardwired a certain way, and this supports Crane’s idea that people cannot change where they are in their life when what is around them works against them. The characters that shun Maggie and do not help her act like they do because of group think, self-perception and pressure of satisfying the society based on values. Maggie was not afraid to be herself and break social norms. Maggie lives in a culture where everyone conforms to the societies’ beliefs and values. Ideas and values are non-material culture. Nonmaterial culture also includes languages, beliefs, norms, and attitudes of groups. Beliefs are assertions about the nature of reality that are not based on scientific knowledge, but on social agreement. Values are shared ideas about what is socially desirable that define what is desirable by ranking behaviors, people, events, objects, and social arrangements; the rankings define what is good or bad, moral or immoral, just or unjust. Maggie breaks norms; expectations and rules for proper conduct that guide behavior of group members. Maggie is being what society considers deviant, because she is not adhering to social norms. Maggie’s actions of going with Pete and living with him as an unmarried woman were viewed as highly inappropriate for the time she was living in. Then when she comes home after Pete leaves her for Nellie, Maggie is rejected by her family, because she is considered an embarrassment. Maggie then turns to prostitution, which is looked down upon in the society. Maggie may have been a rebel for her time, not doing what girls were expected to do, or what was thought of as respectable. She was desperate to get out of a bad situation; abusive parents, alcoholism etc., she was desperate enough to grab at anything that could be her way out, first she had a job, trying to better herself and have something to live for. She then had Pete, who she thought loved her and could get her out of where she was because he was of a higher social status. When she is shunned by her family she turns to prostitution as a last resort because she has nowhere else to go. She was trying to better herself, but because of her environment it led to her ruin. Other characters in the story are so focus on what others think of themselves, looking at themselves through Charles Horton Cooley’s concept of the self is “the looking-glass self”. The looking glass self is the process in which individuals use others like mirrors and base their conceptions of themselves on what is reflected back during social interaction. There are steps to the looking-glass self. First we imagine how we appear to others. Then we imagine and interpret their judgment of us. And lastly we react positively or negatively to that perceived judgment while developing a self-concept. There were characters pointed out in Nazmi Al-Shalabi’s article “Authenticity and Role-Playing in S. Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets” who conform to the pressure of society. Jimmy, Mary, and the Clergymen all could have helped Maggie, but didn’t because of society’s morals. They are all very concerned on maintaining a certain reputation and Maggie’s actions are considered awful. In Crane’s story, the Johnson family is obsessed with being considered respectable. Their neighbors urge them to act a certain way, so there is no chance to break the chain for how they act. The characters feel obligated to act in a certain way, not wanting to be embarrassed. The mother and Jimmy publicly damn Maggie, to appear higher on the social plane. They want to please the people around them, so they act according to what the group finds appropriate. Pete also has actions that hurt Maggie because he wants to remain respectable. He doesn’t want Maggie to visit him while he is working and sends her away, because she may taint what others think of him. He also tells her to go to hell, damning her, just as her family also does. Another character who has the opportunity to help Maggie was the church man. She went to him seeking help before she committed suicide. He “saves his respectability” by a “vigorous side-step”. Nazmi Al-Shalabi also pointed out that the clergyman could have helped her, as well as Pete, but did not so their respectability should not be threatened. Nazmi Al-Shalabi also points out that another text where a character goes against what is thought to be right, Hester Prynne in The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester Prynne was out casted and shunned because she had a child through adultery was a rebel in her story. She was treated the way she was because it was against the views of the rest of the group. Maggie is much like the character of Hester in how the rest of society treats her. Maggie is brought to be oppressed, victimized and vulnerable through her life experiences. Crane’s story shows how concerned people are with how they look. How a person looks to another is more important than what a person thinks of themselves. The characters actions in Maggie a Girl of the Streets are realistic and are engrained into human interaction. Being accepted by a group is so important for humans. When not accepted by a group and treated as an outcast, people turn to desperate measures, like Maggie did with prostitution and then suicide. Crane’s story depicts spot on how an environment shapes who a person is. Theories in psychology show why characters act as they did. Maggie’s fate was caused by pressure of self-perception and pressure of satisfying the society based on values. Maggie could not have advanced in her life unless she had conformed to what the society wanted. Crane’s idea that people cannot move up in a society when they are in an environment that holds them back h is often true in many situations.   Work Cited Solomon, Barbara H., and Stephen Crane. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. 1896. The Haves and Have-nots: 30 Stories about Money and Class in America. New York: Signet Classic, 1999. 219-84. Print. Thompson, William E., and Joseph V. Hickey. "Chapter 3: Society & Culture." Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. N.p.: Pearson, 2011. N. pag. Print. Al-Shalabi, Nazmi. "AUTHENTICITY AND ROLE - PLAYING IN S. CRANE'S." INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL Of ACADEMIC RESEARCH 1.1 (2009): 199-203. Print.