Steven Crane's Maggie: A Girl Of The Streets

Steven Crane is one of many American writers whose name has become synonymous with the literary movement naturalism. Naturalism cannot be simply defined as it is a conglomeration of elements which contribute to create a style of writing. Naturalistic works are generally pessimistic and frank in nature, the environment is often grotesque with the characters being products of this environment, their fate is bound by materialistic determinism, and authors do a large amount of research on the subject matter. “Maggie: A Girl of the Streets” contains all of these elements which are typical of a piece of literature within the naturalistic movement.
“Maggie” begins with a gang of children beating up one of the main characters, Jimmie, and an
Materialistic determinism is the idea that man’s fate is determined by per-existing circumstances rather than their own free will, particularly material things such as environment. Maggie begins to have visions of grandeur shortly after going out with Pete and began to yearn for nicer things. “She bagan to note, with more interest, the well dressed women she met on the avenues”(973). Maggie desperately wanted out of the life that she was brought up in, but despite her efforts with Pete she is cast to the streets left to fend for herself. Now that she was banished from her home as well, she resorts to the pre determined life the streets have for her, prostitution. In an essay Charles Walcutt explains “The impressions that these people are not free agents, and that their freedom is limited as much by their conventional beliefs as by their poverty, are naturalistic concepts completely absorbed into the form of the story”(Walcutt 144). This determinism can also be seen in Pete. He futilely attempts to be a part of higher society and ultimately finds himself a victim of a prostitute who uses him for his money. His fate was bound by his environment not by his