Relion in "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets"

Religious cues are used throughout the novel, "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets." The religious cues come to my attention when reading Chapter 1, especially since they were mostly on the first page. This scene right away show moral values and gets the audience’s attention. The first image I noticed is the show down between the children of Rum Alley and Devil’s Row. Jimmie represents the children from Rum Alley, a good title for his own home full of alcoholics. The children from Devil’s Row also are presented compared to their street; “Howls of renewed wrath went up from Devil’s Row throats” (3). In this sentence alone, the reader already sees these children as demons. Jimmie is then described as having the “look of a tiny, insane demon”(3.) The reader now sees that this statement is more than to show behavior, but is common throughout the novel. Other words mention to the children like “assassins” and “barbaric,” show the dark reality of the slum world, creating a living hell.  The vision of vicious, "demonic", disturbed children fighting is enough for the reader to grasp the setting and story.