However, I do see free will when Maggie decides to commits suicide. Of course, it might be said that she has to die even
though she wants to survive because of her circumstance. If the circumstance around her had been totally
different from her birth to death, her committing suicide might have changed. Even though it is true that she died against her original will, the decision to
commit suicide was decided by Maggie 100%. Minus the fact that she has been trapped into death by the circumstance,
her death overrule that the circumstance let her obey the power. This is why I believe there are two ideas, Naturalism and Free Will, in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Naturalism in "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets"
As I finished my quiz on Monday, I thought more about
naturalism and realism in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen
Crane. Crane includes the idea of Naturalism into the story and the figure of
the characters, especially in chapters I to IV. These scenes show how Maggie and Jimmie are constructed in their figures as children of poverty and
violence. It is clear that they are living a hard life against
their will. They are involved in a circumstance no one wants to be involved in. In order to live like this, they have no choice but to decide their own way
of life without obeying the circumstance. They must adopt a situation to survive. I do not see the idea of Free Will in their behavior
because they must obey the circumstances not consider them.
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I believe that in Maggie: A girl of the streets, there is a lot of naturalism but also some realism as well. Although it is more naturalistic, it has relevance to social reality and depicts real life situations therefore illustrating how some parts of this novel could be seen as realistic. However, realism normally relates to the typical reality and norms of the readers and the situation that Maggie is put in is not something that one normally experiences in life. She is exposed to neglect and all forms of abuse that not everyone in life is forced to undergo.
ReplyDeleteThis is why Maggie: A girl of the streets is for the most part naturalistic. It depicts a character that is stuck or put in as a product of their environment. This character being Maggie because she has no choice but to live in this type of environment. Her mom left her with the Belmont family and ever since she has been mistreated but this was her only choice because she had no other place to live.