Maggie's World: A Vision of Hell

[hellsapoppin]

As with Dostoyevsky, historians and biographers agree that there was some degree of anti Semitism to Crane (however, there does not appear to be any historical evidence to show that he approved of Tsarist pogroms or other forms of anti Semitic brutality). This was first shown in his short story "Greed Rampant". Here's a brief synopsis:


An event is about to be staged. Jews contrive to take all the seats in the front rows. The "good people", that is the Protestants, are thereby forced to take secondary seating.

Then someone cleverly says out loud, "gee they are selling stock for only pennies on the dollar". When the Jews hears of this they leave their seats and rush to buy stock before it runs out.

Immediately, the "good people" take all the seats that were abandoned and the Jews wind up getting the bad seats. Stocks were not being sold as it was all a hoax designed to get those front row seats.


This was one of Crane's earliest stories and illustrates what he perceived to be Jewish greediness and materialism.


In Maggie, we read of the harsh and exploitative environs in the sweat factory where Mag works. She is thoroughly disgusted with the atmosphere, the work conditions, the foul smells, terrible noises (probably of the machinery), and the cheap wages she gets. The factory is owned by a "fat foreigner" (the term was understood to mean a Jew in those days) who speaks with a foreign accent. Maggie looks at women walking the streets wearing elaborate clothing and yearns to be wearing such costuming. Alas with the cheap wages she gets, she is unable to buy any. She tries to doll up her own garments but it is useless as her mother goes on rampages and damages them along with the furnishings.


Unlike Dostoyevsky, Crane affirms Marxist/socialism as a type of reform that helps the poor and underprivileged. Maggie is alienated from society as she is not able to purchase or produce good clothing while the greedy business owner profits from her labors. But unlike Dostoyevsky, Crane does not attack the lyceums, unions, or guilds that were largely run by Jewish intellectuals both in the US and in Tsarist Russia.

Another contrast is religion ~ Dostoyevsky perceives the church as the exclusive source of 'salvation'. Crane sees it as a place of dreary sermonizing but where, at least, one could get a bowl of soup. History does show that the Bowery did have several soup kitchens in that era to help drunks who needed to fill their bellies with stuff other than Demon Drink. Dostoyevsky sees the church/religion as ideally suited for people. Crane turns all this on its face as Marxists/socialists saw the church as the opiate of the masses but Crane is not so benign in this regard. :


Mary (the mother of Jesus) was an angelic, self sacrificing woman. In Crane, Mary is the mother of Maggie and is a destructive b_atch of the worse order.

James was the brother of Jesus. In Crane, Jim (derivative of James) was the destructive brother of Maggie.

Peter was the leader of the biblical church who self sacrificed for all. In Crane, Pete was a brawler and an enemy to all. His evil actions lead to Maggie's death. Peter distributes money, oil, incense, and wine in the tavern. He is called "offering priest" in what is society's New Temple.

In Dostoyevsky, the church leads to salvation. At the end Maggie approaches a preacher for help but is turned away. Thus, the church did not make any effort to give her renewal or salvation.

In the Bible, Jesus is the Light that saves. Maggie walks into the dark to her doom. Biblical water baptism is the first step towards salvation. In Crane, water is what caused Maggie's death.

Retribution is used to punish the evil both in the Bible and in Dostoyevsky. In Crane, evil doers such as the rich exploitative Jew and the brutal Pete are not punished but flourish. Forgiveness exists after biblical retribution. In Crane, there is no retribution or attempt to reform or to save. Ironically, Maggie's crazed mother who caused so much of the mayhem in the story shouts out that she "forgives her" daughter even though Mag was the victim, not the cause of the problems.


The entire story of Maggie's unhappy fate is a realism that the Guilded Age did not want to see or hear. In those days the American Dream with Horatio Alger stories flourished. It was an era known as "The Gay 90s" where materialism was the order of the day. Poverty and injustices dismissed as mythical. Jacob Riis with his How the Other Half Live (1890) side stepped and its revelation completely ignored. The tragedy of Wounded Knee was viewed as if it was nothing more than a harmless fairy tale. Many people, in fact FAR too many people, viewed that era as the good old days. But good old days they weren't. Crane gave us a realistic portrayal of those times. This is why the book was censored at that time. Thankfully, we have the Internet to reveal the truth.

[hellsapoppin]

Sancho,

Have you read Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell?

Enjoyed 1984 and Homage to Catalonia. Mebbe some day soon I'll read Down ....

I recommend London's People of the Abyss. That was an awesome book on the subject of urban poverty.

[hellsapoppin]

HELL is repeated so many times in the book that its symbolism here cannot possibly be misunderstood.

When Maggie goes off with Peter, Mary refers to him as that "jude fellow". Evidently, being a Jew makes Pete into a menace. Maggie goes "to the DEVIL" according to her mother. "We'll have a HELL of a time" he tells Mag.

Somehow this soils Mag's reputation (she is now "cursed forever") and Pete is suddenly confronted by Jim and an associate about it. He has "the glare of a panther" and the three fight like "roosters". Jimmie sees the cops coming and he flees. Rather than trying to save his pal he says, ''oh, what the HELL".


To Mag, Pete is like a "lion of lordly characteristics". she admires him and briefly views him as a protector. "Wealth and prosperity was indicated by his clothes". While everyone looks at her strangely, "she imagines a future, rose tinted, because of its distance from all that she previously had experienced".

How wrong she was! In Christianity the apostle Peter is said to hold the keys to the Golden Gate. In Crane, he brings about Maggie's hellish downfall.

Mary goes into yet another drunken rampage and is put before a police court. The magistrate tells her, "Mary, the records of this and other courts show that you are the mother of forty-two daughters who have been ruined. The case is unparalleled in the annals of this court, and this court thinks—"

Evidently, it had been an endless cycle of drunkeness, violence, endless excuses, and dissipation for her.


Maggie continued to go with Pete for three weeks. She had a "spaniel-like dependence" on him. Pete had been "leonine" but is rather submissive to a skank named Nell who turns her back on her date to speak with him. The date called a "mere boy" refers to Pete as a "plug ugly". He drinks "as if replying defiantly to fate". Pete and Nell leave while Mag and the mere boy chat uncomfortably. He then pays her fare for her to get home.

Jimmie is followed by a girl he got into trouble. But he eludes her. He escapes and finds his way home. Maggie returns only to be taunted by everyone. She leaves in despondency.

Pete feels some guilt over what happens. But Nell says that Mag is "a pale little thing with no spirit". Mag implores Pete to take her back but he says "GO TO HELL!" Indeed, she tried to approach a preacher but he thought she was a hooker and avoided her in order to save his reputation. She walks the streets for several months barely surviving. As she walks those streets, they get darker and darker.

Pete nearly drinks himself into oblivion. Nell says Pete never betrays anyone nor go back on his word. "I'm a good f'ler" sez he in his stupor as he slurs his words. He stumbles on the floor and drops his money which Nell picks up happily and stuffs into her pocket.


Mary is told Maggie has died. Seemed like people felt more badly for Mary than for her deceased daughter. "She's gone to where her ter'ble sins will be judged". "Her life was a curse an' her days were black." All implore Mary to forgive her. I the end she shouts "I'll forgive her, I'll forgive her!"



As Sancho said above, Maggie is a "flat" or shallow character. She is weak, vulnerable, naive, and given to being overly dependent. But why? Clearly, Crane views Gotham as a HELL on earth. He repeats the word HELL so many times throughout the story and repeatedly equates the characters with animals in this sordid society. There is no real free will, all is predetermined. Death, destruction, dissipation, poverty, misery, want, are all one is fated to endure in this hellish, atavistic society. The church is no real help. People scurry to and fro. Many do work but no background information is given so that we could determine why or how they escaped these terrible conditions. For all its troubles, the Lower East Side did have many settlement houses, anti-vice organizations, and relief agencies. There were also progressive political groups which sought to reform society that the problem of prostitution would be dealt with as a health problem and not a crime. Why were these not mentioned in the book?

Gotham sure is a HELL on earth according to Crane. What's worse is that he does not appear to believe there is any hope for anyone who is in it.

As they say all throughout the story, "ah, what the HELL?" Such is fate, there is no escape.

[hellsapoppin]

Ned Buntline was probably the most prolific writer of the 19th century. While he was more famous for his writings of the old West, he was originally from NY and wrote many stories about Gotham. One of them was The Mysteries and Miseries of New York (1848).

Buntline was a Protestant who hated Catholics, was one of the founders of the Americanist movement, hated the British, and was instrumental in starting the Astor Place riots.

Crane was undoubtedly influenced by his writings. Indeed, Crane wrote about Gotham and the old West as well. Maggie reads quite a lot like Mysteries though it is considerably briefer.

[Sancho]

Nice set of posts, Poppin. I can speak with some authority on “spaniel-like dependence.” Over the years the Señora and I have burned through a dozen or so Springer Spaniels. We have three now. These are the kind of dogs who build a strong attachment quickly and it’s a bond that lasts their entire life. While they are easily distracted by — Look! Squirrel! — generally they follow me around everywhere I go and they stay close, sometimes too close. They like to get under my feet when I’m carrying something heavy. More than once I’ve found myself splayed out on the ground yelling and cursing, the neighbors looking on and laughing, while one of the dogs is standing there wagging his nub seemingly thinking — what’re you gettin’ all pissy about. This is fun.

I can’t speak with the same authority on the Jewish question. Books from this era do seem to engage in a reflexive anti-semitism. It’s almost like the writer expected only like-minded christians to read their book. At any rate the propensity by christians to bash jews over money issues comes up again and again in books of that era. As you noted, it came up in both the books we recently discussed. The irony of course is christians brought this ineptness towards money on themselves through all the anti-usury rules passed down by the church from way back. Ya don’t do it, ya don’t get good at it, and ya certainly don’t fully understand it. But what the hey — might as well just blame somebody else, eh?

Anyway, the book is good at illuminating the hypocrisy of the churchy people. But I think it comes out more strongly against drunkenness than churchiness. Temperance is a thread that runs through American culture back to the Puritans. I could almost see Carrie Nation reading this book and taking notes.

[hellsapoppin]

Sancho,


Temperance is a thread that runs through American culture back to the Puritans. I could almost see Carrie Nation reading this book and taking notes.

What a great quote! This especially since Nation encountered Crane's widow a couple of years after his death:



https://thecoastal.com/featured/gran...-jacksonville/

[Sancho]

Haha, go figure... and then Carrie went home and began to sharpen her axe...

[Sancho]

...meanwhile, in a neighborhood just west of the Bowery, several of the boys who'd recently immigrated from Sicily, were hatching out a scheme for a new stream of revenue.

This stuff just writes itself.

[hellsapoppin]

The Cop and the Anthem


https://americanliterature.com/autho...and-the-anthem


Great irony in this little comedy story set in Gotham. But so memorable that it was adopted into a movie and later as a TV skit on the Red Skelton show. In this fun little tale, the writer reveals that, strangely enough, there is no free will. Life is directed by an unchangeable determinism. This much like the fate suffered by those in Maggie. But at least here the church, despite all of life's injustices and unfairness, appeared to have or tried to have some redeeming value. Thankfully, there is survival so there is some measure of hope.

I like the language used by O Henry ~ the milieu the chief character aspired to was described in flowery language, very paradisiac and almost Heaven like (quite a contrast with Crane who described the milieu as HELL). Again, ironic as most folks would not normally view prison that way.

[hellsapoppin]

Jacob Riis photos illustrate Maggie's frightening nether world.

[Sancho]

Good pic’s. I could almost smell the stink.

Have you read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle? It’s set in the early 1900s in the stockyards and meat packing plants of south-side Chicago. Sinclair intended it as a worker’s rights polemic, but instead it wound up getting people all riled up about food safety. I’ve started it a couple of times, but never managed to complete it.

[hellsapoppin]

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle


Started to read it as a teen well back in the 1960s but couldn't stomach its contents. Mebbe some day as it is a very significant revelation about certain important conditions in Chi Town.

[Danik 2016]

HELL is repeated so many times in the book that its symbolism here cannot possibly be misunderstood.

When Maggie goes off with Peter, Mary refers to him as that "jude fellow". Evidently, being a Jew makes Pete into a menace. Maggie goes "to the DEVIL" according to her mother. "We'll have a HELL of a time" he tells Mag.

Somehow this soils Mag's reputation (she is now "cursed forever") and Pete is suddenly confronted by Jim and an associate about it. He has "the glare of a panther" and the three fight like "roosters". Jimmie sees the cops coming and he flees. Rather than trying to save his pal he says, ''oh, what the HELL".


To Mag, Pete is like a "lion of lordly characteristics". she admires him and briefly views him as a protector. "Wealth and prosperity was indicated by his clothes". While everyone looks at her strangely, "she imagines a future, rose tinted, because of its distance from all that she previously had experienced".

How wrong she was! In Christianity the apostle Peter is said to hold the keys to the Golden Gate. In Crane, he brings about Maggie's hellish downfall.

Mary goes into yet another drunken rampage and is put before a police court. The magistrate tells her, "Mary, the records of this and other courts show that you are the mother of forty-two daughters who have been ruined. The case is unparalleled in the annals of this court, and this court thinks—"

Evidently, it had been an endless cycle of drunkeness, violence, endless excuses, and dissipation for her.


Maggie continued to go with Pete for three weeks. She had a "spaniel-like dependence" on him. Pete had been "leonine" but is rather submissive to a skank named Nell who turns her back on her date to speak with him. The date called a "mere boy" refers to Pete as a "plug ugly". He drinks "as if replying defiantly to fate". Pete and Nell leave while Mag and the mere boy chat uncomfortably. He then pays her fare for her to get home.

Jimmie is followed by a girl he got into trouble. But he eludes her. He escapes and finds his way home. Maggie returns only to be taunted by everyone. She leaves in despondency.

Pete feels some guilt over what happens. But Nell says that Mag is "a pale little thing with no spirit". Mag implores Pete to take her back but he says "GO TO HELL!" Indeed, she tried to approach a preacher but he thought she was a hooker and avoided her in order to save his reputation. She walks the streets for several months barely surviving. As she walks those streets, they get darker and darker.

Pete nearly drinks himself into oblivion. Nell says Pete never betrays anyone nor go back on his word. "I'm a good f'ler" sez he in his stupor as he slurs his words. He stumbles on the floor and drops his money which Nell picks up happily and stuffs into her pocket.


Mary is told Maggie has died. Seemed like people felt more badly for Mary than for her deceased daughter. "She's gone to where her ter'ble sins will be judged". "Her life was a curse an' her days were black." All implore Mary to forgive her. I the end she shouts "I'll forgive her, I'll forgive her!"



As Sancho said above, Maggie is a "flat" or shallow character. She is weak, vulnerable, naive, and given to being overly dependent. But why? Clearly, Crane views Gotham as a HELL on earth. He repeats the word HELL so many times throughout the story and repeatedly equates the characters with animals in this sordid society. There is no real free will, all is predetermined. Death, destruction, dissipation, poverty, misery, want, are all one is fated to endure in this hellish, atavistic society. The church is no real help. People scurry to and fro. Many do work but no background information is given so that we could determine why or how they escaped these terrible conditions. For all its troubles, the Lower East Side did have many settlement houses, anti-vice organizations, and relief agencies. There were also progressive political groups which sought to reform society that the problem of prostitution would be dealt with as a health problem and not a crime. Why were these not mentioned in the book?

Gotham sure is a HELL on earth according to Crane. What's worse is that he does not appear to believe there is any hope for anyone who is in it.

As they say all throughout the story, "ah, what the HELL?" Such is fate, there is no escape.

A general question. What calls my attention is that this early days Christianism seems to have been utterly relentless. More of a punishing than a forgiving faith.

[hellsapoppin]

A general question. What calls my attention is that this early days Christianism seems to have been utterly relentless. More of a punishing than a forgiving faith.

So many claim to worship the Prince of Peace. Ironically, it is an incontrovertible fact that more people have been killed in his name than for any other reason in human history.

[Danik 2016]

THat´s true.But I wasn´t even thinking about the religious wars but how it was applied to church doctrine.