Maggi: a girl of the streets
...over.” (Crane, 25). This excerpt from the book is when Maggie first met Pete. Pete seems to have it all, and Maggie is taken by him. He shows confidence and worldliness that would seem to promise good wealth and fortune. She sees in him the possibility of a romance and perhaps an escape from Rum Alley. In a scene in chapter 10, Maggie is seen by the old woman in the hall crying and asking Pete over and over if he loved her, Pete’s answer is a quick “...Oh, hell, yes…” (Crane, 44). Maggie is naïve enough to believe his pathetic, short answer. Maggie obviously had no love from Pete, for he discards her as soon as the next girl comes along, and I think this scares Maggie deeply. After Maggie’s father passes away, Jimmy becomes the new head of the household. Jimmy felt it was necessary for Maggie to take a job. “ ‘Mag, I’ll the yeh dis! See? Yeh’ve edder got teh go teh hell or go teh work!’ Whereupon she went to work, having the feminine aversion of going to hell.” (Crane, 22). Maggie got a job working in a sweatshop for a factory making collars and cuffs. If you were a woman during this time, the odds were against in the working field. Maggie got this position “…by chance…” (Crane, 22), and she barely made any money. All of Maggie’s work consisted of stitching collars and cuffs, not much to it if you ask me. Women in this era didn’t work much at all. They mostly stayed at home and “worked” as homemakers. There really wasn’t much else for women to do. Maggie wanted to get out of Rum Alley and to go places. She thought her ticket out was Pete, but when that didn’t work out, she really had no other options but to turn to prostitution. Especially since her family wouldn’t take her in, and shunned her. Maggie’s family life is in shreds. Maggie’s parents are drunks and abusive towards each other. “There was a crash against the door and something broke, clattering fragments….heard howls and curses, groans and shrieks, confusingly in chorus as if a battle were raging. With all was the crash of splintering furniture.” (Crane, 14). Maggie never saw love and affection between her parents, so the life of a prostitute doesn’t seem any worse than the life she’s already living. She never receives love from any on...