Maggie: A girl of the streets
...er argument for the city being judgmental, at the same time, it was extremely diverse. The mixing of hundreds of cultures during this time period is what led the United States to be the multicultural place it is today. While the city was not perfect, it was a place to live, and a place that was flourishing with industry and opportunity. Numerous industrial opportunities were taken by women in many families, for the women were the survivors. They worked just as hard or perhaps harder than their male counterparts and continued to battle through their lives. Women had many challenges to face living in the city. As soon as Maggie was old enough, she got a job in a sweatshop for a factory that made collars and cuffs. Due to her mother’s state, Maggie was left to provide money for her and her brother. Women also had to deal with family problems. In Mary’s case, her husband was deceased and the only way she could cope was with alcohol. Although this method of survival was extremely unhealthy, she survived. Women also had to deal with the repetition of destruction in their families. In the Johnson’s case, after Maggie’s father had died, Jimmie assumed the role as the man of the house. Soon, Jimmie began to come home after a long day at work, like his father did, drunk and ranting about his day and problems at work. Maggie saw the path of destruction starting all over again. The working woman was also under siege in general. Women were put on a pure pedestal, with their long, full coverage dresses and upstanding citizenry. Women from families like Maggie’s had to strip off their long dresses to be able to work in the factories. They went out against society’s norm just to survive. Many women meet these challenges with open arms. Complaints were few and far between because they knew that they had to do whatever it took to survive. At first, Maggie went to work due to her general fear of going to hell, as her brother had told her. She sat at her machine all day, without a complaint in the world. Others, such as Mary, turned to alcoholism, not only as a coping mechanism, but as a means of survival. Still later in the story, as Maggie’s situation grew more dire, she turned to prostitution, as many women did in this time period. Some challenges brought rougher consequences than others. Many women were able to work hard, beat the odds and survive. Still, more were left to an undesirable fate, or perhaps even death. Maggie’s death was a result of the conditions that she lived in. Her mother’s alcoholism caused Maggie to become an outcast. “Go teh hell an’ good riddance” Maggie’s mother said. She was forced to turn to the streets, because not even Pete, her rock, was there to pull her out of the agony of her life. She saw the streets as her only alternative. “Those glances of the men, shot at Maggie from under half-closed lids, made her tremble. She thought them all to be worse men than Pete.” This statement clearly shows that Maggie was not a morally corrupt girl. She saw the glances men made at her in the bar as degrading, and had no desire to be in the presence of such things. This is a prime example of a main theme throughout the book. Her socioeconomic condition forced her to pursue an alternative that she did not believe in. Also, Maggie’s mother sent mixed messages. “She's deh devil's own chil', Jimmie," she whispered. "Ah, who would t'ink such a bad girl could grow up in our fambly, Jimmie, me son. Many deh hour I've spent in talk wid dat girl an' tol' her if she ever went on deh streets I'd see her damned. An' after all her bringin' up an' what I tol' her and talked wid her, she goes teh deh bad, like a duck teh water." Her mother expected her to be a perfect child, but at the same time, showed no love or care, and was definitely no role model for a young girl to follow. In a literal sense, Maggie “going to the devil” as Jimmie said, and turn...