Labor and work, right to work and obligation to do so have always been controversial points in the human society. With its historical development, the mankind has transformed the ideas about who is to work and how these people are to work. The issue of the female work is of special interest in this context as far as the very right of a woman to work has long been doubted and rejected. However, when women obtained the right to work, soon it transformed into an obligation that women perceived with aversion and insecurity. The novel Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane considers the issue of women’s work in the late 19th century United States, and the main focuses of the novel are the unprotected work and social position of women in the then society.
Thus, Crane’s novel is the realistic picture of the life of the American working class in the late 19th century. This novel is called the first sign of naturalism in the American literature as it depicted the reality of life to such an extent that the author had to fund the book publishing himself as major publishing houses rejected the too naturalistic and realistic work of art. One of the points that make the novel so real is the account of women labor and the actual imposture of the working duties upon women as they “edder got teh go teh hell or go teh work” (Crane, 2004, p. 18). Maggie, the main novel’s character, was forced to work, but when she had ideas of career development her plans were destroyed by the unprotected status of women in the society and the love affair with Pete.
In this aspect of the novel another point about women’s labor representation can be observed. Maggie was affected by Pete’s attitude towards her and saw no alternative but being with this man. However, the overall public scorn and Pete’s betrayal made it impossible for Maggie to restore her social position and reputation in which the excessive dependency of women on males in the described period of time can be observed (Crane, 2004, p. 42). Finally, the oppressive attitude of Maggie’s mother and brother vividly describes the labor reality of the time when a girl could be told by her own mother to “go teh hell” and “git out” (Crane, 2004, p. 34). As a result, the lack of hope for the better and the absence of any developmental perspectives lead Maggie to prostitution. Thus, Crane (2004) shows how the consequences of the unprotected women labor and the society’s being not ready to perceive women as the rightful social life participants lead to women’s descending in the social structure and being forced to earn money for living by such publically scorned means as prostitution (Crane, 2004, p. 67). Maggie’s death at the end of the story can be considered a predictable result of the unprotected women’s labor as represented by Crane in his novel.
So, the conclusion from the above considerations is that women’s labor is represented in the novel Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane as a personality-oppressing and life-ruining phenomenon, but the reason for this is not labor as such and rather the social attitude towards women’s labor and lack of protection for female workers in the late 19th century America.
Works Cited
Crane, Stephen. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Kessinger Publishing, 2004. Print.