Literary movement

American Naturalism emerged in the late 19th century and was influenced by scientific principles such as determinism and Charles Darwin's theory of evolution

View of human beings

Shaped by environment and heredity

Naturalism presents the belief that individuals are heavily influenced by their surroundings and genetics

Published in 1893

Stephen Crane's novella "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" was published in 1893 and is considered a seminal work in American Naturalism

Setting of the novella

"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" is set in the Bowery, a notorious slum in New York City, which serves as a microcosm of urban decay in late 19th-century America

Deterioration of the Bowery

From thriving theater district to tenement neighborhood

The Bowery was once a thriving theater district, but by the time of the Civil War, it had deteriorated into a neighborhood of tenements, brothels, and saloons

Trapped in a cycle of poverty and vice

The poor residents of the Bowery are trapped in a cycle of poverty and vice, with little hope for escape

Family dysfunction and violence

Maggie's life is marred by poverty, familial abuse, and societal neglect, as depicted through her dysfunctional family

Naïve infatuation with Pete

Mistaken for a knight in shining armor

Maggie's naïve infatuation with Pete leads her to mistake him for a savior from her squalid life

Environmental determinism

Maggie's eventual fall into prostitution and ambiguous death highlight the novel's central theme of environmental determinism, where individuals are powerless against external forces