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Symbolism in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
Summary: In his novel Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Stephen Crane used two particular types of symbolism to dehumanize common people and to emphasize their filthiness, low quality of life, and inability to rise above their place in the world. Crane used animal images, such as worms and bugs, as well as color symbols, such as yellow and pale green, to portray the ugliness and insignificance of the common people's plight.
In Maggie a Girl of the Streets, Stephen Crane uses animal images and color symbolism to de-humanize and emphasize the filthiness and insignificance of the common people.
Crane begins using animal images and color symbols in the beginning of MAGOTS, when he refers to a line of convicts as a worm: ."..a worm of unknown convicts..." (1). By comparing the convicts to a worm, Crane emphasizes both the filthiness and insignificance of the common people. Worms are grubby creatures that live in the dirt and grime. The link between the convicts and the dirty worms shows that the convicts are filthy, just like the worms. Worms are very small and insignificant creatures. This comparison shows just how little the lives of the lowly common people mean to the rest of the world. Crane continues, connecting colors to the convicts: .".. came from the shadow of a gray ominous building..." (1). The...
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This section contains 938 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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