Upper Class Imitation in Maggie: A Girl of the Street
The characters used by Crane in Maggie: A Girl of the Street resided in the savage and uncomfortable lower class dominion of the Bowery apartments. Additionally, these run- down tenements barely met minimal living standards of quality. “A world of ‘dark stairways’ and ‘tattered gamins’ of ‘howls and curses, groans and shrieks’” (Crane, 2011, p.7). Nevertheless, there are existed people of higher social classes within the same neighborhood, towards whom Jimmie, Maggie’s brother, has portrayed immense hostility. “Jimmie maintains a belligerent attitude to all well- dressed men, particularly to obvious Christians and ciphers with the chrysanthemums of aristocracy in their button-holes” (Crane, 2011, pg.14).
Conversely, Pete, a bartender in Bowery who later on became Maggie’s admirer, demystifies and gives insight to the social class dynamics in Crane’s novel. As relayed by Crane, Pete is impelled by imitation and mirroring whereby he strives to be better than his fellow counterparts in Bowery. By emulating various upper class forms and values, such as through his dress code with an edge of competition, Pete tries to break down the pronounced and obvious divide between the two social worlds, that are the lower and upper classes, mainly when he pais a visit to Maggie Johnson’s substandard and necessitous realm. “With his checked legs, oiled bang, blue double-breasted coat, and patent leather shoes which resemble murder-fitted weapons” (Crane, 2011, pg.17). Hence, Pete undoubtedly appears to be amongst the trendy and glamorous working class people, thereby, conveying and ushering the suburban and citified refinement, poise, elegance, and self-esteem into the Johnson family. Indeed, by imitating the upper class norms and behaviors as shown throughout the essay, Pete does not only manage to show how superior and uptown he is but also distinctively brings out the class dynamics in Crane’s novel.
Impacts of Painlessness in The Rise of Silas Lapham
Howells uses the success of his characters to portray the greatness of realism and avoids focusing on their pain. The success of Silas Lapham is a depiction of the challenges and pains he goes through to achieve a great success in business. His efforts to not focus on his past helps him work hard to write a new history at a time when he has little, if any, hope of making it in business. Therefore, Silas uses his past and pain as a motivator to forge a business empire and achieves much as an entrepreneur. However, his actions can also be seen as a major start of his downfall. He disregards his morality and acts dishonestly to face out his competitor. He forgets that his challenges in business were later solved with the help of Rogers.
Mrs. Lapham is a true depiction of a woman who has endured pain at the hands of her husband. Unlike Rogers, she finally chooses to express her pain. “She knew him good and true and blameless in all his life, except for this wrong…her nerves tingled intolerably with some chance renewal of the pain she had suffered” (Howells, 2015, p.67). Perhaps, she is an epitome of those who choose the happiness of family before their own.
Even while focusing on the success of his characters, Howell also shows how they tend to hide their past with smiles. For instance, Milton K. Rogers conceals the pain he endured when Lapham, a business partner, contributed to his being faced out of business. His focus on ensuring that Lapham does not realize his intentions becomes his driving force. Like Silas, Rogers also compromises his morality and dishonestly disputes his friend. He fails to be the better man and channel his pain to goodness and not to hate, but focuses on revenge. Moreover, through Reverend Sewell’s economy of pain, one can argue that it represents suffering carrying its own organic anodyne and misfortune its organic benefit.
References
Crane, S., (2011). Maggie: A girl of the streets. Campton, N.H: Simply Magazine, Inc.
Howells, W. D. (2015). The rise of Silas Lapham. City of Westminster, London: Penguin Books.
