Olivia Lewis 11/17/12 Blue Group The Difference Between Walden and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets Both

Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden, and Stephen Crane, author of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets give advice in their books about how to have the happiest and most satisfying life, but their suggestions completely contradict each other. Henry David Thoreau gives strict guidelines in his book, Walden, for his idea of the perfect life while Stephen Crane, who wrote Maggie, uses his novel to advise the reader to set realistic goals. Thoreau believes that the ideal person should be content with having few belongings and must be free to embrace nature and a simple life. Crane does not share this same, harsh, no-possessions policy but proves through the plot of Maggie that some possessions can turn out to be useless. According to Thoreau, the key to perfect life is establishing and maintaining self reliance and being ones own teacher. In the novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, however, when Maggie ventures out on her own, and tries to be self-reliant, she quickly strays too far and her actions lead to her miserable demise and death. The main ideas of both Walden by Henry David Thoreau and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane are choosing between handling possessions by copying Thoreau and throwing them all out except food, water, fuel, and minimal clothing or simply staying cautious of possessions like Crane, creating a life by being completely self-reliant, similar to Thoreau or by being alert but accepting that full self-reliance is unachievable, similar to Crane, and living life by following Thoreau's dreams of idealism or Crane's advice to stay realistic. Throughout the first chapter of Walden, Economy, Thoreau openly shows his disdain for possessions not crucial to human survival as he feels they are unnecessary and only force one to look after them, making them a burden. On the second page of the book, Thoreau writes that

he pities those who have had the "misfortune...to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools" (8). Thoreau feels sorry for these people because since they have inherited all these possessions, they have no choice but to follow in the path that the possessions lay out for them. The man who has inherited the farm, for example, does not have the option to pursue what career best suits and pleases him but must become a farmer. Thoreau also looks down on possessions as he believes that they are not worth the maintenance they require. He even describes three pieces of limestone that he once owned but threw out after learning that in keeping them he would have to clean them (32). To Thoreau, the only belongings that one must have are the four elements he believes vital for life: food, shelter, clothing, and fuel, and less so of the latter. All other worldly possessions are useless to him as they force one to do labor to keep them, thus preventing one from doing other, more productive or enjoyable activities. Stephen Crane agrees with Thoreau that most possessions do not help people survive in life. When the protagonist of the novel, Maggie, first starts seeing her boyfriend, Pete, she attempts to decorate her familys shabby tenement to impress him. Some of her decoration attempts include spending some of her weeks pay in the purchase of flowered cretonne for a lambrequin, which Pete does not even notice (53). The lambrequin does not serve its purpose and thus proves useless to Maggie, giving support to Thoreaus point against possessions. Any of Maggies other attempts to make herself more appealing to Pete by buying certain products fail to secure him as a husband, since Pete abandons her shortly after ruining her. Crane; however, does not put a curse upon all household belongings. Since Maggies family kicks her out after Pete ruins her, her only option to support herself is to become a prostitute. With nowhere to go, money and a house would have been extremely helpful to Maggie as she would have had other resources with which to support herself. Though Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is

a realistic fiction novel about a poor family with few possessions to look down on, Crane does make a point that some of them do not help the characters live lives of contentment. Thoreau advises establishing self-reliance as he believes those who only need to rely upon themselves can create the most effective and satisfying results in life. In Walden, he discourages purchasing a house using loans from the bank, because then one is dependent on the bank until they own the house outright. Thoreau praises the Native Americans who have built their own house because they have full ownership of their house and do not have to pay anyone for it or run the risk of having their home foreclosed. Self-reliance is a crucial quality to develop for Thoreau; which is why he spent two years in a cabin in the woods next to Walden Pond with no other human for company. He also discusses his schooling experience at Harvard, where, after graduating, he had "discovered," that he "had studied navigation (44). Thoreau states that he would have known more about [navigation], if he had simply gone down the harbor, and taught himself navigation, (44). His words demonstrate his point that the best way of learning is through teaching oneself so as not to depend on another for obtaining knowledge. To Thoreau, the best teacher in life is oneself and only through creating self-reliance can one learn to live a satisfying life. Unlike Thoreau's advice to venture out in the world to learn, Stephen Crane has different opinions on self-reliance. With no responsible adult in her life, Crane's protagonist, Maggie, starts making her own choices and starts working at "an establishment where they made collars and cuffs," (50). After she starts using her wages to beautify her family's tenement and herself, Pete takes notice of her and they begin seeing each other. They go too far in their relationship, though, and Maggie's family kicks her out leaving her with no choice but to become a prostitute, which leads to her untimely death. Maggie attempts to learn to be self-reliant and ventures out

on her own without anyone's protection but is unsuccessful at remaining self-reliant as she finds herself dependent on Pete when he steals her good reputation. While Thoreau encourages establishing self-reliance through excursions in the real world, Crane warns the reader that complete self-reliance is impossible to achieve. One of the main lessons the authors want the readers to follow in both books is how to establish a stable life. Henry David Thoreau gives strict instructions throughout his book about how to live the ideal life while Stephen Crane's message in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is to think realistically. Thoreau writes a great deal in Walden about how to embrace nature, and overcome great struggles of humanity, especially the issues of too many human possessions and too much dependency on others. Thoreau's main goal is to achieve complete self-reliance; the reason he spent two years at Walden Pond surrounded by nothing but the wilderness. Thoreau wants to achieve perfection by creating an independent life for himself that demonstrates selflessness and his gratefulness towards nature. Stephen Crane's advice follows a philosophy completely opposite of Thoreau's ideas. Crane thinks the best pathway for life is a realistic one and he suggests not to dream of perfection which is the main conflict of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. When Maggie sees Pete, she almost immediately believes him to be "the beau ideal of a man" (52). She continues a romantic dream about living her whole life with Pete who she believes to "have great sums of money to spend" as well (53). In the end, not only does Pete turn out to be just a bartender, but he quickly dumps Maggie after he has ruined her, and her family throws her out, leaving her to become a homeless prostitute. Before Pete left her, Maggie had dreamed of a perfect life with him and had attempted to follow her dreams of staying with Pete but he quickly ruined and dumped her leading to her family to kick her out and her dying. Both Thoreau and Crane make their points

clear: Thoreau publicizes his steps to a perfect life while Crane states that being realistic about one's possibilities is a key to a good life and romantic thoughts, such as striving for a perfect life, can easily lead one down the wrong path. Both Thoreau and Crane advise the readers to follow the lessons of their own books despite the existing opposing philosophies. In the chapter, "Economy," in Walden, the author, Henry David Thoreau, is feeding the reader tips on how to have the idealistic life. The end lesson and moral of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is to have achievable hopes and aspirations and that full self-reliance is not possible. Walden and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets may have been written by people with two very different opinions on human beings, but in the end, these books are these men's guides to life.

Works Cited Crane, Stephen. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1893. Print. Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. N.p.: Barnes & Noble Classics, 1854. Print.