Thoreau v.

Crane Essay
Griffin Reilly
BLUE GROUP

The Civil War left America in ruins, and many horrible people sought out ways to feed off of this disaster. Two major classes emerged: the super poor, and the ultra-rich. This point in our history is known as the Gilded Age, when America truly began to form itself as an industrial powerhouse. Many different styles of life emerged, and multiple famous writers did too, each with a unique view of society. Authors Stephen Crane and Henry Thoreau gave riveting tales of their own and others experiences in this world. Thoreau and Crane differ on the ideas of controlling ones destiny and material possessions, but agree on the idea of self-reliance in society. In Stephen Cranes Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, a young Irish immigrant family is living in the slums of Gilded Age Manhattan. Their daughter, Maggie, is a beautiful young girl, and is not built for the hostile environment in which she lives in. She is easily seduced by a young man named Pete, who is disloyal to her, and he soon leaves her for another girl. Maggie gives up on her dreams of escaping poverty, and tries to make money as a street girl, which leads to her early and unfortunate demise. Crane uses many dark and descriptive words throughout Maggie to express the awful lives that the American people have to live through during the Gilded Age. He is a Naturalist writer, and this book is a strong example of Realism, which is popular and frequently used in this time period. In Walden, Thoreau tells his story of venturing out to Walden Pond, in order to live in true solitude. He speaks frequently of how simple life could and should be lived, and that possessions and philanthropy are things that hold one back from succeeding in life. Thoreau does not believe that work is meant to be done for other people, rather it should only be done for ones self. Walden has a strong theme of self-reliance, stating frequently that one should not rely on other people to help them get through the struggles of life. Thoreau is the ideal, non-material man, and is a true transcendentalist.

In Stephen Cranes Maggie, the girl has seemingly outrageous dreams for herself that she cannot attain, and Crane boldly believes that ones environment controls his or her destiny. Thoreau believes, however, that if one keeps life simple and do work only for yourself, they can achieve any goal in life. Both of these books have a strong theme of controlling ones destiny, just in the complete opposite sense. Crane shows that sometimes, one must forget his or her dreams and just learn how to survive on their own. The main character in Cranes book, Maggie, is not built for the life she has to live, and can not adapt. Maggie is not self-reliant, which is something key to surviving in her time. This, as he put it, ultimately leads to her death. Crane describes Maggie as, She grew to be the most rare and wonderful production of a tenement district, a pretty girl. None of the dirt of Rum Alley seemed to be in her veins, (49). This was the first time Crane described Maggie, and right off the bat, he is telling the reading that she doesnt belong where she is. In one of the final scenes (88-89), Maggie is strolling through the city looking for a client. This scene shows the girl slowly dying and fading to nothing, watching as her dreams escape her. Crane shows multiple times that Maggie does not understand how her world worked, and it has a direct correlation to her early death. On the other hand, in Thoreaus Walden, he stated many times that all you need to get what you want in life are your own bare hands. If one works hard, and keeps things simple, he or she can get everything they wanted in their life. I thus found that the student who wishes for a shelter can obtain one for a lifetime at an expense not greater than which he now pays annuallyI will breathe freely and stretch myself in this respect, it is such a relief to both the moral and physical system, (42-43) Thoreau writes after completing his house and shows that it only cost him an axe, a couple of trees, and only $28.13. He shows that it does not take much to achieve ones dreams and to be happy in life. Thoreau feels the same with food, I learned from my two years experience that it would cost incredibly little trouble to obtain ones necessary food, (51-52). Thoreau implies that people do have choices on how they want to live, but in the end, he constantly states that one needs almost nothing to get

what he or she wants in life. One thing that Thoreau never focuses on was the idea of how ones environment affects his or her destiny. He always mentions how easy it is to survive and that theres nothing to it, but is it easy for him because he is not, in fact, impoverished? Crane surely believes that environment directly relates to surviving in life, and its why Maggie ends up the way she does. Material possessions are something for which Thoreau seemingly had a personal vendetta; they are worthless, and they held people back from more meaningful endeavors throughout their lives. Crane sees, however, that possessions are things that connect one to his or her past, and sometimes even keeps them alive. Thoreau is constantly waving the metaphorical flag that reads keep it simple. His view is that if it isnt necessary, if ones life does not depend on a single object, than the object is not necessary. Thoreau includes a list of the individual costs of every single item he uses and whether he truly uses all of it in the end, and if he truly needs it or not. In this list, he includes captions such as, That was high. More than I needed. (42) Or, I carried a good part on my back. He keeps close watch of all his possessions, and as he refers to a paperweight, I did more work for it than it did for me, (46) which he gets rid of simply because he had to keep dusting it, when the paperweight gives him little to nothing in return. In Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Stephen Crane is not nearly as harsh, towards material possessions. In the hostile world he is describing, people take whatever they can get, and do not stop and have an intellectual conversation with themselves about whether they really need these possessions. In Maggie, these possessions represent the characters and used in attempts to impress someone, which she attempts to do with Pete. Here, Crane writes of one of these particular attempts, She spent some of her weeks pay in the purchase of a flowered cretonne for a lambrequin. (53-54) This item would be in Thoreaus category of a gee-gaw, something for which Thoreau expresses hatred. In Cranes diction throughout Maggie, he beautifully describes these possessions and it seems as if these items are something that define the era and the way industrial Manhattan

functioned. When Pete shows Maggie a just a tad less poverty, Crane describes the dresses people wear and the beauty that surrounds them, An orchestra of (wondrous) yellow silk women A battalion of waiters slid among the people, carrying trays of beer glasses Little boys paraded up and down the irregular aisles vending fancy cakes, (55). Selling unnecessary things to people, despite not needing them, is something that kept these waiters or little boys alive, as it is how they make their money. In an environment where the social and economic classes are so far apart, these possessions and items are an importance, even though Thoreau cant see it. One of the very few things upon which Henry David Thoreau and Stephen Crane agreed, is the idea of self-reliance. In just about every living situation you can think of, one must be able to rely on his or her own abilities to some extent. Thoreau did not believe in doing physical labor for another man, but simply for himself. When he builds his own cabin at Walden Pond, Thoreau writes that humans are able to do more than they think they can, and that they can, safely trust a good deal more than we do. We may waive just so much care of ourselves as we honestly bestow elsewhere, (13). Thoreau also talks about how men have forgotten how to rely on themselves, and that they have become tools of their tools, (33) and that humans now work for others, just to get things they need, and things they could have gotten on his or her own much easier. His entire twenty page step by step narrative of how he builds his house, and the problems he encounters, and that he does it all by himself, are all perfect examples of self reliance (35-57). In Rum Alley, the place in which Maggies family lived, if one dont know how to fight, then they would be killed off in a split second. The younger brother, Jimmie, is a perfect fit in this neighborhood, as he knows how to fight, and is extremely tough. It is literally a life or death situation every single day. Describing Jimmie in the first chapter, Crane writes, His infantile countenance was livid with fury. His small body was writhing in the delivery of great, crimson oaths, (36). He (Crane) frequently shows Jimmies toughness, and how that allows him to fit in and survive in the environment. Maggies dreams are unrealistic and cannot be achieved, She

wondered if culture and refinement she had seen could be acquired by a girl who lived in a tenement house and worked in a shirt factory, (50). She needs to find some suiting way for her to survive, but she cant, and she eventually dies soon afterwards. Crane believes that Maggie has the ability to be self-reliant, but that no one offers her help in any way, which leads to her death. In her world, it is impossible to live without self reliance, and that is something upon which Thoreau and Crane both agree. Writers Stephen Crane and Henry David Thoreau have similar views on life, despite coming from different places. They disagree, however, on the ability to control ones destiny, and material possessions. They did agree, on the other hand, that one needs to be self reliant in order to survive, and that others arent always going to be there to help, so one needs to be prepared.

Works Cited
"1914-1945 Making Connections." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2013. <http://wwnorton.com/college/english/naal8/section/volD/makingConnections.a spx>. Section 8, Volume D Strickland, Brad. "AMERICAN ROMANTICISM OVERVIEW." American Romanticism Overview. Gainesville College, 1997. Web. 18 Dec. 2013. <http://www.westga.edu/~mmcfar/AMERICAN%20ROMANTICISM%20overview.h tm>.