Stephen Crane and Harriet Jacobs Novels Summary - Essay Example

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is the novel written by Stephen Crane in 1893and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is written by Harriet Jacobs in 1861. Both the stories tend to represent formative messages about men, their roles in the society, and how they have enhanced the expectations of their femininity. These novels are based on the characters of women and they represent the gender norms in a different way. Both the novels have female central characters but the messages of gender norms and femininity in both are differently portrayed. These two novels published in the 19th century show the variation in gender roles in American literature. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is the story of a girl Maggie who is hit deeply by the conditions she lives in. The poverty and bowery life has ruined her life. The social conditions have disrupted the family life and it has lead Maggie to enter the world of prostitution as she gave up. It shows how social conditions can affect the life of a girl so deeply that she transforms into a prostitute roaming on the streets. The gender norms of that time period considered women as toys and were considered weak. The character of Maggie shows the interpretation of the social conditions of that time which was popularly represented in American literature. Women were portrayed as weak in the society and in families hit by poverty, women were forced into prostitution and they were traded. There were no women rights and literature tended to portray the real picture of the society. On the other hand, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a different representation of women. This novel was an autobiography of the author who wrote an account of her struggle against slavery. The novel is about the black woman who spent 7 years in an attic to escape her master’s lust and sexual exploitation. She did this for her children who were also traded for slavery. The novel shows the strong character of a woman who saved her family while she spent seven tough years of her life in a hideout. This was an unusual representation of the gender norms of that time discussed in literature. In the 19th century, American literature consisted of stories about slavery which were usually male-centric. Several novels, poems, and stories have been published about slaves who were males and discussed how they escaped slavery and stood against it. The account by Jacobs was a turning point in American literature where the life of a slave woman was portrayed and the hardships of sexual exploitation, unwanted pregnancy, and the trade of body were faced. Critics were not even ready to believe that it was a real story as they thought it was too fantastic to be true. She wrote, “Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own” (Jacobs 86). The slaves would usually use literature to gain the sympathy of the whites. Their motive was to represent their conditions, sorrow, and pain as slaves. The main issue in the literature was slavery until Jacobs published her account. Her account gave a new meaning to the American literature as in her story she gave an account of the brutality and hardships faced by a slave, a mother, and a woman in order to save her respect and her children from being enslaved. It showed how she suffered pain yet wisely faced all the consequences that came to her. She showed love for her children and the objective to get her children released into a free life. This concept and message about gender norms turned the American literature. People were able to read another aspect of slavery and understand that how it tears apart individuals and their families. It also allowed people to read how black women suffered at the hands of their masters as they were treated as toys and their bodies were traded for sexual exploitation. Even though Jacobs account was a different kind of gender representation, Crane portrayed the accepted gender norms in literature. The message about females represented in Crane’s story was normal in literature as there were several poems and stories about how women were forced into prostitution and how they were subordinates of men. Women had no value or personal identity of their own and they were often caught by their conditions and family life. In this story as well, Crane presented how Maggie was betrayed by the guy she loved and further how her family disowned her leaving her no option but to jump in the dirt of prostitution. In American literature in the 19th century, masculinity was represented by the use of girls, number of girls a man has been with, and by dominating over women of the family. Maggie’s brother dominated her life which led her to flee from her life. Both Maggie’s boyfriend Pete and her brother Jimmy had been using girls, which was a very common trend in American literature. The story eventually portrayed how Maggie had no option but to choose prostitution for herself in order to survive. One important aspect in the novel significant in American literature was the title which is ‘Girl of the Streets’. This shows that Maggie is not a special girl; rather she is just another one from thousands of girls who are out on the streets. As Crane writes about the women of the streets; “formidable women, with uncombed hair and disordered dress, gossiped while leaning on railings, or screamed in frantic quarrels” (Crane 7). American literature had also discussed the stories and accounts of several such girls from the society. The essential element in this novel was that it focused more on the social condition, the setting, and the time in which it took place. The social conditions in which Maggie lived made her destined to such an end. Many novels in American literature reinforce the ideas of destiny and destruction to which the characters are prone. The frequency of such stories has been common. Jacob’s account is rather a novel which goes beyond the generally accepted norms and gender roles in American literature. Most slave accounts in American literature discussed the journey from slavery to freedom. In this account, the essential element was the discussion of the ‘incidents’ that took place in the black woman’s life. This narrative didn’t fit the generalized narratives from the male slaves present in literature. Jacob’s work was one of the most powerful and influential works of that time. Critiques have pointed out that the language used by Jacobs in her account is rather more of a British romantic style of that time rather than the style of an enslaved woman. In American literature, mostly the slave accounts were written in a slow, painful tone with dark humour but Jacobs uses a different style as she is writing about her family and her children. The feminine perspective was the main theme of the novel which was a revolutionary element in American literature. Thus, both the stories represent the gender norms of the American literature differently. As Crane’s novel tends to maintain the message of women’s position in the society and a consistent role of women in literature of 19th century, Jacobs’ account sheds a new light on the gender norms and styles of writing about slavery in literature. The message on gender norms is different in both the novels as in one the woman escapes after struggling while in the other Maggie is hit by prostitution even after her struggle to escape. Jacobs’ account showed how a woman could change her destiny and the fate of her children and Crane’s account shows how Maggie was eventually led by her destiny into destruction. Work Cited Crane Stephen. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. USA: Johnston Smith, 1893. Print. Jacobs Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. USA: Thayer & Eldridge, 1861. Print. Read More