119 For Instructors: Maggie a Girl of the Streets
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane
Language is important. We do not tend to think much about the importance of language, especially written language, but writing has been one of the most important inventions of humanity. The written word is over 5000 years old. Imagine that for a second. We can actually see the thoughts of someone who lived 1000 years before the Pyramids of Giza. One of the keys to understanding and thinking about language is to use the context of when it was written in order to gain a greater understanding of the text, which, in turn, allows a better insight into the time it was written.
As you read this novella (which is something longer than a short story yet shorter than a novel), the first thing you will notice is the dialect in which it was written. The language is not standard. It uses slang and spelling we are not used to. As such, it will take some getting used to, but with time, you will begin to understand and hear the language come to life in your head. This is important because it allows you to see a world that is alien to you in both time and space. Things going on at that time (the early 1890s) and place (Lower Manhattan) are both similar and different than they are today. One of the things that is very important about this story is that it was written during the Naturalism movement. This link will help you think about the Naturalism movement. Instead of going out to nature and writing about nature in a romantic way, writers began writing about the world in an objective way. Many times the setting occurred in a city, like in this story. The city is presented in its unabashed naked truth. As we read this novella, it is important to read the webpage associated with the link presented above. Furthermore, as you will discover in your groups, the writing and the thinking of the day was greatly influenced by three of the biggest thinkers of that time. You will learn about Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, who are all writers and thinkers that are still attacked and considered by some to be controversial today. The point of learning about them is not to believe what they believed but to understand how their thoughts and writings influenced the entire world, to the point that you can see elements of their thoughts in this novella.
“Maggie Girl of the Street:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/447
This story was a bit different in many ways than what else we have read.
In-class work:
Give a written response to the story.
- What did you think of it?
- What do we make of all the violence in the novel?
- What happens to Maggie? What caused this to happen?
Now, read the following information from the website: https://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/natural.htm
- How does this change your understanding of the text?
- Sometimes it helps to gain an understanding of what was going on during the time a text was written (or before). There were three big thinkers from that time that greatly influenced the way people understood the world.
Group Activity:
In groups, choose one of the following people and discuss who they were, what they wrote, and how that changed the way people understood the world.
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- Karl Marx
- Charles Darwin
- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
- Report your findings to the class so that we have a better understanding of the world at this time.
- Now, spend a few minutes composing a new response of what you think the text means and how it is making a social commentary.
Essay Assignment:
As you have read the text and discussed it in class, your thoughts have probably been altered and changed some. For this assignment, it is important for you to think about what it means to “come of age.” For this assignment, you will be analyzing the text in a way where you talk about what you think the text means and how your meaning changed as you looked at the material presented in class. As you write about what you think the text means, discuss your experience of how you were influenced by your environment as you grew up to become the person you are today. Please pull passages from the text and discuss how your life has been similar or different. Finally, discuss which portions of the text influenced you the most.
This essay must be at least 1000 words and no more than 1250 word. You will be graded as follows:
| Superior (A)
25 points |
Good (B)
20 points |
Acceptable (C)
14 points |
Needs Improvement
(D) 12 points |
Failing (F)
10 points |
Not Submitted
0 points |
|
| Essay objective (analysis) | Demonstrates mastery performance and/or skill toward this objective. | Demonstrates above average performance and/or skill toward this objective. | Demonstrates moderate performance and/or skill toward this objective. | Demonstrates partial performance and/or skill toward this objective. | Demonstrates lack of performance and/or skill toward this objective. | Not submitted |
| Grammar and sentence structure | For the most part, the submission is free of grammatical and spelling errors. Sentence structure is sophisticated and varied | Though the submission may have occasional grammatical errors, the errors do not interfere with the reader’s understanding of the writer’s main ideas. Most sentences are properly developed and varied. | There is one pattern of error or many proofreading errors, but these do not cause reader confusion. Sentence structure is adequate, but many sentences lack thoughtful development and variation. | There are errors in sentence structure or other grammatical errors that cause reader confusion. Sentences may be too simplistic and lack proper development. | There are significant errors in sentence structure or other grammatical errors that cause reader confusion. Sentences are simplistic and underdeveloped. | Not submitted |
| Audience and Purpose | The writer demonstrates an exceptional understanding of the subject and shows consideration of the audience (readers). | For the most part, the writer demonstrates an understanding of the subject and shows consideration of the audience, but with the essay may be less sophisticated than a “Superior” response. | For the most part, the writer demonstrates an understanding of the subject and shows consideration of the audience, but one or both of these areas may need attention. | The essay may be weak in either audience consideration or understanding of the subject called for in the assignment. | The essay demonstrates a lack of serious consideration of the audience and shows the writer’s lack of understanding of the subject called for in the assignment. | Not submitted |
| Content and Development
(direct citation of the literature and other sources as needed) |
The thesis of the essay is supported with details and strong examples throughout the essay, as required by the assignment. | There are adequate details to support the main idea (thesis), but more details are necessary to fully understand the writer’s ideas. | More details are needed to fully understand the writer’s ideas. Some examples are unrelated to the main ideas of paragraphs and/or to the overall thesis of the essay. | The submission is on topic, but the development of the response is lacking. The essay also may have problems with tone and/or approach to the assignment. | The development of the essay is very weak and does not meet the minimum expectations of development for a college-level writing assignment | Not submitted |
| Overall Score | 100 | 80 | 70 | 60 | 50 |
