Civil warfare: naturalism, isolation, and place in Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage and Maggie: a Girl of the Streets, 2017
Jones, Brandi
2010-2019
Stephen Crane relayed two significant American war stories in The Red Badge of Courage (1895) and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893). While one bildungsroman details aspects of the American Civil War, the other unveils a subtler, societal war transpiring within the slums of New York City. Henry, the protagonist of The Red Badge of Courage, combats psychological turmoil when facing his terrors of war. Conversely, Maggie, the protagonist of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, remains naively unaware of the social war occurring within her New York community, the Bowery. Cranes works suggest that inner-city New York may be as perilous as combat in the American Civil War. Crane posits that Naturalism extends beyond physical, environmental influences to also include psychological, emotional influences. Whether affected by influences of emotionality or physicality, Henry and Maggie stumble toward societal acceptance and become one with their war-torn environment. KEY TERMS: War, Soldiers, Home, Family Characteristics, Place of Residence, Community, American Literature, American Studies, Arts and Humanities, English Language and Literature, Literature in English, North America
text
application/pdf
2017-07-30
thesis
Master of Arts (MA)
Clark Atlanta University
English
DeLong, Kelly Wright, Susan Osinubi, Viktor
Georgia--Atlanta
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:2017_jones_brandi
