Innocence vs. Experience in "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" by Stephen Crane

INNOCENCE VS. EXPERIENCE It is believed that the world exists in two fashions, innocence and experience. Neither can exist without its opposite. Innocence is where humans begin, and they must pass through experience on their way to heaven. One figure from turn-of-the-century literature are prime examples of innocence lost which characterize this idea. Maggie, author Stephen Crane's main character in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is a soul whose story shows the trauma of …

…to it. They do not admit that she was forced into experience by them, but rather wonder how she could have lost the innocence they imagined they taught her. She is not allowed the catharsis that Jake undergoes and instead her death occurs outside the narrative. Crane's readers cannot sense any redemption for Maggie. When her death is revealed, it is understood that she was not allowed any future as Jake and Mamie were granted.