Anna Brookes

11/21/15
CAP English 9
Blue

Thoreau and Crane Essay

Walden: Economy and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

Anna Brookes
CAP English 9
Dr. Simel
Blue Group
November 22, 2015

Anna Brookes
11/21/15
CAP English 9
Blue
Thoreau and Crane Essay
Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden, and Stephen Crane, author of Maggie: A Girl of
the Streets hold different views on self-reliance, philanthropy, and fate. Both authors use their
books to discuss topics such as poverty, social hierarchy, and ones relationship with the world.
Both authors were highly influential people, and both books remain culturally significant today.
Walden is a memoir about Thoreaus two years at Walden Pond, where he went to live
deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to
teach.(35) In this book, Thoreau discusses the difficulties of life in Concord, Massachusetts, and
shares his ideas about how people can better their own lives. Thoreau is a transcendentalist, and
he believes strongly in learning from the simplicity of nature. His prose is flowery and
expressive, his thoughts optimistic and romantic.
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets tells the story of a young girl named Maggie and her path to
prostitution. Maggie is the model of an innocent girl corrupted by a cruel society, and Crane uses
her plight to comment on the situation of New Yorks poor. Crane is a realist. Compared to
Thoreau, his writing is often blunt, and his depictions of poverty are anything but romantic.
Crane believes that people are a product of their situation, and renders Thoreaus ideas of
personal betterment through simplicity and self-reliance impractical.
Thoreau believes strongly in self-reliance, while Crane uses his protagonist, Maggie, to
argue that self-reliance isnt always possible. During his time at Walden Pond, Thoreau built his
own house, grew his own food, and, as he puts it, earned my living by the labor of my hands

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only. (3) He writes about how living independently was worthwhile and liberating, and how
achieving self-reliance is possible for anyone.
He also writes about the lack of self-reliance among farmers in his native Concord, and
the toll this takes on their lives. Thoreau describes a vicious, endless cycle of debt and work that
consumes these farmers. He explains how farmers become tools of their tools (21) by relying
too heavily on high-maintenance farm implements, and how they bring themselves into poverty
by relying on their farms to grant them income. He writes, The man who has actually paid for
his farm with labor is so rare that every neighbor can point to him. I doubt if there are three such
men in Concord. (49) According to Thoreau, the people of Concord should become more selfreliant if they want to be happier.
Self-reliance is a major motif in Walden, and also an important concept of
transcendentalism. Thoreaus views on self-reliance are linked to his literary movement as are
Cranes.
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets has a more pessimistic (or more realist) view of selfreliance. The book explains that Maggie becomes a prostitute because self-reliance is impossible
for her. Near the beginning of the story, her brother Jimmie tells her, Yehve edder got teh go
teh hell or go teh work!(49) Hes implying that Maggie must either rely on herself for income or
do something sinful sell herself. Maggie does go to work at a collar and cuff factory, but after
falling in love with her friend Pete, quits her job and ends up with no choice but to rely on him.
Pete takes advantage of Maggies love for him and coerces her into prostitution. He, and
the world Maggie lives in, trick her into becoming completely dependent. Crane writes, Maggie

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was pale. From her eyes had been plucked all look of self-reliance. She leaned with a dependent
air toward her companion. She was timid, as if fearing his anger or displeasure. She seemed to
beseech tenderness of him. (73) By the end of the story, Maggie is dead, because forces outside
of her control have taken away her self-reliance. Maggies story serves as an example of how
self-reliance isnt always possible, despite what Thoreau may say.
Thoreau and Crane agree that philanthropy, in principle, is good. Thoreau, however,
maintains that true, selfless philanthropy is a thing of myth, while Crane argues that it can exist.
Thoreau believes that philanthropists are selfish, and Crane agrees. Thoreau notes that
philanthropists donate money (something thats dispensable to them) only to look like kind
people, even if theyre not. He writes, A man is not a good man to me because he will feed me
if I should be starving, or warm me if I should be freezing, or pull me out of a ditch if I should
ever fall into one (59). Unlike Crane, though, Thoreau believes that philanthropy will always be
selfish.
While Thoreau does write that many people, including the farmers of Concord, could do
with some aid, he doesnt think philanthropy will solve their problems. He argues that
philanthropic efforts will always be more about the ego of philanthropists than the actual needs
of the poor, even writing that he has never heard of a philanthropic meeting in which it was
sincerely proposed to do any good. (59) Thoreau associates philanthropy with materialism and
lies the two things he went to Walden Pond to escape. He believes that people will do better if
they rely on themselves rather than philanthropic aid.

Anna Brookes
11/21/15
CAP English 9
Blue
Crane also argues that philanthropists are selfish. He writes about Maggies encounter
with a philanthropist in the street: A stout gentleman, with pompous and philanthropic whiskers,
went stolidly by, the broad of his back sneering at the girl. (88) Crane does, however, believe
that selfless philanthropy can exist.
The old woman in Maggies tenement proves so. This character is living in the same
conditions as Maggie and her family, and can barely provide for herself, but nevertheless takes in
Maggies brother Jimmie when he flees his parents. She gains nothing from allowing the boy to
stay with her, but does so anyway out of the goodness of her heart. Her actions are a prime
example of true philanthropy.
The woman herself begs daily in a rich, philanthropic part of New York. Crane writes,
She received daily a small sum in pennies. It was contributed, for the most part, by persons who
did not make their homes in that vicinity. The woman doesnt receive her money from rich,
important, philanthropic people who would boost their egos by donating to her. Rather, its the
people who arent recognized who contribute. These people might be struggling just as much as
this woman, and, again, are compelled to give by no reason other than kindness. Crane argues
that this type of true, selfless philanthropy can exist.
Thoreau makes the case that fate is determined by the individual. Crane writes that
sometimes, misfortune is inevitable.
Thoreau says, So long as a man is faithful to himself, everything is in his favor,
government, society, the very sun, moon, and stars. He explains through this quote that ones

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future is determined solely by ones faith in oneself, and that fate and destiny dont exist.
Throughout Walden, Thoreau calls for people to take their futures into their own hands.
He calls for the recurrent farmers of Concord to look beyond their confining coarse
labors (9) and at the bigger picture of their futures. The whole Economy section of Walden calls
for people to abandon material possessions, live more simply, and make choices that will benefit
their futures. Thoreau himself goes to Walden Pond to practice self-reliance, and to make sure
that the only thing his future relies on is himself. He writes, A simple and independent mind
does not toil at the bidding of any prince (45)
Crane maintains that Maggies plight is a result of her situation. Shes a prostitute
because the world, which to her "was composed of hardships and insults, (45) has made her
one. Maggie grows up with abusive parents in a decrepit tenement. Crane writes about how fate
has made even beauty is rare in her condition: The girl, Maggie, blossomed in a mud puddle.
She grew to be a most rare and wonderful production of a tenement district, a pretty girl. (49)
Crane also describes her infant brothers death as if its a commonplace thing, writing, The
babe, Tommie, died. He went away in a white, insignificant coffin.(46)
Maggie is written from a third person limited point of view, and the reader rarely ever
knows Maggies thoughts. Throughout the story, she arguably never makes a deliberate choice,
except at the end when she takes own life. Even that action was cut from the books second
edition. Everything that happens to Maggie growing up the way she does, becoming a
prostitute, even dying in the end, is a result of forces outside of her command. Crane argues that
Maggie had no control over her life, and neither does anyone else.

Anna Brookes
11/21/15
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Blue
Self-reliance, philanthropy, and fate go hand in hand. Thoreau states that by relying on
oneself, rather than the help of others, one can make the future better. In summary, he writes,
Let every one mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he has made. (351) Crane
disagrees. He believes that people have limited power, and that they cant always be self-reliant
or change the course of the future, but they can be truly kind to others.
Each authors views reflect those of the literary movement he is part of. Thoreau, the
transcendentalist, believes in the sublime power of self. Crane, the realist, believes in the
complex structures of human society. Each authors book was influential at the time of
publication, and each authors book is still read in classrooms today. Which author to agree with,
though, is up to the reader.

Anna Brookes
11/21/15
CAP English 9
Blue
Works Cited:
1. Thoreau, Henry David. Walden and Civil Disobedience. 2nd ed. New York: Barnes
& Noble Classics, 2005. Print.
2. Crane, Stephen. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999. Print.