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| Description of the Tenement Museum building |
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| The FOUR privvies for 20 families |
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| the group in Chinatown |
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| The group at the Flatiron, close to our hotel |
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| What passes for art these days... |
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Age of Innocence: Appendix E (3 & 4)
Both
of these pieces look at different aspects of marriage during the time
period. Emma Goldman and Edith Wharton
have similar views on American marriage and its faults. In Wharton’s article, she compares American
women to Frenchwomen. Their views tie in
with what we’ve seen within The Age of
Innocence.
“Marriage and Love”
Emma
Goldman discusses her beliefs on marriage and love. Marriage at this time was an economic
arrangement based on capitalism since money was one of the most important things. The women paid for marriage with their
self-respect, privacy, and their name. Goldman
compared women to a parasite because they became completely dependent on their
husbands. For men, their only stress was
economic stress, while the women took care of their home and family. She discusses how marriage protected
children, yet there were thousands of homeless and orphaned children. In addition, she talks about how marriage and
love had nothing to do with one another.
With that, she believes that love is stronger than marriage and that if love
continues in married life, it is regardless of marriage. She believes that love rarely ever comes from
being married first. Also, she talks
about how a young girl’s main goal was to get married when she grew up. “From infancy, almost, the average girl is
told that marriage is her ultimate goal; therefore her training and education
must be directed towards that end” (Pg. 383).
“The New Frenchwoman”
Edith
Wharton introduces her idea of the Frenchwoman and how the new Frenchwoman is
only new because American women were not familiar with them. The Frenchwoman is seen as more grown-up, not
only because of her dress, ability to cook, and femininity, but because of her
relationship with men. For example,
women are book-keepers or clerks in their husband’s small business. She also contrasts the Frenchwoman with the
American woman. The Frenchwoman would
rather be happy than have money, while American women want money. Although American women legally have more
freedom, Frenchwomen live more freely.
This is due to the fact that women in America feel trapped in their
marriage since it is simply an economic arrangement, while French women married
for love and are altogether happier.
Frenchwomen have more of an impact in their French society than American
women do in their lives.
Comparison:
The
average French woman was more advanced because they had a different sense of
marriage. In America, women had more
legal rights, but their marriage held them back from exercising them. Their husbands had the ultimate control. In France where women did not marry solely
for monetary reasons, they had more freedom because they were equal partners
with their husbands. American women are
trapped at home where they are not valued but French women can have an impact
in society. The differences between
French women and American women can also be seen in The Age of Innocence. May is
like the typical American women; she is used to the husband being the dominant
person in the relationship, and she is educated on the rules of society and
housekeeping. Ellen is more like the
typical French woman; she knows more about art and culture than the rules of
society and she treats men more like equals.
Discussion Questions:
1. Goldman states, “Marriage
and love have nothing in common; they are as far apart as the poles; are, in
fact, antagonistic to each other.” Compare Goldman’s view of marriage with
marriage today? Does her view of marriage and love fit with what we read in The Age of Innocence? If so in what
ways?
2. Who do you think Goldman
intended her audience to be? What do you think their response was?
3. In Goldman’s article, we
once again see a difference in the standards for men and women, this time
involving marriage. What are some ways marriages impacted women differently
than men? How is this illustrated in The
Age of Innocence?
4. Which do you think is more
successful: marriage for love or marriage for money? Reference the statistics
Goldman gives in her article on marriage (pg. 182).
5. Wharton brings up the idea
of French women being more grown up than their American counterparts. What does
she mean by “grown-up”? In what ways does she illustrate this in her article?
6. In Wharton’s article, what
do you find to be the most interesting difference she states between the
Frenchwoman and the American woman?
7. Do you think that
differences in marriage practices in societies affect the treatment of women in
those societies? Consider both articles.
8. How do both articles relate?
Is perhaps the lack of love in American marriages that Goldman asserts a cause
for the differences between women in the different societies that Wharton
highlighted?
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Shops, Saloons, Concert Halls
THE BOWERY:
Julian Ralph, a
newspaper author, shares his insights of the Bowery. He believes how the Bowery
is perceived (lively and genuine, criminal-filled, abandoned and disreputable,
etc.) by New Yorkers depends on their position in society. The Bowery was once
a place of exchange for New York drovers and butchers. A cattle-market was
replaced by a theater and the Bowery had its foundation of entertainment. The
“Bowery boy” was a name coined for a man or boy working during the day and
looking for women or being a volunteer firefighter by night. This type sang and
danced well, and often visited the theater. Bowery boys sang and danced well,
and dressed suavely, but evolved into fist-fighting, drinking, and gambling
patriots. (In Maggie, Pete was a well-dressed gentlemen who ran a bar
during the day and looked for entertaining women by night.) Later, the Bowery
became a crowded and noisy street of shops (grocers, bakers, firemen’s goods),
lodging-houses (many of which were exclusively for men), and museums. At night,
the museums were bright with lights and added to the Bowery’s appeal. Fashion
and style in the Bowery surpassed any other style, when compared to the rest of
New York. Ralph notes that there are 82 places that sell alcohol, including 4
music-halls, restaurants, oyster-houses, wine-houses, theaters, and
variety-halls. Theaters show plays and orchestras, and are surrounded by
newsboys and street Arabs. Before the theaters open, young boys crowd the doors
and burst in for popcorn and cheap entertainment. Ralph also calculates the
price of living, too; “A man may eat and lodge in the Bowery with a good bed
and three meals a day for $4.90 a week, and with a fifteen-cent bed and
eight-cent dishes for $2.73 a week” (155). The criminals found in the Bowery
are malnourished, secluded, and poorly dressed. “…they are rather like human
rats than men and women” (157).
THE BOWERY AT NIGHT:
“The Bowery at Night” was written by
David Graham Philips. Philips was not a native New Yorker and moved there to
work as a journalist. This section was originally published a short time after
Philips arrived on the scene and it expresses his disappointment in the Bowery,
as well as its darker side. In the books he read when he was a young boy “the
Bowery was a wonderful place – fascinating, full of romance, yet terrible and
most dangerous.” The people around the Bowery were diverse, witty and
intelligent. He describes that this idea that the Bowery was such as
fascinating and entertaining place, was so wide spread and commonly believed, that
tourists who visited and actually saw the Bowery were deceived. “Confident of
finding their ideal realized, they are not disappointed, and returning home,
tell of the wonders they have seen.” However, on Philips visit the first
sensation he feels is disappointment, for he discovers that the Bowery is
nothing but hollow and empty, even when filled with people. It is because of
these people and the setting. They are described as the lower class, who live
in cramped and filthy boarding houses. These people are from the same cloth as
Maggie and her family. “The crowd is looking for pleasure, for relief from the
squalor at home, from toil at shop and factory.” These people came here to try
and find a distraction from their current situation. But it does them no good
for Philips writes that real laughter is as rare as sunshine. If you actually
start to laugh, something else that exposes the pitiful nature of the
surroundings quickly kills it. “The people are clearly on the edge of life,
fighting anxiously, harassedly, for a foothold, and seemingly never quite
gaining it.” He didn’t need to know where these people lived to be able to
identify the conditions they came from. It was evident in their clothing, their
looks, and the way that they carried themselves. “The tragedy is too near the
surface, peering from rents in garments or blanching under the paint of cheeks.
In this pleasure, you can have no part, any more than you could live in the
smells and sounds and sights of a rickety towering tenement.”
WHERE 'DE GANG HEARS THE BAND PLAY:
This section is actually written by
Stephen Crane himself. It involves some very familiar characters.... Maggie and
Jimmie! The section starts off with Maggie informing Jimmie that she is going
to see a band that night and insisting that Jimmie returns the watch to her.
Jimmie is very difficult about this. Maggie enjoys the pleasant music with her
"lady friend" The star-spangled banner played and the room feels the
patriotism. It is also important to note out the large number of people of
German descent at this concert. Here is where this section really gets it's
title. The watch that Jimmy refused to give back to Maggie he went and pawned.
This money was then used to buy beer and head with the concert hall. They sit
where they can hear and enjoy the music. The "gang" was told to move
along by the cops. So they did.... Just around the corner so that they could
continue to listen to the music.
THE BEER GARDENS:
James D. McCabe, author
of this section, describes the German side of New York, specifically the
beer-gardens. Here, men find merriment by drinking, smoking, listening to
music, and enjoying each other’s company. The main beer-garden in the
Bowery was called the Atlantic Garden, located near the Old Bowery
Theatre. The Atlantic Garden was huge, having a gallery just for eating,
a gallery for only drinking beer, and even a shooting hall gallery. There
was also an orchestration or music box that would play music to the
guests. McCabe goes on to say that only beer and some light Rhine wines
are strictly served and that no guest is ever drunk. “They come here with
their families, spend a social, pleasant evening, meet their friends, hear the
news, enjoy the music and the beer, and go home refreshed and happy.” (172) The
opposite side of the Atlantic Garden was the Central Park Garden, which was a
more American take on the beer-garden. One has to pay to enter this
garden, unlike the Atlantic Garden. Nightly concerts are held at the
Central Park Garden during the summer, which draws music lovers to come to New
York simply to hear the famous orchestra. Many celebrities would be seen
at the Central Park Garden as well. Unlike the Atlantic, all kinds of
alcoholic beverages were sold there, not just beer and wine. Some
strangers called this garden “Thomas’s Garden,” a place of enjoyment and
merriment, especially during the summer.
Picture of the Atlantic
Garden:
"THE SALOON IN SOCIETY":
Written by George Parsons, worked
for New York Tribune. The first main point of this section talks about the
effects that saloons had on society. However, these effects of the saloon are
not positive. Saloons are always in areas of the lower levels of social class.
People who already have problems with salaries and money only make themselves
worse off by going to the saloons and wasting their money. The saloons are seen
by these men as a way to try to escape and forget their sorrows. By doing this
they only make the problems worse with their drinking. This causes tension
among family and friends. The men fall into a vicious cycle, revolving around
drinking and poor health. This leads to an increase in crime as well. The
alcohol abuse has many negative consequences. All of this has led to increased
hospital and police activity overall. "He is poorer, in worse health, less
able to confront difficulties, on the morrow. But one tendency in him is
strengthened, and that is the tendency to repeat the debauch." (176). Many
of these concepts of saloons are seen throughout Maggie. Mainly in the way
Maggie's father acts in the beginning (41), and Pete and Jimmie's antics in the
bar (71).
"May Gawd forgive dat girl," "I bringed 'er up
deh way a dauter aughta be bringed up an' dis is how she served me! She
went teh deh devil deh first chance she got! May Gaw forgive her."
"TEMPTING THE POOR WOMEN: THEY
BUY BEER AND HAVE IT CHARGED AS POTATOES":
In
Maggie, A Girl of the Streets, one of the reasons that Maggie’s home life was
so terrible was because both her parents had a drinking problem. Maggie’s
mother was often drunk, but she denies it to Maggie’s father like most wives
would at the time. Female alcoholism was a big problem during this time
period. Most married women at the time did not have their own personal
funds. However, many women would use their husband’s income to buy
alcohol for themselves. The problem for women was that most husbands
would not allow their wives to use their money to buy themselves alcohol, but
the grocers found ways around this to allow women to buy alcohol. Bar
owners started disguising their store fronts as regular grocery stores so that
women could buy liquor and have it charged as potatoes or other food so that
their husband would not know that they were buying alcohol for
themselves. Women could go through the grocery store front and buy
groceries as well as alcohol so that they would not feel ashamed to be buying
alcohol. They could also have their kids go to the store and have alcohol
charged as groceries as well. By charging the food as groceries, the
husband would not know his wife and children were buying alcohol when he went
to pay the food bill.
METROPOLITAN LIFE UNVEILED; OR THE
MYSTERIES AND MISERIES OF AMERICA'S GREAT CITIES:
This section also does not have many
nice things to say about the Bowery. This section jumps all over the place,
because J.W. Buel recalls his experience walking through the Bowery. He touches
upon the sights, smells, and sounds, including the bands and people on the
streets. Throughout the night, he touches on the drunkenness of the people he
sees on the streets. One point that he makes very clear is that the women dress
very promiscuously by exhibiting themselves as a "human menagerie" in
a way to intrigue and entice the men. Buel talks about how these boys are fighting
on the streets. This relates directly to the aggressive nature of the boys in
Maggie... Especially Jimmie.
Harry Hill, specifically his
theater, is briefly presented in the section, as well. Harry Hill was a
professional prize fighter who was aware of the tricks and trade on the streets
of New York. Buel discusses that his theater hall was used to plot
"...hundreds of robberies which occur[ed] within a stone's throw of, and
upon men just leaving, the theatre." (191)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. The saloons section talks about
the major part of the culture that saloons had in these poor areas during this
time period. Are these poor conditions more a result of poor human intuition?
Or the fault of the saloons trying to take advantage of these people?
2. Stephen Crane's excerpt really
focuses on the sounds of New York. Jimmie will go through all this trouble to
listen to the music with the gang. Why do you think music is worth this trouble
to the boys of this neighborhood?
3. In
today’s society, have beer-gardens been replaced with your run-of-the-mill
bar? Or do we see instances of beer-gardens today in America?
4. How similar is the
Bowery to the saloons, in relation to people wanting to escape their reality?
5. This section states
that women were more ashamed to go buy alcohol than men were. Why do you
think there were different standards for men and women when it came to
drinking? Do you feel sorry for Maggie’s mom at all?
6. During the day, many
people like Pete lived hard-working lives integrated with all sorts of people
they dealt with, like Jimmie. During the night, they went out for drinks and
entertainment in high-class restaurants and theaters where they left their
worries and hardships behind. If someone living in the Bowery worked such a
hard life during the day, how do you think they could afford expensive drinks,
cigars, and entertainment?
Tenement Life
Background: Tenement buildings were four or five stories high and there
were 4 tenement buildings to a block, which was 700 ft x 200 ft. There were typically 1, 736 rooms to a
tenement. At the time, there were 33,000
tenements in New York City with 2,076 people in 1,736 rooms which contained 460
families. These rooms were about the
size of a small closet and were overly crowded.
Due to this overcrowding, New York had a population density of 290,000
people per square mile compared to London’s population density of 170,000. The rooms were expensive, they were $2 a week
for a small basement and $6 a week for 2 rooms in a tenement. It was a source of investment for higher
classes.
Problems: There were many problems with the tenements. They were overcrowded with multiple families
living in one room. As well, the living
conditions were very poor; there was no protection from the hot and cold. Fire was their only source of heat. Generally there was one common sink and
outdoor bathrooms for the whole tenement, leading to a lack of sanitation. There was a higher death rate among the
tenements compared to other living arrangements. In addition, the tenants were taken advantage
of by the landlords who made 20% off of the tenants when they should have only
made 6%; 6% would have been more beneficial to both the landlords and the
tenants. Lastly, it was a poor
environment for children to grow up in.
There was a lack of privacy, and abundance of domestic violence and
alcoholism.
"Life in the New
York Tenement-Houses"
"Life in the New
York Tenement-Houses" first appeared in Scribner's Monthly. William
T. Elsing was a clergyman from the Dewitt Memorial Church who devoted 9 years
to help the poor in the East Side of New York City. He gives a more truthful account of what he
has seen and heard, rather than cramming in all of the thrilling and startling
facts about tenement-houses that other articles tend to do. He talks about how living in a tenement-house
is not synonymous with living in the slums even though most people think it
is. An ordinary tenement house consisted
of 5 stories of different types of homes, varying in amount of rooms and
pricing, and a basement. Four families
typically occupied a dark and dirty floor that had sinks in the halls. Tenement houses had a landlord, an agent, and
a housekeeper. Some families sometimes
have to go half clothed and live on the cheapest food in order to provide rent,
but not all of the people are thriftless; 700 out of every 1000 depositors in
one of the banks on the Bowery live in tenement-houses. Sometimes people start out poor, being at a
low point in their life, but then are eventually able to get out of the
tenement-houses. Elsing tells two
stories that depicted the different people who lived in tenement-houses. One German woman with a daughter couldn't pay
for rent, and ended up with her furniture on the street, and after Elsing
talked with her neighbors and learning she had good character, he rented her
two small rooms. Two months later when
she couldn't find a job, and Elsing having heard of a job in Orange, New
Jersey, arranged for the woman to get the job and paid for her fare. On the other hand, a Polish man tried to make
money from the author by playing on the sympathies of poor people.
Discussion Questions
1) How do Elsing's
accounts of the tenement-houses compare and contrast with Crane's depictions in
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets?
2) Were the solutions
realistic? What do you think about
them? Do you have any other ideas for
solutions to tenement-house problems?
3) Refer to the
following two quotes:
"The girl, Maggie,
blossomed in a mud puddle"- Crane
"Some of the
noblest young men I have ever known have worthless, drunken parents. Some of the most beautiful flowers grow in
mud-ponds, and some of the truest and best young women in our city come from
homes devoid of good influences; but in all such cases uplifting outside help
has moulded their characters."- Elsing
How likely do you think
it is for someone to get out of the tenement-houses and make something of
themselves? Is Elsing's quote too
optimistic, especially relating to Maggie's situation?
Monday, February 24, 2014
The Painted Cohorts (263-301)
Kaitlyn Frey, Tara Kennedy, Keith Russel, Zach Waltman and Mike Donovan
The Tale of Rose
Haggerty:
Rose Haggerty, who was born in a Cherry Street
tenement-house, refuses to fall in the wake of semi-starvation, dirt, and
smells that she experiences daily. Her father, Dennis Haggerty, who unloaded
ships and other odd jobs, has six children remaining (including Rose) out of
twelve. Dennis and Norah, Roses parents, are both alcoholics. One night, Dennis
tells Rose to take all the money in his pockets and keep the children straight.
At seven years old, Rose is a responsible person, and does not wonder why her
mother drinks. Their parents swear to give up alcohol, but never do. Rose
learned to hide her clothes and things in an old shoemakers shop to keep them
protected. Eventually, a fever killed Roses father, her brother Dennis, and
left Norah paralyzed from spinal disease and unable to work.
Rose starts working at a bag-factory, soon earning $4 a
week, but the old shoemaker helps pay for the first month’s rent, which is $6 a
month, and occasionally takes care of the children. At 14 years old, Rose works
10 hours a day, then comes home to cook, clean, wash, and mend. Mrs. Moloney, a
friend of the old shoemaker, teaches Rose how to manufacture shirts, and Rose
takes work through her. Mrs. Moloney does not take advantage of Roses quality
work, and Rose makes around $30 a month for 2 years while working 10-14 hours a
day. Eventually, shirt prices drop, and are more closely scrutinized for flaws.
Rose finds it harder to make a living as she performs various clothes
manufacturing jobs, and can no longer stave off starvation or the cold.
Refusing to give up her brothers and sisters after 20 years of hard work, Rose
decides to try one more attempt at honest work. Bringing her work in to be
inspected, she realizes that her needle “jumped”, and the foreman inspecting her
only pays Rose $3.45 for the week.
Walking by the river in despair, a sailor grabs Rose by the
arm and offers to pay her for sex. Even though it is dishonorable, Rose finally
obliges so she can provide food and warmth for her siblings. The sailor even
offered to marry Rose, but she said that no man would ever marry her after what
she had done that night. Keeping her word to never marry, Rose officially
becomes a prostitute, and is now able to provide for her family because of the
steady work and decent wages she can earn. Rose concedes that she will probably
not live long, but her siblings will have a better future because of the
sacrifices that she had to make for them.
Reasons Women Became Prostitutes
Dr. William
Sanger interviewed 2000 prostitutes on Blackwell’s Island, where he was the
resident physician, in the 1850s. He
documented the reasons the girls gave for why they became prostitutes in the
last section of his famous work, The
History of Prostitution: Its Extent, Causes, and Effects throughout the
World. His research yielded these
results which can also be found on page 267 of the Bedford Cultural Edition of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets:
Destitution was the cause of 26% of the girls
resorting to prostitution, the largest percentage for any one reason. Further questioning of the participants in
the study revealed that they often “earn so small wages that a temporary
cessation of their business, or being a short time out of a situation, is
sufficient to reduce them to absolute distress” (270). Sanger gave examples of girls who tried
everything else before turning to prostitution and only did so when it was a
matter of life and death.
25% of the girls
became prostitutes because of Inclination. While it was very taboo to report on at the
time, Sanger acknowledged that some women “resort[ed] to prostitution in order
to gratify the sexual passions” (267).
He went on to say that these “passions” were only awakened due to
interactions with males, associations with prostitutes, intoxication, or some
other outside source, ultimately dismissing the notion that any woman would
naturally be inclined to be a prostitute.
Ill-treatment by parents, relatives, or
husbands was the main
reason 164 of the women in the study became prostitutes. Abuse was very likely associated with other
causes in a lot of these cases, such as the
desire to drink, violation, and seduction and abandonment. For example, Maggie represents the
demographic of prostitutes who were “seduced and abandoned.” Her “ill treatment by parents” was a
contributing factor that led to her descent into prostitution.
The beliefs that
all women were naturally pure and even when they sinned it was out of weakness
and not vice, gave rise to the notion that “seduction and abandonment” was the main cause of prostitution. Sanger’s research says otherwise. In fact, only 13% of the women interviewed gave
it as their reason.
Drink, and the desire to drink was an interesting category in that it
was closely tied to other reasons. For
example, women could have turned to alcohol as a way of dealing with the pain
of “ill treatment” or “abandonment.”
Alcohol was also a big part of many girls’ lives after they had
descended into the realm of prostitution.
Edward Crapsey observed, “If the unconsciousness of inebriety is ever a
blessing , it is such in the case of these lost women, as it permits them for
the time to forget what they are and must be always” (278).
Effects on the Health of Prostitutes:
In addition to
the information present in our readings, we decided to do some outside research
on the lives of prostitutes once they entered the profession involving their
health and means of birth control. No matter what reason a woman had for
becoming a prostitute, sexually transmitted diseases were a serious concern. In The History of Prostitution: Its
Extent, Causes, and Effects throughout the World, Dr. William Sanger
discusses various diseases that resulted from being a prostitute. Out of 2,000
prostitutes that were treated in New York on Blackwell's Island, 59% reported
no diseases, 8% had at least one episode of gonorrhea, 5% showed more than one
attack, 20% experienced one attack of syphilis, while 7% experienced more than
one attack, and 2% experienced both gonorrhea and syphilis. While these numbers
may not be staggering, these are only statistics from one source of people
being treated. Diseases between sexual partners were still being spread and a
number of undiagnosed cases still remained. In order to receive treatments for
diseases such as syphilis, prostitutes had to go to a hospital. This cost them
money that they didn't have. The only way for them to receive free treatment
was if they went to a prison, such as the cases cited involving Dr. Sanger.
Chapter XXXVII on page 627 of The History of Prostitution: Its Extent,
Causes, and Effects throughout the World discusses this predicament while
suggesting other possible solutions (see link for chapter). Overall it is
possible that these diseases lead to the degradation of prostitutes and lowered
the class to which they belonged.
In order to
prevent pregnancy it would make sense for prostitutes to have utilized some
form of contraceptive. In 1861, The New York Times printed the first ever
condom advertisement called “Dr. Power's French Preventatives”. Goodyear, the
tire company, mass produced these condoms after learning about rubber
vulcanization. Around this time females also used coco-butter and a chemical
known as quinine as barrier methods. Once inserted into the vagina and melted,
these substances created a thick fluid barrier that prevented fertilization. It
is unknown whether prostitutes used these exact methods however, it would have
been important for them to prevent pregnancy some how. More history on
contraceptives can be found here: http://www.medicinae.org/e08
The Different
Classes of Prostitutes and Ties to Maggie:
Crapsey discusses and goes into detail about the different
levels of prostitutes that were present in the 1850s when Maggie was set. He starts with the lowest type, referred to as the
“street-walker.” These women were often poorly dressed and described as having
“no beauty in face or form,” and succumbing to sleeping in cellars. Crapsey
utilizes interesting diction in addressing these women, referring to the as
“creatures.” These are the women that seek out and ask every man that meets
their gaze, showing their desperation and their low standing. The women of the
middle level present themselves a tad better and were seen to have some form of
past beauty. It was not unheard of for these women to have their own housing
near their tramping ground, and they were also more likely to speak first and
address a potential customer. Both the lowest and middle levels were seen the
hour before midnight, signifying what grade of cohort they were. The highest
class of prostitutes would retire by ten o’clock, which showed their standing,
as they were not out with the lower class women of their class. These women
were very elegantly dressed and were skilled at making men approach and talked
around the obvious subject at hand. They lived in respectable houses and gave
off an impression of a quiet, reputable life.
We see examples of these classes of prostitutes throughout Maggie. Crane describes how Maggie
transitions from one class to another until she is simply a streetwalker, the
lowest form of prostitution in 19th century New York. On page 87,
Maggie is described as throwing “changing glances at men who passed her, giving
smiling invitations.” This shows that Maggie was a member of one of the higher
classes as she was not approaching the men and asking them, but inviting them
with her stare and making them come to her. The chapter transitions to Maggie
entering the poorer districts of New York and finding an old, drunk and greasy
man as a customer. Another example is Nell, who is a prostitute of the highest
class and has figured out the system behind her controversial lifestyle. She is
described as being very elegant and well dressed, and talks to Pete about
business in Buffalo, showing how well she understands how to operate in her
line of work. She is the only character
in the novel whose dialogue is not unreadable, which shows that she is of a
higher class than other characters, despite being a prostitute.
Doubled Standard
On page 283,
Edward Crapsey points out the lack of punishment for the men that use these
services in his article, “Prostitution”. He explains that if the men are never
punished then they will always go back to the brothels, giving reason for women
to enter the field. This idea of only punishing women can be seen not only with
prostitution, but also on the topic of premarital sex. Pete publicly getting
intoxicated and paying for the prostitutes company shows that it did not affect
a man’s reputation to be associated with the working girls. Also, the men joke
at Maggie how the have they do not have the money for her services that day,
showing that they take prostitution light-heartily. As said before the double
standard on premarital sex is more prevalent. The boldest example is Jimmy and
his mother’s reaction they have when they figured the situation. They were not
only disgusted at Maggie that they shunned her, but it took the sever action of
death for them to forgive her. Jimmy even noted that he sleeps with multiple
women, who could have a family just as Maggie did, but quickly disregarded it.
Jimmy’s mother and his own disregard about his actions, unlike their feelings
towards Maggie, show this double standards. It is a two way street.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
What
parallels, if any, do we see with the lives of Rose Haggerty and Maggie
Johnson? Do their paths to prostitution both follow the path so popularly
believed in this time? Which girl would say was in a worse situation?
2.
Reports
show that New York had the most prostitutes of any American city during this
time period. What kind of impression could this have had on people’s view of
New York back then? Does it make you view New York as any different in the
present day?
3.
The
article on contraception through the ages discusses how birth control methods,
such as condoms, were very expensive and not largely advertised until the
1860s, when prostitution was already well established with women of New York.
Do you think that lower prices or more awareness would have led to fewer
venereal diseases in these women?
4.
In the novel, we see examples of the classes
of prostitutes explained later by Crapsey. Are there any other parts of the
novel where prostitution is hinted at before Maggie officially becomes a
streetwalker?
5.
The
novel touches on inequalities between genders in regards to opinions of
prostitution and the involvement of men and women. This is seen with Pete and
Maggie; one of whom gets arrested for an altercation and receives no reprimand
for premarital sex, the other kicked out of her house and forced into a
desperate lifestyle that ends up ending her life. Do you think Pete got off
easy, by being beat up, arrested, and almost losing his job or did he get off
easy compared to Maggie?
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