"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" and the Use of Irony to Enforce Naturalism

         Stories of poverty are frequently embellished with dramatic scenes of death and other hardships.  This grim dramatization further isolates most readers from what tends to be an already unfamiliar situation.  The use of irony in "Maggie" makes the events of death and violence come off as so commonplace that the reader gains access to a more realistic view of destitution through the perspective of how the people living in impoverished communities perceive events.  
          The opening scene of the text describes a young boy in a fight with other "urchins".  He is portrayed as having an "infantile countenance" which is "livid with fury".  The depiction continues, assessing his "small body...writhing in the delivery of great, crimson oaths".  The image of a small "infantile" boy, so outraged that he is ferociously cursing, is so ironic that it is quite laughable.  He is a scrappy fighter and it is conveyed that he is involved in these quarrels often.  Creating such an ironic image in which the boy's innocent physique is turned into a vehicle of rage provides the reader with a glimpse at how common-place violence was in this poor community, even amongst children.  Instead of making him a terribly tragic figure, which would only result in the reader's pity but not understanding, he is characterized as a bit of a martyr whose cause the reader can grasp.  This scene is given even more meaning as the characterization of Jimmie as a boy is paralleled with that of a monkey that Pete observes at a museum.  He is intrigued by "the spectacle of a very small monkey threatening to thrash a cageful because one of them had pulled his tail".   After this event "Pete knew that monkey by sight and winked at him, trying to induce him to fight with other and larger monkeys".  The monkey is a clearly animalized replica of a young Jimmie and thus helps build a stronger comedic relief while emphasizing the barbaric violence between those of a single community.  These forms of irony and allegory detract from the typical melancholy of this type of narrative and permit the reader to truly reflect upon the tropes of narratives about poverty.
          This same perspective is offered through Maggie's perception of Pete.  She views him as a "cultured gentleman who knew what was due".  Directly following this assessment of Pete his gruff dialogue is introduced, causing a confusion as to where the cultured gentleman before Maggie disappeared to.  He harasses a waiter, chiding "Say, what deh hell? Bring deh lady a big glass! What deh hell use is dat pony?".  To someone of a higher class his speech is full of flaws and atrocities of grammar and pronunciation, but to Maggie his condescension is elegant and impressive.  Not only does her distorted view of Pete further add to the irony of her tale, it also shows what high class is to her and how different our view is of appropriate behavior for what we consider socially elite.  
            Irony in characterization and perception performs a valuable service throughout the story.  It serves as a mechanism through which the reader can engage with the characters and narrator without a cloud of pity overshadowing important thematic elements such as common violence and naivety about social hierarchy.  Overall, Crane constructed an effective narrative which encouraged me to wrap my mind around the every-day nature of these events instead of viewing them as isolated incidents of tragedy within an otherwise mysterious community.