ealize how poorly she lives. All this changes when she meets Peter. She becomes more self conscious, taking notice of things around her that she has never before taken note of and never in her life had any significance to her:Turning, Maggie contemplated the dark, dust-stained walls and the scant and crude furniture of her home. A clock, in a splintered and battered oblong box of varnished wood, she suddenly regarded as an abomination. She noted that it ticked raspingly. The almost vanished flowers in the carpet-pattern, she conceived to the newly hideous. Some faint attempts she had made with blue ribbon, to freshen the appearance of a dingy curtain, she now saw to be piteous. She wondered what Pete dined on (Crane, 20).This shows Maggie’s first signs of awareness as well as her big reality check. Crane purpose behind is all, simply to be real. John Berryman once found a quote of Crane’s Parra 5which stated, “I believe in Irony”(55). His belief in this is created his inspiration for the basis of Maggie’s theme. In the novel Crane uses irony as weapon against both Maggie and her family member who only see life as their surroundings and are incapable of seeing things beyond that point (Colvert, 105). He presents it to his audience in this manner because he knows it’s unavoidable. It becomes almost impossible for his audience to ignore the truth and the harsh reality of this young girl’s life. James Colvert quotes, “…Maggie’s irony marks the contrast between reality and fantasy which is the basis of the novel’s structure”(105).Although the whole theme of the novel lies in its irony, it does not only exist there. Perhaps the first bit of irony lies in the opening chapter of the novel as Jimmie stands to fight for the honor of Run Alley, which is simply a heap of gravel which he prides himself in (Pizer 5850). His defiance to defend something so insignif...
