Thoreau and Crane Comparative Essay

Asha Baron

CAP English 9

Blue Group

January 12, 2018

 Henry David Thoreau, in ​Walden​, and Stephen Crane, in ​Maggie: A girl of the Streets​,

would compare in their views on philanthropists, but contrast in their views on self reliance and

choice v. fate in determining one’s life path. The book ​Walden​, written by Henry David Thoreau,

a transcendentalist, is an account of Thoreau's two year stay in a cabin he builds at Walden Pond.

Thoreau chooses to stay at Walden Pond, in Massachusetts, to have some time alone so he can

think. Throughout the book, Thoreau critiques what he considers to be the flaws in society. The

novel ​Maggie: A Girl of the Streets​, by Stephen Crane, a realist, is about a girl named Maggie

who grows up in an impoverished neighborhood in New York City. Maggie is a hopeless

romantic who desperately wants to find love. Despite her efforts, Maggie is unable to find love,

and takes the wrong path in life, thereby disappointing her family.

Henry David Thoreau and Stephen Crane would agree on their views of philanthropists.

Thoreau believes that philanthropists are self centered, and only do philanthropic things to make

themselves look good in front of others. He believes that “Philanthropy is almost the only virtue

which is sufficiently appreciated by mankind. Nay, it is greatly overrated, and it is our

selfishness which overrates it”(63). Although Thoreau thinks that philanthropy is a good thing to

practice, he believes that many philanthropists do it for the wrong reasons. He believes that they

have the wrong intentions, and are only practicing philanthropy for their own selfish reasons. He

also says that people practice philanthropy in order to feel better about themselves, and in order

to make themselves feel superior to others. Thoreau claims that “The philanthropist too often

surrounds mankind with the remembrance of his own cast-off griefs as an atmosphere and calls it

sympathy. We should impart our courage and not our despair, our health and ease, and not our

disease, and take care that this does not spread by contagion”(63-64). According to Thoreau,
people too often pass on their negative traits to others and claim that they are sharing their

sorrows. Rather than project their own pains on others and claiming that they are empathetic

towards them, people should try to build others up. Stephen Crane also believes that

philanthropists don’t have the right intentions. When Maggie is at one of her lowest points,

Crane introduces a character who has a “beaming chubby face” and “was a picture of

benevolence and kind-heartedness”(86). Although the readers have just met this man, it appears

that he is a philanthropist. Since Maggie is at a low point in her life, she desperately needs this

man to help her. When Maggie is walking toward him, rather than trying to save her, he “gave a

convulsive movement and saved his respectability by a vigorous side-step. He did not risk it to

save a soul”(87). Although this man is portrayed as a philanthropist, he doesn’t do the

philanthropic thing in this situation. He should have helped Maggie, but instead, he decides to

step out of her way. The reason for this man doing this is because he wants to look good in front

of other people.

While Thoreau and Crane have similar views of philanthropy, their views of self reliance

are different. Thoreau thinks that everyone can, and should, be self reliant. He believes that

people are able to work better and more efficiently when they are able to work by themselves. In

Walden​, Thoreau says, “It was easy to see that they could not long be companions or cooperate,

since one would not operate at all. They would part at the first interesting crisis in their

adventure. Above all, as I have implied, the man who goes alone can start to-day; but he who

travels with another must wait till that other is ready, and it may be a long time before they get

off”(60). One would be better off working by his/herself because he/she can do things at his/her

own pace, rather than the pace of the person with whom he/she are working. Thoreau claims that
“both by faith and experience, that to maintain one’s self on this earth is not a hardship but a

pastime, if we will live simply and wisely; as the pursuits of the simpler nations are still the

sports of the more artificial. It is not necessary that a man should earn his living by the sweat of

his brow, unless he sweats much easier than I do”(59). He is telling his readers that if they live a

more simple life, they will be able to rely more upon themselves. Crane believes that there are

some people, such as Maggie, who are unable to be self reliant, and who need to depend on other

people. Maggie is romantically involved with Pete. Maggie pictures a life with Pete, but

ultimately, Pete leaves Maggie for Nell. Maggie cannot survive by herself, but she does not

have anyone on whom she can rely. In the passage where Maggie first meets Pete, Crane writes,

“To her the Earth was composed of hardships and insults. She felt instant admiration for a man

who openly defied it”(53). Throughout the novel, Maggie doesn’t have much control over what

happens to her. She doesn’t experience many good events in her life, so in her point of view, the

earth consists of mostly bad events. When Pete comes along, Maggie can see that he is able to

take all of the bad events that happen and continue on with his life. She likes this about Pete,

because she needs to be able to rely on someone helping her through these events, whereas Pete

is able to rely on himself to get through them. When Pete takes Maggie to the the theatre, Maggie

wonders “if the culture and refinement she had seen imitated, perhaps grotesquely, by the

heroine on the stage, could be acquired by a girl who lived in a tenement house and worked in a

shirt factory”(62). Maggie wants to have the lifestyle and culture that she sees being imitated on

the stage. She wonders if she can acquire that life style. After Pete leaves Maggie, she has

nobody on whom she can rely. Maggie tries her best to be self reliant, but readers later see that

this is is her downfall.

 Henry David Thoreau and Stephen Crane also have contrasting views of choice versus

fate in determining one’s life path. Thoreau believes that people have a choice in determining

their own life. Thoreau encourages the readers to make their own decisions rather than follow in

the direction of others. He tells his readers that he “would have each one be very careful to find

out and pursue his own way, and not his father’s or his mother's or his neighbors instead”(59).

He tells readers that they should be careful “With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest

have ever lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor. The ancient philosophers, Chinese,

Hindoo, Persian, and Greek, were a class than which none had been poorer in outward riches,

none so rich in inward”(16). According to Thoreau, ancient philosophers, from many different

cultures, gave up many of their material objects in exchange for knowledge. Thoreau is telling

his readers that they should chose to get rid of their material objects, and live a more simple life.

By doing so, he is also telling his readers that they have a choice, and they can choose what they

do in their life. Crane, however, believes that fate plays a role in determining one’s life path.

Crane describes the place where Maggie grows up as “a dark region where, from a careening

building, a dozen gruesome doorways gave uploads of babies to the street and the gutter… Long

streamers of garments fluttered from fire-escapes. In all unhandy places, there were buckets,

brooms, rags, and bottles”(34). This is the neighborhood of one of the lower classes during this

time period. There are many things, such as brooms, bottles, buckets, and rags on the streets. As

the novel continues, it becomes more clear that the neighborhood in which Maggie grows up has

a huge effect on the rest of her life. Although near the beginning of the book, Crane writes “The

girl, Maggie, blossomed in a mud puddle...None of the dirt of Rum Alley seemed to be in her

veins. The philosophers up-stairs, down-stairs, and on the same floor, puzzled over it”(49). In the
novel, the place in which one grows up and one's social status is determined by fate which

determines the rest of the characters’ lives.

Henry David Thoreau, in ​Walden​, and Stephen Crane, in ​Maggie: A Girl of the Streets​,

would agree with their views on philanthropists, but would differ with their views on self

reliance and choice versus fate in determining one’s life path. The two authors are​ ​from different

time periods, which contributes to some of their contrasting views. Henry David Thoreau would

perhaps be appalled to read Stephen Crane’s story, as the two contrasting time periods showcase

different views on the world. Both of these authors state their views on these topics throughout

their respective novel. Thoreau talks directly to his readers, using first person point of view. On

the other hand, Crane uses characters, such as Maggie, to connect to his readers, using third

person point of view.

 Works Cited

Thoreau, Henry David. ​Walden and Civil Disobedience​. Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003.

Crane, Stephen. ​Maggie: A Girl of the Streets: (A Story of New York)​. Edited by Kevin J. Hayes,

Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1999.