the river, she is followed by a grotesque and shabby man. The next scene shows Pete drinking in a saloon with six fashionable women "of brilliance and audacity." He passes out, whereupon one, possibly Nellie, takes his money. In the final chapter, Jimmie tells his mother that Maggie is dead. The mother exclaims, ironically, as the neighbors comfort her, "I'll forgive her!" Themes Alcoholism Crane uses alcohol to continue a cycle of poverty that the characters cannot break from. Through alcoholism, Joseph Brennan believes that Crane demonstrates that the characters' fates are all inevitable and that their lives cannot be changed. While all the inhabitants of the Bowery drink excessively throughout the book, Crane uses Maggie's mother as a main depiction of the destructive power of alcohol. In her drunken rages, Mary Johnson is described as incredibly violent, abusing Maggie and breaking everything around her. Don Dingledine suggests Mary's drunken actions hinder Maggie's attempts to move up in the world and crush her hopes of doing so. Dingledine sees this in Maggie's attempt to improve her life and rise above her situation, as Maggie decorates and hangs a lambrequin, hoping to attract and impress Pete. Yet, Maggie's attempts to beautify her surroundings prove futile as Mary destroys the curtain while drunk and angry. Then, she publicly condemns her daughter, while inebriated, for her immoral actions with a man, thus isolating Maggie from the community. Brennan agrees arguing that Mary's drunken actions alienate Maggie, pushing her to Pete and her life on the street. Hypocrisy Hypocrisy is prevalent throughout Maggie, as Maggie is faced with hypocritical judgments by her family who hold different standards for her than they do for themselves. Dingledine argues that Maggie's mother drives Maggie away and into the arms of Pete. She then publicly condemns her daughter, further driving Maggie to her demise. Yet, after Maggie's death she displays her grief loudly. Mary's hypocrisy is also displayed with her physical aggression. During one of her violent and drunken tantrums, she threatens to beat her children with shoes. Then, after Maggie's death, Mary holds onto Maggie's baby shoes sentimentally, directly contradicting her aggression toward Maggie while alive. At the same time, Brennan argues that Crane displays hypocrisy when Jimmie avidly voices his displeasure with Maggie's relationship with Pete and condemns Pete for seducing his sister, although Jimmie seduces women himself and casts them off when he is done.