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Character Role Analysis

Jimmie and Maggie

Jimmie and Maggie don't have much in common besides blood and horrible parents. Instead, as we explore in depth over in his "Character" section, Jimmie is a sort of living embodiment of everything terrible about life in the tenements—he's rough, gruff, and ready to fight. By contrast, Maggie represents what happens to a person who isn't so cut out to survive in this environment. Add their opposing genders into the mix, and we've definitely got ourselves two characters whose differences illuminate key qualities in each other.