The novel opens with a fight between boys from Devil's Row and Rum Alley, two different areas of the city. A young boy named Jimmie is at the center of the fight and he is one of the main characters of the novel. While he is fighting, a boy named Pete approaches and saves him from the other boys, who surely would have beaten Jimmie to death if they had the chance. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Soon after, Jimmie gets into another fight, this time interrupted by his father, whose influence on Jimmie shapes the person he becomes. His father forces him to return home and we are introduced to Tommie and Maggie, who are Jimmie's younger siblings. Mary, the mother, soon also enters the scene. She's a raging alcoholic, which has made her not only a hateful and abusive person, but also terrifying to be around, let alone live with. Everyone in the family fears her and her abusive behavior is so bad that it causes her children to hide in corners whenever she is in one of her states. Even minor things, like when Maggie accidentally broke a plate while washing dishes, provoke an extremely violent reaction from Mary. Things got so bad that night that Jimmie had to ask the old lady who lived on the floor above them if he could stay the night, which was not unusual for him. She told him that she would allow him to stay with her for the night if he went down to the bar and bought her a beer, but to his surprise, he found his father there, having the beer. When Jimmie comes home the next day he finds his parents laying the floor, having obviously gotten into another horrible fight the night before. Time passes and Tommie and the father die. Maggie has become a pretty, level-headed girl, despite her family life. Jimmie, on the other hand, takes care of his father and becomes a nasty, mean man with no real purpose in life. Maggie gets a job at a necklace and cuff factory, where she works full time. Pete, now a grown, wealthy man, comes back into Maggie's life and the two begin dating. He takes her to many events she wouldn't be able to see otherwise. A little later, a night comes when a bar refuses to serve Mary and she comes home angry. She expresses her extreme anger at Maggie by cursing her and calling her horrible names, and she ends up leaving with Pete. The next night, Jimmie learns from a woman that the old lady heard Maggie asking Pete if he loved her. He is enraged by this and he is determined to find Pete so he can harm him, so he and his friend find Pete one night at a bar where he works, and they fight. This results in the arrest of Pete and Jimmie's friend. Three weeks later, Maggie and Pete are at another bar and Pete's old friend Nellie arrives with her date. The two reconnect and start flirting, and they end up leaving together, so Maggie returns home. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Personalized Essay When she arrives, her mother wastes no time. ridiculing her and reminding her what a terrible person she is. Mary humiliates her in front of all the neighbors and treats her as if she is suffering from some kind of illness. As time passes, Maggie goes to Pete's house while he's working at the bar, but he tells her to "go to hell." She walks the streets, rejected by almost everyone, and ends up.