Life in the Iron Mills
Encyclopedia
Life in the Iron Mills; or, the Korl Woman is a short story
(or novella
) written by Rebecca Harding Davis
in 1861, set in the factory world of the nineteenth century. It is one of the earliest American realist works, and is an important text for those who study labor and women's issues. It was immediately recognized as an innovative work, and introduced American readers to "the bleak lives of industrial workers in the mills and factories of the nation."
Life in the Iron Mills was initially published in The Atlantic Monthly
, Vol. 0007, Issue 42 in April 1861.http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=atla;cc=atla;rgn=full%20text;idno=atla0007-4;didno=atla0007-4;view=image;seq=00436;node=atla0007-4%3A1 Cornell University, 2011 After being published anonymously, both Emily Dickinson and Nathaniel Hawthorne praised the work. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps was also greatly influenced by Davis's Life in the Iron Mills and in 1868 published in the Atlantic Monthly "The Tenth of January," based on the 1860 fire at the Pemberton Mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts. .http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ahlt_0001_0002_0/ahlt_0001_0002_0_00143.html, 1999-2011 Novelguide.Com.
Rebecca Harding Davis was considered one of the nation's first social historians and pioneering literary artists. She wrote to find social change for blacks, women, immigrants, and the working class throughout the Civil War
. Throughout her long career, Davis challenged the traditional subjects and older styles of writing.http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9LfDb2-Tk0cJ:workingwomen.wikispaces.com/Life%2Bin%2Bthe%2BIron%2BMills+life+in+the+iron+mills+immigration&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us, Tangient LLC, 2011. Her family lived briefly in Big Springs, Alabama
, before moving in 1837 to Wheeling
, Virginia
(now West Virginia
), on the Ohio River
. Its iron mills and immigrant populations inspired the setting of Life in the Iron Mills.http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:sbaahkxNra8J:www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ahlt_0001_0002_0/ahlt_0001_0002_0_00143.html+life+in+the+iron+mills+setting&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us, 1999-2011, Novelguide.com.
. The short story was published by Atlantic Monthly. Davis was paid well for her story and continued to publish short stories for Atlantic Monthly. Life in the Iron Mills received much deserved attention during her writings, she was also recognized by "literary giants" such as; Oliver Wendell Holmes, Bronson Allot, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Henry Ward Beecher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne encouraged Davis to continue to write, but was forgotten by the literary world by the time of her death.
Davis attended college at Washington Women Seminary and studied the Bible intensively. It is here Davis would encounter influencial scholars and political thinkers, and explore ideas and produce thoughts of her own regarding such social and religious issues. According to some scholars, Davis' work was heavily influenced by the "ethical teachings of Christianity." This is evident in Life in the Iron Mills, where Davis expoliates the greediness that dervies from the Industrial Revolution
.
According to Gregory Hadley, Davis' writings were partly shaped by the renewed interest of Christianity called the Second Great Awakening
, which emphasizes on Personal Faith that was defined on repentance, believed Christ as the Savior, and live according to the Bible and Social Action. Social reform had heavily influenced the women who were on this "moral crusade." Protestants denominations had an remarkable growth spurt, and by the 1850's millions of Americans had converted to Christianity. Though many reviews failed to recognized Davis' Christian faith was an important factor in her writings. Davis' writings had focused on problems that Christians of her time were concerned with; slavery, work exploitation, equal education, and justice for women.
The story takes place in the 1830s, a time when the Industrial Revolution
was well underway. Until the 1840s well-to-do entrepreneurs established new mills and factories through their own finances because banks usually did not invest in industry or make loans to manufacturers. Industry thrived until the panic of 1837
, originating in Britain, which affected investments in the United States, resulting in the bankruptcies of both British and American manufacturers and extensive unemployment. The American economy fell into a depression from which it did not emerge until 1843. By the 1850s, iron manufacturing was doing especially well, and by 1860 it was the nation's leading industry. Cotton production was another major industry. Investors profited significantly at the expense of workers.
Industry depended greatly on immigrant laborers. Approximately four million Irish, German, and British immigrants moved to the United States between 1820 and 1860. Most of them were unskilled peasants, laborers, and farmers who found employment in factories, on construction sites, at warehouses and docks, and in private homes. The living conditions depicted in Life in the Iron Mills for many immigrants were poor, indeed not much better than what they had experienced in Europe. Lacking enough money to buy food, many suffered from malnutrition and from diseases like cholera
, smallpox
, and tuberculosis
("consumption"), with which the main character, Hugh Wolfe, is afflicted.
In the era of the feminist movement
, the short story resurfaced through the help of the feminist writer Tillie Olsen
. As an adviser for the Feminist Press in the 1970's, she came across Life in the Iron Mills and suggested it for republication. Olsen helped the short story gain critical reception once again as Davis intended in the 19th century.
When Wolfe is working he spots men that do not look like workers. He sees Clarke, the son of Kirby, Doctor May who is a physician, and another two men that he does not recognize. These men stop by to look at the working men, and as they are talking and observing, they spot a weird object that has the shape of a human. As they get closer, they see that it is an odd shaped statue built with korl. They begin to analyze it and wonder who created such a statue, one of the workers points at Wolfe and the men go to him. They ask him why he built such a statue and what it represents. All Hugh says is that "She be hungry". The men begin to talk about the injustice of labor force, and one goes as far as to say that Hugh can get out of the meager job he is in, but that he unfortunately can not help. The men leave and one of them throws money at Deborah which she collects. They go back home and Wolfe feels like he is a failure and feels anger towards his economical situation.
Once home, Deborah confesses to stealing from Mitchell, and shamefully gives the money to Wolfe to do with it what he pleases. Wolfe decides to keep the money believing he is deserving of it because after all they are all deserving in Gods eyes.The narrator transitions to a different scene with Dr. May reading the newspaper and seeing that Wolfe was put in jail for stealing from Mitchell. The story goes back to Hugh and he is in prison with Deborah. The narrator explains how terrible their situation is, and goes on to give detail of Wolfe's mental disintegration. Hugh ends up losing his mind and killing himself in prison. The story ends with a quaker women who comes to bless and help with the body of Hugh. She talks to Deborah and promises her that she will give Hugh a proper burial, and come back for her when she is released from jail.
stories published. It was Rebecca Harding Davis's first published work, first appearing anonymously in the April 1861 issue of the Atlantic Monthly. After its publication, it caused a literary sensation with its powerful naturalism that anticipated the work of Emile Zola
, Theodore Dreiser
and Frank Norris
. It was reprinted in the early 1970s by the Feminist Press with a well-known introduction by Tillie Olsen
and has continued to be an important text for those who study labor and women’s issues. Anticipating post-Darwinian naturalism, Davis's most famous depiction of the redundant, dehumanizing servitude of American labor in "Life in the Iron-Mills" (initially an anonymous publication) may be American literature's first industrial muckraker. Its graphic probe into ethnicity, vocation, and class also encompasses, according to Pfaelzer, what became Davis's most characteristic subject and theme: strong women and powerlessness.
"Life in the Iron Mills" reworks Davis's struggles with the problems of thwarted vocation, feminine longing and the alienation of an immigrant (and in an allusion to a textile mill, an interracial) industrial proletariat. Davis's is not only a dual projection of resentments at her own domestic and artistic oppression, but also an ambitious bi-gender proletarian narrative. Nevertheless, the authorial decision to use dual protagonists highlights even more greatly the sexual division of labor, the social relations between working men and workingwomen that is produced, and the very nature of the female work character.http://books.google.com/books?id=hdCPKvUzxdUC&pg=PT82&lpg=PT82&dq=Laura+Hapke+Life+in+the+Iron+Mills&source=bl&ots=drbpUbKBS6&sig=VZc7pnSySjv9wkaZp8dPSPAGSqE&hl=en&ei=2xfLTqTfHIiViQK07LSODA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false, Hapke, Laura
Davis takes pains to initiate her readers into the knowledge of hitherto little acknowledged social realities; she seems a pioneer exploring a territory which, by the end of the nineteenth century, would be recognized as the new American wilderness. Davis's story comes to life not as a work which is admirable because it is almost realistic, but as a work which astonishes and informs its past and present readers because it shares in and extends the accomplishments of the romance.
, Nathaniel Hawthorne
, and many others.
Rebecca Harding Davis disappeared from the literary world after ending her publications in Atlantic Monthly. Life in the Iron Mills regained critical reception with the help of Tillie Olsen. In the 1970's many feminist supporters wrote about the power of Rebecca Harding Davis's short story. Norma Rosen, the author of "Joy to Revine" explains her first experience when reading "Life in the Iron Mills":
With this book, "Life in the Iron Mills" in my hand, I feel I am standing in corridor of echoes. Another critic, Federick Whittacker, describes Rebecca Harding Davis as a writer who takes part in the concept "Knight of labor", which too Whittacker represents writers who create literary fitction concerning the iron mill labor force in the 1800's. Life in the Iron Mills, was considered by most critics during the 1970's and 1980's, as one of the first works representing the iron mill labor force through realism.
Life in the Iron mills still receives literary criticism today. Davis's short story has its own Bedford Cultural Edition, which introduces Life in the Iron Mills literary importance during the 19th century. The Bedford edition also explores the relation of Davis to the short story, and how her background influences the narrative. Many critics explore the different themes that can be interpreted in the short story and its relation to the authors environment and historical context. Sheila Hassle Hughes exemplifies the conflicts that arise amongst critics about the themes Life in the Iron Mills represents:
Life in the Iron Mills can easily be connected with Realism, but it is open to many interpretations and themes.
, Louisa May Alcott
, and Nathaniel Hawthorne
among many others. The short story also influenced a lot of women writers after the republication of the story by Tillie Olsen. For example Life in the Iron Mills inspired Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward
to write the short story The Tenth of January in 1868, which dealt with a mills collapse in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The short story is recognized as the starting point for the use of realism in literature representing the Labor force.
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
(or novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
) written by Rebecca Harding Davis
Rebecca Harding Davis
Rebecca Blaine Harding Davis was an American author and journalist. She is deemed a pioneer of literary realism in American literature. She graduated valedictorian from Washington Female Seminary in Pennsylvania...
in 1861, set in the factory world of the nineteenth century. It is one of the earliest American realist works, and is an important text for those who study labor and women's issues. It was immediately recognized as an innovative work, and introduced American readers to "the bleak lives of industrial workers in the mills and factories of the nation."
Life in the Iron Mills was initially published in The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic is an American magazine founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. It quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets,...
, Vol. 0007, Issue 42 in April 1861.http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=atla;cc=atla;rgn=full%20text;idno=atla0007-4;didno=atla0007-4;view=image;seq=00436;node=atla0007-4%3A1 Cornell University, 2011 After being published anonymously, both Emily Dickinson and Nathaniel Hawthorne praised the work. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps was also greatly influenced by Davis's Life in the Iron Mills and in 1868 published in the Atlantic Monthly "The Tenth of January," based on the 1860 fire at the Pemberton Mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts. .http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ahlt_0001_0002_0/ahlt_0001_0002_0_00143.html, 1999-2011 Novelguide.Com.
Rebecca Harding Davis was considered one of the nation's first social historians and pioneering literary artists. She wrote to find social change for blacks, women, immigrants, and the working class throughout the Civil War
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
. Throughout her long career, Davis challenged the traditional subjects and older styles of writing.http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9LfDb2-Tk0cJ:workingwomen.wikispaces.com/Life%2Bin%2Bthe%2BIron%2BMills+life+in+the+iron+mills+immigration&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us, Tangient LLC, 2011. Her family lived briefly in Big Springs, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, before moving in 1837 to Wheeling
Wheeling
-Places in the United States of America:*Wheeling, Illinois*Wheeling, Carroll County, Indiana*Wheeling, Delaware County, Indiana*Wheeling, Gibson County, Indiana*Wheeling, Missouri*Wheeling, West Virginia...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
(now West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
), on the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
. Its iron mills and immigrant populations inspired the setting of Life in the Iron Mills.http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:sbaahkxNra8J:www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ahlt_0001_0002_0/ahlt_0001_0002_0_00143.html+life+in+the+iron+mills+setting&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us, 1999-2011, Novelguide.com.
Background
Rebecca Harding Davis wrote Life in the Iron Mills and other short stories to represent the events going on around her during the era of the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The short story was published by Atlantic Monthly. Davis was paid well for her story and continued to publish short stories for Atlantic Monthly. Life in the Iron Mills received much deserved attention during her writings, she was also recognized by "literary giants" such as; Oliver Wendell Holmes, Bronson Allot, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Henry Ward Beecher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne encouraged Davis to continue to write, but was forgotten by the literary world by the time of her death.
Davis attended college at Washington Women Seminary and studied the Bible intensively. It is here Davis would encounter influencial scholars and political thinkers, and explore ideas and produce thoughts of her own regarding such social and religious issues. According to some scholars, Davis' work was heavily influenced by the "ethical teachings of Christianity." This is evident in Life in the Iron Mills, where Davis expoliates the greediness that dervies from the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
.
According to Gregory Hadley, Davis' writings were partly shaped by the renewed interest of Christianity called the Second Great Awakening
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Christian revival movement during the early 19th century in the United States. The movement began around 1800, had begun to gain momentum by 1820, and was in decline by 1870. The Second Great Awakening expressed Arminian theology, by which every person could be...
, which emphasizes on Personal Faith that was defined on repentance, believed Christ as the Savior, and live according to the Bible and Social Action. Social reform had heavily influenced the women who were on this "moral crusade." Protestants denominations had an remarkable growth spurt, and by the 1850's millions of Americans had converted to Christianity. Though many reviews failed to recognized Davis' Christian faith was an important factor in her writings. Davis' writings had focused on problems that Christians of her time were concerned with; slavery, work exploitation, equal education, and justice for women.
The story takes place in the 1830s, a time when the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
was well underway. Until the 1840s well-to-do entrepreneurs established new mills and factories through their own finances because banks usually did not invest in industry or make loans to manufacturers. Industry thrived until the panic of 1837
Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis or market correction in the United States built on a speculative fever. The end of the Second Bank of the United States had produced a period of runaway inflation, but on May 10, 1837 in New York City, every bank began to accept payment only in specie ,...
, originating in Britain, which affected investments in the United States, resulting in the bankruptcies of both British and American manufacturers and extensive unemployment. The American economy fell into a depression from which it did not emerge until 1843. By the 1850s, iron manufacturing was doing especially well, and by 1860 it was the nation's leading industry. Cotton production was another major industry. Investors profited significantly at the expense of workers.
Industry depended greatly on immigrant laborers. Approximately four million Irish, German, and British immigrants moved to the United States between 1820 and 1860. Most of them were unskilled peasants, laborers, and farmers who found employment in factories, on construction sites, at warehouses and docks, and in private homes. The living conditions depicted in Life in the Iron Mills for many immigrants were poor, indeed not much better than what they had experienced in Europe. Lacking enough money to buy food, many suffered from malnutrition and from diseases like cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
, smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
, and tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
("consumption"), with which the main character, Hugh Wolfe, is afflicted.
In the era of the feminist movement
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
, the short story resurfaced through the help of the feminist writer Tillie Olsen
Tillie Olsen
Tillie Lerner Olsen was an American writer associated with the political turmoil of the 1930s and the first generation of American feminists.-Biography:...
. As an adviser for the Feminist Press in the 1970's, she came across Life in the Iron Mills and suggested it for republication. Olsen helped the short story gain critical reception once again as Davis intended in the 19th century.
Plot Summary
Life in the Iron Mills begins with an omniscient narrator who looks out a window and sees smog and iron workers. The gender of the narrator is never known, but it is evident that the narrator is a middle class observer.As the narrator looks out the windowpane, an old story comes to mind; a story of the house that the narrator is living in. The narrator cautions the reader to have an objective mind, and to not be quick to judge the character in the story he/she is about to tell the reader. The narrator begins to introduce Deborah, Wolfe's cousin. She is described as a meek woman who works hard, and has a hump in her back. Deborah finds out from Janey, that Hugh did not take lunch to work, she decides to walk many miles in the rain to take a lunch for Wolfe.. As she walks up to the mills, Deborah begins to describe it as if it were hell, but shee keeps going for Wolfe. When she arrives Wolfe is talking amongst friends and he recognizes her, the narrator explains his affection for her, but also describes his affection as loveless and sympathetic. Hugh finds no time to eat his dinner and goes back to do a day of labor in the mills. Deborah, who is exhausted, stays with Hugh and rests untill his shift is over. In the meantime, the narrator further explains that Wolfe does not belong in the environment of the iron mill workers. He is known as "Molly Wolfe" by other workers because of his manner and background in education.When Wolfe is working he spots men that do not look like workers. He sees Clarke, the son of Kirby, Doctor May who is a physician, and another two men that he does not recognize. These men stop by to look at the working men, and as they are talking and observing, they spot a weird object that has the shape of a human. As they get closer, they see that it is an odd shaped statue built with korl. They begin to analyze it and wonder who created such a statue, one of the workers points at Wolfe and the men go to him. They ask him why he built such a statue and what it represents. All Hugh says is that "She be hungry". The men begin to talk about the injustice of labor force, and one goes as far as to say that Hugh can get out of the meager job he is in, but that he unfortunately can not help. The men leave and one of them throws money at Deborah which she collects. They go back home and Wolfe feels like he is a failure and feels anger towards his economical situation.
Once home, Deborah confesses to stealing from Mitchell, and shamefully gives the money to Wolfe to do with it what he pleases. Wolfe decides to keep the money believing he is deserving of it because after all they are all deserving in Gods eyes.The narrator transitions to a different scene with Dr. May reading the newspaper and seeing that Wolfe was put in jail for stealing from Mitchell. The story goes back to Hugh and he is in prison with Deborah. The narrator explains how terrible their situation is, and goes on to give detail of Wolfe's mental disintegration. Hugh ends up losing his mind and killing himself in prison. The story ends with a quaker women who comes to bless and help with the body of Hugh. She talks to Deborah and promises her that she will give Hugh a proper burial, and come back for her when she is released from jail.
Characters
- Hugh Wolfe is a WelshWelsh peopleThe Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
puddler, who was born into poverty, is a laborer who turns pig ironPig ironPig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...
into wrought ironWrought ironthumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
by puddlingPuddling (metallurgy)Puddling was an Industrial Revolution means of making iron and steel. In the original puddling technique, molten iron in a reverberatory furnace was stirred with rods, which were consumed in the process...
. Despite the demanding hours at the mill, Hugh has a special talent; artistic talent to sculpt out of korlKORLKORL may refer to:* KORL-FM, a radio station licensed to Waianae, Hawaii, United States* KORL , a radio station licensed to Honolulu, Hawaii, United States...
, "a light, porous substance, of a delicate, waxen, flesh-colored tinge," a leftover refuse from the smelting process. Many of the workers make fun of Hugh for his interest in sculpting and his relationship with Deborah. Hugh yearns for beauty and purity. He has a good heart and cares for Deborah, even though she influences him taking the stolen money. - Deborah Wolfe, is Hugh's cousin, a hunch back who loves Hugh, and often takes dinner to Hugh, even if it means her missing dinner. She works at the spools and inadvertently plays a key role in Hugh's downward spiral in the narrative.
- Janey, is a child who sleeps over at Hugh and Deb's occasionally when her father is drunk. She is clearly beautiful, which makes Deb jealous.
- Mr. Clarke, an overseer at the iron mill where Hugh works.
- Young Kirby, son of the mill's co-owner. He feels no obligation toward the workers except "a narrow limit,--the pay-hour on Saturday night."
- Doctor May. He is one of the town's physicians. He feels compassion toward the workers, but the overwhelming task of improving the thousands of workers (1200 at this mill alone) prevents him from helping Hugh, even when Hugh asks for it explicitly. Instead, he gives Hugh some empty words of encouragement.
- Mitchell. Kirby's brother-in-law (and son-in-law of the mill owner), an amateur gymnast, a hardened cynic, and who was "spending a couple of months in the boarders of a Slave State, to study the institutions of the South" (Davis, 17).
- Captain - A reporter.
- A Quaker woman. She aids Deborah during and after prison, and provides a grave for Hugh. She provides the only sincere assistance to the poor in the story.
- The narrator who recounts the story is an unknown person of some higher class. "Many scholars assume the narrative voice is female." She or he possesses the korl woman statue as the only remaining evidence of Hugh's existence.
- The Korl Woman. A sculpture that was created by Hugh, which showcases Hugh's artistic talent. She is made out of korl. The Korl woman represents industrialism's effect on the working class.
Style
Life in the Iron Mills must be considered a central text in the origins of American realism, American proletarian literature, and American feminism, according to Jean Pfaelzer. The story was revolutionary in its compelling portrait of the working class's powerlessness to break the oppressive chains of industrial capitalism. Author of The Utopian Novel in America, 1886-1896 (1984) and many articles on Davis, Pfaelzer edits the volume's literary selections and supplies the substantial critical introduction, which maintains that Davis inherited the sentimental literary tradition but nonetheless wrote "common stories" that "exposed the tension between sentimentalism, a genre predicated on the repression of the self, and realism, a genre predicated on the search for individual identity." Davis's realistic depiction of the gritty, hellish mills and the impoverished workers' lives is far removed from the material advantages of the upper classes often portrayed in domestic fiction. She also uses the vernacular and dialect skillfully to depict realistically her uneducated immigrant characters and to emphasize their lower-class status. Davis counteracts positive images of healthy, wholesome mill girls and mills as ideal places of work. Life in the Iron Mills challenges the optimism of transcendentalism by showing how industrialism fueled by greedy capitalists destroys the natural environment and the human spirit.Feminisim
Life in the Iron Mills is one of the earliest American RealistRealism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
stories published. It was Rebecca Harding Davis's first published work, first appearing anonymously in the April 1861 issue of the Atlantic Monthly. After its publication, it caused a literary sensation with its powerful naturalism that anticipated the work of Emile Zola
Émile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
, Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Dreiser
Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of...
and Frank Norris
Frank Norris
Benjamin Franklin Norris, Jr. was an American novelist, during the Progressive Era, writing predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include McTeague , The Octopus: A Story of California , and The Pit .-Life:Frank Norris was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1870...
. It was reprinted in the early 1970s by the Feminist Press with a well-known introduction by Tillie Olsen
Tillie Olsen
Tillie Lerner Olsen was an American writer associated with the political turmoil of the 1930s and the first generation of American feminists.-Biography:...
and has continued to be an important text for those who study labor and women’s issues. Anticipating post-Darwinian naturalism, Davis's most famous depiction of the redundant, dehumanizing servitude of American labor in "Life in the Iron-Mills" (initially an anonymous publication) may be American literature's first industrial muckraker. Its graphic probe into ethnicity, vocation, and class also encompasses, according to Pfaelzer, what became Davis's most characteristic subject and theme: strong women and powerlessness.
"Life in the Iron Mills" reworks Davis's struggles with the problems of thwarted vocation, feminine longing and the alienation of an immigrant (and in an allusion to a textile mill, an interracial) industrial proletariat. Davis's is not only a dual projection of resentments at her own domestic and artistic oppression, but also an ambitious bi-gender proletarian narrative. Nevertheless, the authorial decision to use dual protagonists highlights even more greatly the sexual division of labor, the social relations between working men and workingwomen that is produced, and the very nature of the female work character.http://books.google.com/books?id=hdCPKvUzxdUC&pg=PT82&lpg=PT82&dq=Laura+Hapke+Life+in+the+Iron+Mills&source=bl&ots=drbpUbKBS6&sig=VZc7pnSySjv9wkaZp8dPSPAGSqE&hl=en&ei=2xfLTqTfHIiViQK07LSODA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false, Hapke, Laura
Davis takes pains to initiate her readers into the knowledge of hitherto little acknowledged social realities; she seems a pioneer exploring a territory which, by the end of the nineteenth century, would be recognized as the new American wilderness. Davis's story comes to life not as a work which is admirable because it is almost realistic, but as a work which astonishes and informs its past and present readers because it shares in and extends the accomplishments of the romance.
Immigration and Industrialization
The story also "launched a pathbreaking exposé of the effects of capitalism and industrialization, including the physical, spiritual, and intellectual starvation of immigrant wage earners. In fact, the novel is recognized as being the first literary work in America to focus on the relationships among industrial work, poverty, and the exploitation of immigrants within a capitalistic economy." "Life in the Iron Mills" is an explosive study of the working poor, prophetic of the class struggle that would fill the main chapters of nineteenth century labor history. Davis's story is remarkable for its solidarity with the cause of the workers. Writers who took up the subject of the labor wars more typically enlisted on the side of corporate authority. As Davis shows, the Industrial Revolution also brought with it class distinctions clearly exhibited by the material wealth of capitalists and industrialists who possessed the means to build lavish homes with elaborate architecture. In contrast, factory workers and other unskilled laborers often lived in crowded boardinghouses and small apartments. Because they lived in such deplorable and disorderly conditions, held such lower-class status, and faced the stress and uncertainty of work, many wage earners indulged in alcohol consumption. Davis effectively captures these conflicts in Life in the Iron Mills.http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Dxm-mpGEagcJ:www.enotes.com/american-history-literature-cc/life-iron-mills+Romanticism+in+life+in+the+iron+mills&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us, 2011, eNotes.com, Inc. As far as the country was concerned, immigrants saw America as a place with many job opportunities due to industrialization and urbanization. In the 1840’s the nation received 1.7 million immigrants, and then 2.6 million in the 1850’s. Many owners of industrial plants and mills became rich by exploiting the immigrant workers in order to provide cheap goods. Davis was said to have, "sought to make her readers aware that their material comfort was enabled neither by palliative classical gods nor by cheap coal and river barges but by real human beings, who ate, slept, and toiled in unspeakable conditions" (4).Reception
In the late 1800's Life in the Iron Mills received national criticism when published in Atlantic Monthly. Many readers of The Atlantic Monthly believed the author of the story was a man because of Davis's strong language and use of realism. Davis also published her early works anonymously, but as she gained fame from The Atlantic Monthly she began to sign her name to her work. Life in the Iron Mills took readers away from abolitionist and civil war conflicts, and reminded them of the community of iron workers going through injustice as well. Davis also had strong literary supporters such as Ralph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
, and many others.
Rebecca Harding Davis disappeared from the literary world after ending her publications in Atlantic Monthly. Life in the Iron Mills regained critical reception with the help of Tillie Olsen. In the 1970's many feminist supporters wrote about the power of Rebecca Harding Davis's short story. Norma Rosen, the author of "Joy to Revine" explains her first experience when reading "Life in the Iron Mills":
With this book, "Life in the Iron Mills" in my hand, I feel I am standing in corridor of echoes. Another critic, Federick Whittacker, describes Rebecca Harding Davis as a writer who takes part in the concept "Knight of labor", which too Whittacker represents writers who create literary fitction concerning the iron mill labor force in the 1800's. Life in the Iron Mills, was considered by most critics during the 1970's and 1980's, as one of the first works representing the iron mill labor force through realism.
Life in the Iron mills still receives literary criticism today. Davis's short story has its own Bedford Cultural Edition, which introduces Life in the Iron Mills literary importance during the 19th century. The Bedford edition also explores the relation of Davis to the short story, and how her background influences the narrative. Many critics explore the different themes that can be interpreted in the short story and its relation to the authors environment and historical context. Sheila Hassle Hughes exemplifies the conflicts that arise amongst critics about the themes Life in the Iron Mills represents:
Life in the Iron Mills can easily be connected with Realism, but it is open to many interpretations and themes.
Legacy
Rebecca Harding Davis's Life in the Iron Mills, is recognized as an impacting short story by writers such as Emily DickinsonEmily Dickinson
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life...
, Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys. Little Women was set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, and published in 1868...
, and Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
among many others. The short story also influenced a lot of women writers after the republication of the story by Tillie Olsen. For example Life in the Iron Mills inspired Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, born Mary Gray Phelps, was an American author and an early advocate of clothing reform for women, urging them to burn their corsets.- Biography :...
to write the short story The Tenth of January in 1868, which dealt with a mills collapse in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The short story is recognized as the starting point for the use of realism in literature representing the Labor force.
External links
- Life in the Iron Mills in The Atlantic, Volume 7, Issue 42 (April 1861). Page 430
- Life in the Iron Mills at Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
(plain text and HTML) - Life in the Iron Mills at LibriVoxLibriVoxLibriVox is an online digital library of free public domain audiobooks, read by volunteers and is probably, since 2007, the world's most prolific audiobook publisher...
(audiobook)