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Rebecca harding davis life in the iron mills analysis of theme
Human nature and money essay
Human nature and money essay
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Rebecca Harding Davis wrote “Life in the Iron Mills” in the mid-nineteenth century in part to raise awareness about working conditions in industrial mills. With the goal of presenting the reality of the mills’ environment and the lives of the mill workers, Davis employs vivid and concrete descriptions of the mills, the workers’ homes, and the workers themselves. Yet her story’s realism is not objective; Davis has a reformer’s agenda, and her word-pictures are colored accordingly. One theme that receives a particularly negative shading in the story is big business and the money associated with it. Davis uses this negative portrayal of money to emphasize the damage that the single-minded pursuit of wealth works upon the humanity of those who desire it.
The story of “Life in the Iron Mills” enters around Hugh Wolfe, a mill hand whose difference from his faceless, machine-like colleagues is established even before Hugh himself makes an appearance. The main narrative begins, not with Hugh, but with his cousin Deborah; the third-person point of view allows the reader to see Deborah in an apparently objective light as she stumbles tiredly home from work in the cotton mills at eleven at night. The description of this woman reveals that she does not drink as her fellow cotton pickers do, and conjectures that “perhaps the weak, flaccid wretch had some stimulant in her pale life to keep her up, some love or hope, it might be, or urgent need” (5). Deborah is described as “flaccid,” a word that connotes both limpness and impotence, suggesting that she is not only worn out, but also powerless to change her situation; meanwhile, her life is “pale” and without the vivid moments we all desire. Yet even this “wretch” has something to sti...
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...y as “the root of all evil” would be too simplistic; what she suggests, rather, is that the distribution of wealth in mid-nineteenth-century America was uneven, and that those with money did little to effectively aid the workers whose exploitation made them rich in the first place. In her portrayals of Mitchell and the “Christian reformer” whose sermon Hugh hears (24), she even suggests that reformers, often wealthy themselves, have no useful perspective on the social ills they desire to reform. Money, she seems to suggest, provides for the rich a numbing comfort that distances them from the sufferings of laborers like Hugh: like Kirby, they see such laborers as necessary cogs in the economic machinery, rather than as fellow human beings whose human desires for the comfort, beauty, and kindness that money promises may drive them to destroy their own humanity.
Nineteenth century industrialism presented the United States with a unique and unprecedented set of problems, as illustrated through the works of Rebecca Harding Davis and Horatio Alger Jr. Although both authors felt compelled to address these problems in their writing, Rebecca Harding Davis’s grasp on the realities faced by the working poor and women was clearly stronger than Alger’s. Not only did Alger possess a naïve view on exactly how much control an individual has over their own circumstances, but he failed to address the struggles of women entirely. As a result, Alger conceived a rather romantic world where the old-fashioned American ideals of hard work, determination, and self-sacrifice enable a young boy to lift himself from poverty.
Accurately established by many historians, the capitalists who shaped post-Civil War industrial America were regarded as corrupt “robber barons”. In a society in which there was a severe imbalance in the dynamics of the economy, these selfish individuals viewed this as an opportunity to advance in their financial status. Thus, they acquired fortunes for themselves while purposely overseeing the struggles of the people around them. Presented in Document A, “as liveried carriage appear; so do barefooted children”, proved to be a true description of life during the 19th century. In hopes of rebuilding America, the capitalists’ hunger for wealth only widened the gap between the rich and poor.
In 1822, a group of Boston merchants and traders began their campaign to transform a riverbank below the thirty-foot falls of the Merrimack River into "the greatest textile manufacturing establishment in the country." These capitalists dug and improved the Merrimack canal, constructed machine shops, and built housing for mill executives, foremen and operatives. The cotton mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, and other New England sites began to employ the first female industrial labor force in the United States. Almost twenty years later, factory workers wrote and edited the Lowell Offering, a literary magazine showcasing the virtues and talents of the female operatives in verse, essays and short fiction (Eisler, 13-22).
Wealth has both a good and a bad side. It can change the life of a person for the better or worse, and that is clearly shown in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. Wealth affects the lives of the characters of Their Eyes Were Watching God very differently than the characters of The Great Gatsby. Janie’s wealth came about, mainly, from her failed relationships.
In the late nineteenth century, many European immigrants traveled to the United States in search of a better life and good fortune. The unskilled industries of the Eastern United States eagerly employed these men who were willing to work long hours for low wages just to earn their food and board. Among the most heavily recruiting industries were the railroads and the steel mills of Western Pennsylvania. Particularly in the steel mills, the working conditions for these immigrants were very dangerous. Many men lost their lives to these giant steel-making machines. The immigrants suffered the most and also worked the most hours for the least amount of money. Living conditions were also poor, and often these immigrants would barely have enough money and time to do anything but work, eat, and sleep. There was also a continuous struggle between the workers and the owners of the mills, the capitalists. The capitalists were a very small, elite group of rich men who held most of the wealth in their industries. Strikes broke out often, some ending in violence and death. Many workers had no political freedom or even a voice in the company that employed them. However, through all of these hardships, the immigrants continued their struggle for a better life.
One of Larson’s first uses of contrast demonstrates the exploitation of the Gilded Age. On page 11, the very beginning of part I, Larson recounts how in the 1890s, young, single women were flocking to Chicago in large numbers and exercising their newfound independence by getting jobs. Larson then states “The men who hired them were for the most part moral citizens intent on efficiency and profit.”
The era that marked the end of civil war and the beginning of the twentieth century in the united states of America was coupled with enormous economic and industrial developments that attracted diverse views and different arguments on what exactly acquisition of wealth implied on the social classes in the society. It was during this time that the Marxist and those who embraced his ideologies came out strongly to argue their position on what industrial revolution should imply in an economic world like America. In fact, there was a rapid rise in the gross national product of the United States between 1874 and 1883. This actually sparked remarkable consequences on the political, social and economic impacts. In fact, the social rejoinder to industrialization had extensive consequences on the American society. This led to the emergence of social reform movements to discourse on the needs of the industrialized society. Various theories were developed to rationalize the widening gap between the rich and the poor. Various reformers like Andrew Carnegie, Henry George and William Graham Sumner perceived the view on the obligation of the wealthy differently. This paper seeks to address on the different views held by these prominent people during this time of historical transformations.
“He had already lost the strength and instinct vigor of a man, his muscles were thin, his nerves weak, his face (a meek, woman’s face) haggard, yellow with consumption” (Davis 11). This is just one description of the main character, Hugh Wolfe in the story “Life in the Iron Mills” by Rebecca Harding Davis that alludes to his femininity which was a characteristic that made him unfit to perform the roles that were expected of men during the time period in which this story was written. Throughout the short story, Davis illustrates several social issues related to inequality, which left many contemporary readers shocked and critical. The intertwined gender roles and contentious portrait of the division of the working class and upper class are a
It depicts how industrialization influenced the redefinition of the roles of American women within the larger society, alcohol use, and the rise of the middle class. The author seeks to enlighten the reader about the social stratification of that era; in addition, he makes reading history easy and enjoyable by writing in clear and lively prose. As a practitioner of micro-history, Johnson provides a window onto the early 19th century; in particular, the life of the American working class during that era. Since there is no much history on Sam Patch, Johnson uses his life to building an accessible and enjoyable narrative. The book served as a broader story to the rise of wage labor; the author explored the lives of entertainers, local politicians, and entrepreneurs. These aspects are developed throughout the book illustrating how it was now possible to rise to fame as a middle-class
Life In The Iron Mills is a dark tale of oppression in the beginnings of the Industrial Era and through its dual protagonists, Hugh and Deborah Wolfe shows how dominated by masculinity
Diction plays a vital role as well in achieving that goal in many ways. Firstly, the author’s formal and ornate choice of words strongly effects the perspective which the audience has on the mill worker. If not for the use of terms such as “the apple of his eye, the cynosure of all his strong power of love” then the event of the mill worker’s son falling ill would not be nearly as tragic and dismal to the reader. Secondly, there are many other choices of words throughout the text which further the author’s definition of the mill worker’s life in a faintly magniloquent way. One of those cases is when the mill worker is described as being “bewildered” or “aggravated” over the fact that his life continues to decline while others stay the same. Another instance is when Gaskell writes of the mill worker’s “pale, uncomplaining wife” and starving, “wailing children”. All of these more unusual words turn a description or event into something which summons the same picture of the hapless mill workers and their
Following Deborah’s journey to the mill, the narrator rhetorically asks “Deeper yet if one could look, was there nothing worth reading in this wet, faded thing, half-covered with ashes? no story of a soul filled with groping passionate love, heroic unselfishness, fierce jealousy?” (Davis 9). The curious intertwining of industrial capitalism and sexuality continues into this line, as the ashes again represent the waste and unused scraps of the factory process, and the “groping” suggests a degree of unwillingness or discomfort from our proxy for the labor force--Deborah. The ashes covering her are smothering her in the oppression of industrial capitalism, and barring her from leading a truly “passionate”
Mrs. Warren’s profession, written by Mr. George Bernard Shaw, shows the world how women are being exploited through capitalism. The characters, stage, and themes make this an enjoyable play with a deep-rooted message. For example, during the 1800’s women could be employed as factory workers, bar maids, and prostitutes. Many opportunities afforded men were taboo for women. Men were able to attend college take the challenging subjects and get a degree. However, women could go to college, but would be denied the diploma and the classes needed to be competitive in the business world. There were three themes: exploiting women, greed, and Mrs. Warren’s drive to provide for her daughter and shelter her for the truth.
They say that money is the root of all evil, or more specifically that the love of money is the root of all evil. This statement proves itself true in today’s capitalistic society in which money is power. Some people believe that money can and will buy their happiness, so they tend to condone foul behavior and do whatever it takes to obtain money. Sometimes money provides temporary happiness or satisfaction, but it does not breed pure happiness which stems from love. In “The Gilded Six-Bits”, Zora Hurston puts Joe and Missie May’s relationship to the test, using money as a distraction, to prove that love is the driving force to happiness, not money and fortune.
The meaning that could be made in “I Stand Here Ironing” through a Marxist lenses is that financial crises diminish an individual's status and growth in society. The story took place during the Great Depression where poverty was high and finding work was difficult, especially for a women. The narrator was a single mother with a lower class social standing because of the economic crisis. It was difficult for a single women to hold a job and balance time with her family. Therefore, her daughter, Emily, was affected internally and externally because of her mother’s financial difficulties. Emily loathed the caregivers she was handed to, but never rebelled against it. She was constantly sick and never had an appetite which made her incredibly thin.