Life in the Iron Mills

Life in the Iron Mills

Introduction

The industrial revolution (1700-1900) is the period in which there was a rapid economic and technological developments with political formations that altogether altered fundamentally western civilization (Wyatt III 2). The period was characterized by agriculture supporting a growing population, emergence of social classes, specialization of economic endeavors, technical innovation, and their applications to commercial applications (Wyatt III 2).

Born on June 21^st, 1831, Rebecca Harding Davis was a pioneer in social history, and most of her work portrayed women’s rights, racial conditions, and working-class (Lasseter).

She is best remembered for her novella Life in the Iron Mills. Rebecca Davis got married in 1863, to Clarke Davis and regularly published in Atlantic Monthly.  She died in 1910. She had published more than 500 works in her lifetime.

Summary of the story

Life in the Mills, by Rebecca H. Davies, is a short story about the working class during the industrial revolution. The main characters Hugh and Deborah, live in an iron mining town, where Deborah works in the cotton fields while Hugh works in the iron mills. They are cousins who live in the same house. The story begins with an unnamed narrator looking outside the window to the people walking and working below, and a river flowing in a dull, tired movement. The air and the river are polluted with smoke from the chimneys.

Deborah, after coming home from work and realizes Hugh did not carry his lunch. Without eating and despite the torrential downpour, she walks for a mile to the mill to provide him with supper, which he has no interest in eating. While there, she looks at the deplorable conditions in which they work. The narrator claims that such conditions, coupled with their suffering, is worse than any horror movie one can watch.

While there, some visitors come in and start having a tour of the mill, led by the owner’s son, Kirby. The look and comparison that Hugh has shown they come from the upper class, and there are divisions in the social hierarchy in this society. Deborah manages to steal money from Mitchell, one of the visitors.

After the visit, back home, Deborah hands over the money to Hugh, who thinks the money will change his life for the better, only to end up in jail because of the money together with Deborah. Hugh dies in prison and is buried by a Quaker woman. Deborah, after her release, goes to live on the other side of the town, where her health, believes, and attitudes change for the better. With Hugh dead, the only remainder of his life is the Korl statue, hidden behind a curtain in the narrator’s library.

Style-imagery

Imagery is the use of descriptive language to add depth to the story.  Deborah’s observation of Hugh notes, “Physically, Nature had promised the man but little. 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). The description of Hugh gives us a mental image of his physique, someone with little strength, worn out, both physically and emotionally, by suffering.

A description of Hugh listening to the visitors also gives us a mental image of his mental and psychological stand.  “Wolfe listened more and more like a dumb, hopeless animal, with a duller, more stolid look creeping over his face, glancing now and then at Mitchell, marking acutely every smallest sign of refinement, then back to himself, seeing as in a mirror his filthy body, his more stained soul.” (Davis). His keenness, both on the physical and communication between the visitors, depict Hugh as a man who sees the visitors as some superior beings worth leaning and analyzing.

Settings

The setting of the story is in the town of iron-works. One of the main activities of the town is mining iron, and most of the workers there suffer a lot, economically, socially, and psychologically. The town has a river flowing with polluted water from the smoke from mining. Most of the workers there are used to polluted air, from their birth till death, causing problems to their body and soul. The narrator explains this by saying, “breathing from infancy to death an air saturated with fog and grease and soot.”  According to the narrator, “Smoke on the wharves, smoke on the dingy boats, on the yellow river, —clinging in a coating of greasy soot to the house-front” The town has both air and water pollution.

A large part of the story is in the mill, which has deplorable working conditions and the workers having the worst life that one can imagine in human beings. According to the narrator, “If you could go into this mill where Deborah lay, and drag out from the hearts of these men the tragedy of their lives, taking it as a symptom of the disease of their class, no ghost Horror would terrify you more.”

During the industrial revolution, most of the towns emerged along with the industries. The coal, iron and steel industries were the first to develop after the agricultural revolution and towns became centered in these regions. The economic and social life of these towns changed, with the majority of the workers spending most of their time working and earning fewer wages.

Personification

Personification is where non-human objects are given human attributes. The narrator provides the river some life explaining that “The river, dull and tawny-colored, drags itself sluggishly along, tired of the heavyweight of boats and coal-barges.” This describes the state of the river. The river is polluted, and the pollution, coupled with the environment, makes it dull. Also, the boats and barges on the waters make the river flow with slower momentum than it’s supposed to be as if overburdened by the ships.

The industrial revolution, despite many changes, made the people dull and with many problems. For instance, slums started developing during this period, and with low wages, many workers lived in poverty (Podder). Their lives were dull, and they had to carry their suffering as the river in the story.

Theme: Class difference

The working class are poor and have no money to sustain their basic needs. Some have no shelter and live in the mills. The narrator explains that “The mills were deserted on Sundays, except by the hands who fed the fires, and those who had no lodgings and slept usually on the ash-heaps” (Davis). Some workers in the mills were so poor they could not afford shelter. Also, we see Hugh compare himself with the other social class, and this is what he says “He seized eagerly every chance that brought him into contact with this mysterious class that shone down on him perpetually with the glamour of another order of being. What made the difference between them? That was the mystery of his life” (Davis). Hugh belongs to the lower social class, who works in the mill to earn a living. There are rich people in the society, represented by Doctor May, Mitchell, a reporter, and young Kirby. These visitors represent a class that Hugh comes to realize he will never be one of them. They smoke cigars, are educated, and have good careers.

The working class, represented by Hugh and Deborah, live in inhumane conditions that kill them, both physically and psychologically. The narrator explains, “If you could go into this mill where Deborah lay, and drag out from the hearts of these men the tragedy of their lives, taking it as a symptom of the disease of their class, no ghost Horror would terrify you more. A reality of soul-starvation, of living death that meets you every day under the besotted faces on the street” (Davis). Such conditions make them sick, thieves, and their constant comparison with the upper rich steals them of their pride in life.

Even in elections, there is a difference in elections. The rich have a way of manipulating the poor to vote according to their wishes and have their way. Young Kirby says, “But my father brought seven hundred votes to the polls for his candidate last November. No force-work, you understand, only a speech or two, a hint to form themselves into a society, and a bit of red and blue bunting to make them a flag.” (Davis). The poor have no sense of worth that a rich man can promise them something, and they will vote according to his/her wish.

According to the socio-economic structure of the society in the story, the poor can never be able to cross the line separating the poor and the rich. Hugh, after comparing himself with the visitors, explains: “but he knew now, in all the sharpness of the bitter certainty, that between them there was a great gulf never to be passed. Never!” (Davis).

The poor and the rich have different careers and leisure activities. Hugh works as a furnace-tender in the iron mill, while Deborah is a cotton picker. This makes them earn little that they live in abject poverty. The visitors to the mill have more professional vocations. One is a doctor, the other a reporter. Mitchel is a gymnast, and his brother-in-law is the son of the mill’s owner. Their careers give them enough income and a good life.

In the industrial revolution, the industry workers belonged to the lower class and earned little, lived in slums with large families (Stearns 70). This is in contrast to the middle and upper class who were educated and had enough money for their basic needs and extra for a healthful lifestyle. During the industrial revolution, women worked in the textile industry. Over half of the labor force in cotton production were women (Steans 77). Most of these women were in their teens or early twenties and worked before they got married, later adopting to marriage life (Steans 77).

Symbol

A symbol is a literal device that has meaning concealed, representing something else other than the visible direct translation from the story.

When Hugh Wolfe compares himself with the visitors in the mill, the narrator concludes, “He had no words for such a thought, but he knew now, in all the sharpness of the bitter certainty, that between them there was a great gulf never to be passed. Never!” Here, the narrator uses great gulf, a large navigable body of water. By claiming that between Hugh and the visitors, there was a great gulf never to be passed, he means that Hugh can never be able to reach their social and economic class. The difference between them is too huge that it can “never to be passed.” Hugh, no matter what he does in this world, will never reach the socio-economic status of the visitors he is comparing himself. With the industrial revolution, the unskilled industrial workers got little wages. The employers set wages as low as possible since many people wanted to work (Poddar). This made them earn enough only for basic survival. Most people lived in the slums. The middle class emerged during this period, and they had money left over for leisure, which enabled them to live comfortably (Poddar). These two classes, one with little or no skills and the other class with both expertise and education, formed two distinct groups that to cross over was nearly impossible. This is the backdrop of what Hugh goes through in the mill. He compares himself with the visitors, one a doctor, another a gymnast, a reporter, and the son of the Mill owner. Their lives are so diverse that Hugh can never be able to cross the divide. Also, the narrator tells us about Hugh’s coworkers who live in the mill due to lack of shelter.

The statue that Hugh carves out is a symbol of hunger for life. When the visitors ask Hugh about its meaning, he explains that she is ‘hungry.’ This symbolizes the longing and yearning that Hugh has for a better life, abundant with beauty and happiness.

Conclusion

With the industrial revolution, many changes in society were witnessed. There was the immigration of people to the newly created towns. This led to the mushrooming of slums, due to increase in population and low wages. Also, there was the emergence of classes, with the rich separating themselves from the others, living in their own designated areas, having their social circle, and educating their families. The poor continued with their suffering. The story life in the Iron-Mills depicts the effects of the industrial revolution on society.