Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis
"Life in the Iron Mills" by Rebecca Harding Davis is a poignant narrative exploring the harsh realities of industrial life in 19th-century America through the experiences of an ironworker named Hugh Wolfe. The story is conveyed by a first-person narrator who reflects on the lives of Hugh, his father, and his cousin Deborah, who share a grim existence in a working-class environment marked by long hours and limited means. Hugh, an aspiring artist, struggles with his artistic aspirations amidst the oppressive conditions of the iron mills, while Deborah embodies the sacrifices made for familial love, as she supports Hugh despite their dire circumstances.
The tale delves into themes of aspiration, despair, and the stark divide between social classes. Hugh's artistic spirit is symbolized through a powerful sculpture he creates, which captures the yearning for life beyond their bleak surroundings. However, the encounter with wealthy visitors underscores a profound sense of alienation, as Hugh realizes the insurmountable gap between his life and theirs. A series of tragic events leads Hugh to despair, ultimately culminating in his tragic end. The narrative not only highlights the struggles of the working class but also poses critical questions about social responsibility, the power of money, and the human condition, making it a significant work within the genre of social realism.
On this Page
Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis
First published: 1861
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: The late 1850's
Locale: American industrial city
Principal Characters:
Hugh Wolfe , a tubercular immigrant ironworker who sculptsDeborah Wolfe , his cousin, a cotton mill workerFive or six affluent men , visitors to the ironworksA Quaker woman , Deborah's spiritual guide
The Story
A first-person narrator relates the story of ironworker Hugh Wolfe to an auditor. The narrator lives in a house whose two cellar rooms thirty years earlier had been home to the Wolfe family—Hugh, his father, and his cousin Deborah.
Deborah returns home after a twelve-hour shift at the cotton mill and prepares to eat a supper of cold boiled potatoes. She learns that Hugh is still working, and she gathers bread, salt pork, and her share of ale to take to him, walking through hellish scenes of smoke and flame at the iron mills to deliver his meal. Although Hugh is not hungry, he eats to please Deborah. Taking pity on her, he suggests that she sleep on the nearby ash heap. Deborah loves Hugh but also acknowledges that he is repulsed by her hunchback. An outsider among the ironworkers, the artistic Hugh feels compelled to create; his passion prompts him to sculpt.
Before the midnight shutdown, a group of affluent men survey the ironworks, discussing the heat and the rough-looking workers. Attracted to the promise of the visitors' lives, Hugh draws closer to them but realizes that the gulf between him and them can never be breached. The visitors see a large sculpture of a woman, carved from what the workers call korl, the material that remains after the iron ore is smelted. At first, the visitors mistake the sculpture for a real woman and soon are captivated by the work's poignant power. They call Hugh over to ask what emotion he intended to portray with the sculpture. He replies that the figure is hungry not for meat, but for life. Although they acknowledge Hugh's potential greatness, none of the visitors respond when he asks for help. One suggests that Hugh can make of himself anything he chooses.
After fetching the visitors' coach driver, Hugh understands the squalid reality of his life. Despairing, he returns to the cellar with Deborah, who confesses that she picked one of the men's pockets. Although Hugh initially intends to return the money, as he wanders the streets in search of the man, he begins to envision the possibilities of a different life offered by the stolen money. For the first time in his life, he becomes aware of the power of money and yearns for the freedom to create. Unaffected by a sermon he happens on, Hugh yields to temptation. He is eventually arrested, convicted of grand larceny, and sentenced to nineteen years in prison. Also prosecuted, Deborah receives a three-year term.
Having begged to see Hugh in jail, Deborah tells him that she is responsible for their plight, but her actions were prompted by love. When she sees specks of blood on Hugh's clothes, she realizes that his tuberculosis has worsened and that he is seriously ill. She pleads with him not to die. Observing the contrast between his cell and the bustling marketplace below, Hugh ponders what his life might have been. He suddenly calls out to a passer-by on the street and slashes his veins with a piece of tin. Arms outstretched, Hugh feels stillness creeping over him, and he dies. A Quaker woman tends Hugh's body, promising Deborah that she will bury him in a pleasant place and vowing to guide the woman when she is released. After leaving the prison, Deborah lives a pure and loving life among the Friends.
At the close of his story, the narrator draws back a curtain, revealing the korl statue. The woman seems to hold out her arms as dawn breaks.
Bibliography
Boudreau, Kristin. "‘The Woman's Flesh of Me': Rebecca Harding Davis's Response to Self-Reliance." American Transcendental Quarterly n.s. 6 (June, 1992): 132-140. Argues that "The Wife's Story" is an indictment of Emersonian ideas. Davis sees women as not only trapped in a patriarchal society but also blocked by their own bodies from attaining intellectual independence.
Davis, Rebecca Harding. Life in the Iron Mills and Other Stories. Edited by Tillie Olsen. New York: Feminist Press, 1985. An expanded edition which also includes "The Wife's Story" and "Anne." Tillie Olsen's well-documented and perceptive "Biographical Interpretation" provides an excellent overview of Davis' life and works.
Harris, Sharon M. Rebecca Harding Davis and American Realism. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991. A major study of the author, placing her within the larger context of intellectual history. Also contains useful biographical materials.
Molyneaux, Maribel W. "Sculpture in the Iron Mills: Rebecca Harding Davis's Korl Woman." Woman's Studies 17 (January, 1990): 157-177. Assuming that the narrator in Life in the Iron Mills is female, Molyneaux sees her as the primary character of the story. As a woman artist and a reformer, the narrator defies custom and enters the province of men. The korl woman thus represents both the woman worker, demanding a better life, and the woman writer, insisting on a place in literary history.
Rose, Jane Atteridge. "Images of Self: The Example of Rebecca Harding Davis and Charlotte Perkins Gilman." English Language Notes 29 (June, 1992): 70-78. Uses Davis' "The Wife's Story" and Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper (1899) to indicate a "change in female self-perception" between the 1860's and the 1890's. Although both women writers felt the tension between their domestic duties and their art, Davis was influenced by the ideal of feminine "self-abnegation," while Gilman rejected it, maintaining that each woman has the right to an independent identity.
Rose, Jan Atteridge. Rebecca Harding Davis. New York: Twayne, 1993. A much-needed book-length biographical and critical study. Rose's interpretations of the various works are based on careful readings of the texts. Contains a chronology, voluminous notes, and an annotated bibliography.
Shurr, William H. "Life in the Iron Mills: A Nineteenth-Century Conversion Narrative." American Transcendental Quarterly 5 (December, 1991): 245-257. In this interesting essay, Shurr attempts to prove that the mysterious narrator is the dilettante Mitchell, whose religious conversion may have been modeled on that of the British reformer John Ruskin.