Life in the Iron Mills

by Rebecca Harding Davis

Rebecca Harding Davis was a prolific writer who published chiefly in popular periodicals over the latter half of the nineteenth century. In tales that combine realism with sentimentalism and in topical essays, Davis confronted a wide range of current issues—notably women’s problems—as one who knew the frustration caused by the genteel female’s helpless social position and barriers against women entering the working world. In an excellent critical introduction, Jean Pfaelzer integrates cultural, historical, and psychological approaches in penetrating readings of Davis’s work. She emphasizes how Davis’s fictional embrace of the commonplace was instrumental in the demise of American romanticism and in eroding the repressive cultural expectations for women.

In both fiction and nonfiction, Davis attacked contemporary questions such as slavery, prostitution, divorce, the Spanish-American War, the colonization of Africa, the plight of the rural South, northern racism, environmental pollution, and degraded work conditions generated by the rise of heavy industry. Written from the standpoint of a critical observer in the midst of things, Davis’s work vividly recreates the social and ideological ferment of the post-Civil War United States. The American literary canon is enriched by this collection, nearly all of which is reprinted for the first time.

Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, American, School, College, Literature

72 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 25, 2014

About the author

Rebecca Blaine Harding Davis (born Rebecca Blaine Harding) 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. Her most important literary work is the novella Life in the Iron Mills, published in the April 1861 edition of the Atlantic Monthly which quickly made her an established female writer. Throughout her lifetime, Davis sought to effect social change for blacks, women, Native Americans, immigrants, and the working class, by intentionally writing about the plight of these marginalized groups in the 19th century.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Peyton Reads]

Read for class

[Charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 STARS

Had to read this for class, I'm pretty indifferent about it. Narratologically, this is definitely interesting with the narrator, especially in relation to the story they tell. But otherwise, I found this pretty boring and I was glad to find a LibriVox recording of this on YouTube, otherwise I would have taken very long to get through this. Realism just really is not my thing...

[Dawn Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not really sure how to review this - I enjoyed the audiobook, but I really need a book copy of this so I can take notes when things just out of me from the audiobook.
It is very sad and definitely shows a time in history that was not a pleasant time. I am sure I can give a better review when I revisit this after I find a book version of this.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic of American Literature that shows the profound destitution of mill workers in the late 19th century. There is brilliant imagery of light and dark, good and evil, and paradise and hell. The characters couldn’t be more sympathetic, and the contrast between the endings for Hugh and Deb leave readers with a raw wound and hopeful relief at the same time. Masterful.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

This is an oddly put together edition that appeals a great deal to a curiously composed creature such as myself and very little to everyone else. The title may proclaim itself to be a piece that wrote about subjects long before they became fashionable or "appropriate" to the wider publication sphere, but nearly two-thirds of it is taken up by a so called "biographical interpretation" that weighs in far more on the individual subjective than the academic objective, if the sprawling end notes and highly personal inflections of tone are anything to go. In a word, it reminds me of what first incentivized me when I first came across a copy of 500 Great Books by Women, back when I believed university thought wasn't completely composed of walking advertisements and there really was something to all the 'Read Women' slogans spewed forth by every virtue signaling newspaper and trending Twitter tag. For Davis is a writer who, as was the case with many of her kindred spirits of the late 19th and early 20th century, wrote what she knew as a white woman resident of an industrial border town between the robber barons of the North and the slavers of the South well enough to not just be noticed by the "right" circles but even be applauded here and there (Hawthorne is one towering name, L. M. Alcott is another), but didn't exist in such a fashion that allowed her to, when necessary, simply sit back during the course of her artistic growth and breathe. She is well known enough these days to be assigned in schools in one truncated form in another, but if there is a single school of thought paying serious mind to a writer of industrial realism two decades before Zola, a thoughtful and incisive portrayer of the Civil War a century before Gone with the Wind, a creator of an "Uncle Tom's Cabin of Capitalism" with all its force and foibles, I'd be surprised. I'm not saying that I wouldn't have given this piece three stars, perhaps two, if it were presented by itself. I'm simply saying that this is the kind of piece that requires work to get at, but since the work neither lends itself well to the unvarnished whiteness that the USA loves to portray itself as, nor does quite well enough in either New Criticism or less kyriarchical schools of thought to be emptily promoted in either. In other words, it's complicated, but in such a manner and of such degree that I believe that the effort spent in honest engagement with it is well worth it.

Davis is a name that's been knocking around my skull for some time, and so when the decade of the 1860s, the independent imprint Feminist Press, and the reading challenge category of 'classic tragedy' coincided, I picked up this particular copy in hopes of knocking out several birds with one stone. The piece, one of those lengths that wavers between short story and novella depending on what typeface one uses, has its share of sentimental insipidities when it comes to impoverished lives and tends more towards the proselytizing invocation of the (middle class WASP) reader's compassion than to either truly dialectical thought between the haves and the have-nots or the careful distance of more comfortable fictioneering, and between the rather poor cut of this edition and the less than stunning quality of its centerpiece, I'm not surprised the rating sags so much. However, if one sticks to it and goes through Olsen's accompanying thinkpiece, it makes for a fascinating composition as a whole, least for someone like me whose taste for history grows with every text that is willing to fill in the blanks without beating around the bushes and every adaptation that tackles the tough subjects without sacrificing the humanization of its cast and themes. Of course, if one is leery of unions and bemoans concepts such as "antifa," "communism," and "Critical Race Theory," you're not going to have a good time, even with an author who, long after she made the first step in the journey that could have well turned her into intrepid firebrand and writer of the revolution, ended her days decrying women's suffrage and anything outside of the "domestic sphere." It's enough food for thought for me to commit to Davis' ambitious mess of a novel, Waiting for the Verdict, as while I have no doubts she is probably the very opposite of an anti-racist activist in more than a few instances, I also believe she likely did what she could in ways that contravene much of the filth that those who worship at the foot of the antebellum altar have peddled to the public ever since Reconstruction was struck dead and safely buried. Not the most palatable incentive to continue reading an author for those readers who expect the perfect book to be delivered via the LA Times and co., but it's more than good enough for me.

I didn't expect to come out of this read with a partial revival of my long ago reading incentives that sought to meld academic pursuit with public perusal, but I'm not complaining. The fact that my country demands individuals forever forget while oligarchical constructs forever remember is a feature, not an error, and I'm not about to proclaim that everyone can conduct the sort of reading schemes I do when much of what I've been able to accomplish relies on quite a bit of funds that were not of my earning. Still, it is nice to follow in the footsteps of Davis in the 19th century, Olsen in the 20th, and now me in the 21st in the pursuit of writing that was present long before it became profitable and do one's best to make room for it, one way or another. It's not the sort of thing that lends itself to the religion of get rich quick scheme that marks the right of adulthood and/or a managerial position in my country, but it does explain some of what came before in such a way that sheds some light on where we are destined to go, regardless of what the empty void of the stock market proclaims or what schemes the capitalists dream up. All in all, once upon the time, there was a promise of a dream during a time when those on high sought to make those on low work so inhumanely that there was no time to dream, and when one white woman writer sought to write about it, common prejudice and monetized frittering conspired to dull her grand potential into pamphlet prescriptions. Davis is long dead and gone, but the potential for someone today to take her incentives and write about the social movements of today, beyond the weak-willed fearmongering of the middle class pen and the acrid warmongering of the upper class politicking? I'd personally pay a good price to see that fulfilled, one digital way or an analog another.

[Sarah E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't quite sure of what to make of this novella when I first picked it up for my modernist literature class. It's a rather short story, which is fine by me, not nearly as long as the books I have read for my other classes, and I was able to plug through it in one sitting. Regardless of the length of this story, I was somewhat disappointed with the story itself.

The premise is promising enough. The beginning is strong, with clipped forceful language that sets an intriguing tone. I was sucked into the story almost immediately, especially with the description of the hunchback woman leaving her home to make sure that Hugh gets food to eat. That is a very humanistic trait, grounding the story in realistic human behavior.

Despite how strong this novella starts, I feel that the tone Davis started with gets lost as the story progresses. To me, it seems like she spent much more time on the beginning of the story and then just wrote the rest of it without as much of a second glance. But, there is no way to know that for sure. Which makes this more of a technical writing issue, and not so much as a plot issue.

The introduction of the Korl statue seems out of place. Not out of place plot wise, but out of place in the setting she has introduced. Here is this burly mil worker, who probably has torn and calloused hands, who uses those hands to make a delicate representation of the female form, with influences of the mil reflected upon her. It makes me wonder what kind of person this man is, and that question never really does get answered.

Hugh is told he is talented by a group of business men, and that he would do well as a sculptor. But, there is no way to get onto that path because he has no money. A simple enough concept, which twisted the story into a direction I hadn't anticipated. Deb steals money and gives it to him, and he feels he is within his rights in keeping it. But that act only solidifies his fate and he ends up going to jail where there isn't even any Korl to sculpt with. So, basically, his want for money and his want to get out of the mil is what screws him over.

I hear all this talk about what message we are supposed to get out of this. That the Korl woman represents this universal form of an immigrant mil worker and this book is riddled with spectacular symbolism. And I don't know if it's because I only read it once, but I am not getting any of that. I just see a story about a man who wanted more, but ended up getting much less.

Still an interesting story, but not what I expected, I didn't interpret it how I was told, and I felt that there was so much missing in terms of the characters. Yes, this is a novella. But if Davis would have kept up with the tone that she introduced in the first part of the book, this novella could have been so much more. She aimed for more and got less, in my opinion. Just like Hugh.

[RJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this knowing only of Davis's reputation as a "realist" writer - a word which I find repulsive and generally turns me off of any author to whom it is attached. However, while Davis's fiction certainly has the intention of "socialist-realist" writers like Upton Sinclair, the incredible evocative power of her writing puts the comparison completely to rest. This piece of fiction is crafted with such intense, powerful imagery - the hell of the iron mills, the miserable gray ash suffusing everything, the hideous power of the carving created by the main male character - that it absolutely rises above any charges of base, insulting "realism."

The work has a powerful moral intention, don't get me wrong, and one that's absolutely timely considering the horrible working conditions of the people who, for example, make products factories in the Third World today. The kind of soul-crushing, hellish conditions depicted in the story haven't gone away, they've just moved geographically. But what makes this piece of fiction particularly notable as a real work of literary art, criminally under-read especially when compared to someone as clumsy as Sinclair, is the relentless and intense language which suffuses every angry, accusatory, invective page. If this is "realism," it's what realism should be.

[Thikra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life in the Iron Mills is a poignant account of what factory life was like in the middle of the nineteenth century in America. It's common to hear people beam proudly when speaking of the quick Industrial growth of the United States ignoring the inhumane and soul crushing impact that was a part of that process. The Industrial Revolution and its Robber Baron Capitalists fed on the vulnerable immigrants who could barely speak any English and who were desperate to stave off starvation.

[Janessa Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my second time reading this little story, and this time through I was very moved. There is a moment where the author describes the mill worker entering a church, and then a paragraph telling what Jesus would have been like to him, if He had been there. The book then reads, "That Jesus did not stand there." And the man leaves the church as empty as he arrived.

Similar Jesus-like thoughts, and the humanity of the characters, are what lead me to give it 5 stars today.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author caught the attitude of a completely desperate life of the Welsh miners in America. This short book written in 1861, read like an essay with rambling thoughts, while telling the story of Hugh Wolfe.

[Illiterate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Christian social reformism. Mills undermine higher aspirations. Realism challenges romance.

[skylar lokota · Rating 2 out of 5]

Discusses very important themes such as poverty and social class division. While Davis had a lot of interesting things to say, I fund the story drawn out too much with the writing style.

[Vitani Days · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un racconto breve densissimo, ricco di immagini e rimandi letterari, a tratti grottesco. Uno dei primi racconti "realisti" della letteratura americana, questo "Life in the iron mills" narra la faustiana caduta agli inferi di Wolfe, un ragazzo che lavora nelle fabbriche. Il rimando all'inferno dantesco è evidente, richiamato sia per immagini (il grigio del cielo, dell'acqua, l'odore fetido dell'aria, le fiamme delle caldaie, le sagome stesse degli uomini abbrutiti che lavorano nelle ferriere), che per citazioni dirette. Questo Wolfe è un ragazzo che pure lavora nell'inferno della ferriera, ma che in qualche modo è riuscito a non perdere la speranza e la sensibilità. Scolpisce, con materiali di scarto, piccoli oggetti e statue. In particolare, ne crea una femminile, enorme, con un braccio proteso verso il cielo. L'incontro con Kirby, figlio del proprietario della fabbrica, e i suoi due amici May e Mitchell, segna il suo destino. Deborah, sua cugina, è lì con lui e ruba il portafogli di Mitchell per poi donare a Wolfe il denaro. Wolfe, a questo punto, si trova a dover scegliere fra l'onestà di restituire il denaro e la tentazione di tenerlo per sé. Seguiranno la prigione, la follia, la morte.
Un racconto, come ho detto, estremamente denso di temi: abbiamo la denuncia delle condizioni di vita umilianti, animalesche degli operai delle fabbriche; l'amore di Deborah, disinteressato, che affronta anche il sacrificio finale; la follia che assale Wolfe, il suo disperato desiderio di vivere, la sua sensibilità, il suo chiedersi "perché"; il cinismo, la spietatezza dei ricchi; una morte che diventa l'unico rimedio contro un'esistenza priva di senso e ragione, la sola speranza di un altrove; una religiosità estremamente presente, un Dio che guarda e non giudica, un locus amenus che strizza l'occhio all'Eden dantesco e una salvezza che, come Beatrice, è donna.
Narrazione ricchissima di simbolismi, di rimandi colti, pensata per un pubblico borghese o comunque letterato, che rende lo straniamento anche grazie alle alternanze fra il linguaggio dialettale e quello aulico. Non di immediatissima fruizione, ma indubbiamente bello e di grande valore storico-culturale. Da rileggere.

[Geoffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an attempted eye opener of a story trying to open our eyes to the struggles of the poverty stricken 17th century America society. The story itself is one of a well intentioned exposure to the unfair(both intentional and un-intended) treatments of the hard working lower class of 17 century America.
In my opinion, Rebecca Harding did expose us to this harsh life in a relatable way; Rebecca Harding was able to demonstrate, through side by side contradictions, what the 17th century society valued in a person: wealth, the look of success, cleanliness of dress along with the material of dress(which demonstrates superiority) as well as a strong dislike of the lower class for not having any of the former blessings in their lives.

Having said that, I think that Rebecca Harding was a very descriptive writer and if you were to read this story, I would strongly encourage you to be prepared for a lot of metaphors to Christian scripture, descriptive as well as beautiful landscapes, texts(like in Huck Fin) where the dialogue is written to be spoken the same way a characters of the time would(both Wolfe and Deb, with their accents of Wales-saying "Hurr" for both "you", "Him" and "her"). Aside from these particulars, I think the story is very manageable and worth a read.

Strongly recommend this story! Good eye opener with ideas you could use today to open your eyes to different point of views.

[eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

i finished The Painted Bird and A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments on the same day while on vacation and was feeling kind of bummed, so...for some reason i read this to...cheer myself up??? apparently i used the iron-clad logic "it's short, so it must be a fun read!"

anyway. devastating. the narrator spends a little too much time hammering the point across to the reader in florid detail, but i guess that's what you had to do in the 1860s.

[Myckaila Leach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novella is unlike anything i have read before. It is a very deep story that i am unsure i interpreted correctly. I found the book sad. The story describes so many things that i had not realized occurred in the past. Mrs. Davis does an amazing job painting the scene of this book and making the reader feel as her characters do. I can not say that i enjoyed reading this book because it was written in an unusual dialect, making it hard to understand also the subject matter of this story is rather grim and depressing.

[Audrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Something is lost in the passage of every soul from one eternity to the other, -something pure and beau-tiful, which might have been and was not: a hope, a talent, a love, over which the soul mourns, like Esau deprived of his birthright."

Beautifully written, no happy ending for the primary character, but it somehow still ends on a not altogether miserable note-- I'm not sure if that was the intention, because I've never read a story that makes the Quakers out to be the primary source of hope in society, but they end up playing that part in a small way at the end of this story.

[Imogen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting and engaging novella that heavily discussed concepts of class, gender, and religion. Even though it was short, it talked about so much and the narration was very well-constructed that it added so much. It was just enthralling from the beginning with its simplicity of plot and complexity of character. I would recommend giving this a go, as it’s a quick read that’s powerful and socially critical that it left you thinking.

TW: death, suicide, overworking, despair, depression

[ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis

Book 15/52

Favourite Quote: "Reform is born of need not pity"

I read this for my American Literature module and it was actually pretty good! Very bleak and the ending really surprised me. Lots of recurring motifs of eyes and souls and light which is always fun for lit students, but I particularly enjoyed the quasi-gothic elements to it. Probably more like 3.5 stars but I was torn between the two

[Denise Kruse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful tho’ short novel about the dismal life of immigrants in the mid 1800s in America. It is so short that I am not going to say anything about the plot except that it is quite amazingly moving and descriptive.
Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change – it can not only move us, it makes us move. -Ossie Davis

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to wait a few days before writing a review. This can easily be read in an evening. The author was in her heart a Social Reformer who wrote a melodrama. This intense story is fascinating for its historical context. The narrator's style is very heavy and she speaks directly to the reader throughout, thus giving the feel of melodrama actor who turns to address the audience.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 1861 novella takes a rare inside look at factory life in the Victorian era. Its author, Rebecca Harding Davis, became a pioneering social activist. Both shocking and lyrical, 'Life in the Iron Mills' was reissued in the 1970s as the debut publication by The Feminist Press.

[Humphrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly doesn't surprise. There is an incredible sharpness in the opening pages of the narrative that really propelled it to a strong start, but much of this momentum is lost in what follows. RHD still does some good things down the stretch, but this gets overshadowed by the dull final pages.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Realism keeps the writer in a box with strong limitations on the plot. Some stories succeed in making that box its b****, but this is not one of them in my opinion. I was bored.
It is a look into life in the labor class, especially for women, which I appreciate.

[Diana Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short story and not at all what I expected. It appears more like a story with a moral ending. I thought it would be more or less a history of workers, not just a focus on one person. It is sadly very depressing and not the type of story that makes me want to recommend it.

[Joan Buell · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Troubling Tale

Only the ending redeems this story. It is full of pain and suffering,yet not at all what I expected. I expected Something similar to Sinclair's "The Jungle" after the previews, but the suffering here is more existential.

[Muir · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing style was not particularly a kind I liked but this story has a soul.

“Something is lost in the passage of every soul from one eternity to the other- something pure and beautiful, which might have been and was not:”

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

paperback, clean cover and text.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It certainly has historical value but Rebecca's biography was far more interesting than the actual story.

[Lizzie]

I think I started reading the Feminist Press collection of stories once, but didn't keep the book with me. I remember reading the introduction, but I don't think I read the story itself.