"Life In The Iron Mills"

Paper Summary:

Analysis of Rebecca Harding Davis' 1861 novel. Her realistic portrayal of the horrific life of a factory worker. Author's purpose and views. The historical context. Her solution that spiritual awakening is the only way out of the misery faced by iron mill workers. How her solution holds up against modern research.

From the Paper:

"Introduction

Early American life was based in an industrious, mostly agrarian society where the cultural myth that the new United States of America was the place to go for opportunity was already firmly established. Although iron works were already at work by the 1700s, the first cotton mills in the U.S. did not come into being until after 1789, when Samuel Slater reached the U.S. with the plan for a water frame memorized (Tichi 17-19). By 1845, however, as the economies in places such as Ireland and Germany became depressed through political and social unrest, immigrants began coming to the U.S. to seek the opportunity that it was already famous for (Dinnerstein 12). Between 1845, when the labor organization the Industrial Congress of the United States was established (Tichi 28), and 1854, three million immigrants ..."

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