Boott Cotton Mill Essay

For one, since women were seen as the property of men and as dependent beings, working was not something they would usually do. Thus, working in mills was already something different. However, working in the textile mills were tough. They worked in harsh conditions, in which they worked long hours and had low pay. According to Vera Shlackman, “all the learning I now have gained without instruction, having obtained alone and that too I have labored twelve hours a day”(59), this shows how long they worked for in the mills each day, twelve hours a day. This also shows how despite the fact the mills state that “women working in Lowell’s mills, moreover, could avail themselves of certain education services”(Schug et al. 147), they kept the mill girl’s education at a certain level, in which Vera Shlakman had to resort in teaching herself. To add on, the mill girls had low pay. According to Mark C. Schug, Jean Caldwell, and Tawni Hunt, “the weekly wage for young women in Lowell’s mills was $2.50, of which $1.25 was deducted to pay for room and board. This amounted to pay of less than four cents per hour”(147), showing how low their pay was and how little choices they had, to the point they stayed in these mills. This brings us to the second change. According to the text, these working women were starting to lead industrial strikes. “They walked off their jobs in the the textile

To begin with, workers who had been at the mill for a long time lost energy and couldn’t work as fast or as much. Katherine Patterson states, “It ain’t right for this place to suck the strength of their youth then cast them off like dry husks to the wind”. This expresses that the mill made the girls weaker day by day. To add on, the mill made the girls work like slaves under harsh working conditions. As stated in “Lyddie”, “her body wouldn’t have cooperated even if she’d had the desire to go”. She slept out Sunday morning and forced herself up for dinner. This shows that she was so tired from working, she couldn’t even move. However before she started working, Lyddie was a strong farm girl who stared down a bear. To conclude, the mill drastically changed Lyddie, she went from being very strong to someone who could barely

“Shuddering moans, groans, creaks and rattles,” (62) that’s how loud the atmosphere is in the textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts. The air is very murky, so it is very hard to breathe. This is the scene described in Katherine Paterson’s novel, Lyddie. The main character is Lyddie. She goes to work in the textile mills for better pay in hope that one day, she’ll finally pay off the debts of her farm and bring her family together. But, it might seem too good to be true. Which in reality is the truth. The working conditions in the mill are very challenging and difficult. Just like all the other factory workers, Lyddie is fatigued every day after working for 13 hours without taking a single break. She can’t even drink water or take a fresh

If a child were to work at the mill they would start out as young as ten years old. Most of the children that did work at the mill would got to school for about 6 hours then they would go to work for 7 or so hours. Also many of the women that did work at the mill their husbands had died so they had to provide for their children and they typically had more than two children. It was very rough at the mill, the air was filled with fumes and lint and it would get stuck in the worker's lungs and they would get really sick. It was terrible for the children to because they didn’t have a well developed immune system so they would get sick a lot quicker and they would get

Woman along with the children were affected while working during the industrial revolution. During 1834 and 1836 Harriet Martineau, a British feminist and abolitionist, visited America and enthusiastically embraced the social implications of the Industrial Revolution, (DTA, 223). Martineau compared the lifestyle of women to slaves and said the United States contradicted the principles of the Declaration of Independence. She did believe though with some progress that it could become New England’s new industrial order. One of the Mill factories Martineau visited, Waltham Mill, was a prime example of the scheduled lifestyle of women mill workers. Women Mill workers of all ages worked at Waltham Mill, which I compared to a boarding school because of their strict schedules. The ladies had a time to wake up, to be at work, to eat, and to go to school. A lot of women did not mind the harsh conditions they lived and worked in because they fought for their equality of rights for a long time now.

Also during this time, the Panic of 1837 occurred leaving many unemployed, therefore the number of women employed during the 19th century would have been even higher. Women at this time period worked mainly in textile and clothing factories. Although many young girls worked in factories, as shown in the letter written by a factory worker, life in a factory is much different than life at home. At first the girl questioned why factories were ever made, however, with time the working life grew on her. Also, often times women were worked much harder than the men. In the letters written by a frontier woman in Iowa in 1861, the male worker worked much less than she did. She stated that “the hired man left just as the corn planting commenced” and she was left to do the hard work. This illustrates the inequality between the two genders very well.

The author uses quotes from a variety of people, all of which corroborate the idea the working conditions women faced in Lowell changed from being a positive model of a work environment in a factory setting to a dismal work environment in less than 10 years. (check the time range). Since the quotes were from a wide demographic of individuals, they are fairly reliable because they represent more than one view about Lowell. Klein also discussed the Lowell Offering as a source of information and its impact on the perception of the manufacturer to describe the standard of living in Lowell. The women working in the factory contributed stories to the Lowell Offering. At first, their writing showed that they were interested in bettering themselves by being willing to write for a

Factory conditions were harsh. Workers in the Lowell Factory were under such harsh conditions that the women were not sure they could endure it. (Document A) They took women from their homes and relocated them closer to the factories. The women received almost no pay, the air was bad, and the factories were deafening loud. It was said that freedom for women was the most beneficial thing about working in these factories. In fact, Mary S Paul mentions that she has not been able to find enough time to even write a letter for about a week. If a whole week goes by, is there really freedom at all. (Document A) Catharine Beecher talks about how there was only half an hour allowed to eat before bed and right back to the mill in the morning. (Document J) Is it worse to be on a strict schedule with the lie of freedom, or is it worse to know the truth of slavery? On the greener side, slave owners could maximize cotton production and a cost-benefit

Cotton was a huge thing for african american that were slaved . Cotton made slavery worse they made more money . More cotton meant more slaves .They need slaves to keep up with the cotton. Also before gin was invented cotton was not a money making crop . Because of how hard it was to remove the seed . And what was worse is that it did not make money. They even needed more slaves to increase the ability of gin. They raised like 700,000. Slaves per year the slaves went up . What was sad is that they split families up , they would get separated . Kids were born to be sold to other plantations .

Firstly, the Industrial Revolution affected women in the working and poor classes by allowing them to work in factories and mills. Before this time, women in the working class were primarily working unpaid jobs such as cooking and cleaning around the house for the family, but the industrial revolution gave women the chance to be paid and work outside of their homes (Frader, “Effects of the Industrial Revolution”, BCP). Most women obtained jobs in the textile industry. According to Dr. Christopher Wells, a professor of U.S cultural history at Macalester University, explained that ,“The town of Lowell, MA, for example, was incorporated in 1826 and soon hosted over 30 different mills.” (Wells, “Industrializing Women”, Teaching History). In the Lowell Mills, women expected to work at least thirteen hour days of constant and tiring labor in which women accounted for three-fourths of the workers in the mill. (Wells, “Industrializing Women”, Teaching History). Women factory workers typically made around $3.00 to $3.50 per week which was much greater than most women could earn in their hometowns (Dublin, “Women and

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing and technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of the world. The Industrial Revolution began in the United Kingdom as large deposits of coal and iron were found throughout the land which brought the rise of factories and machines, the idea then subsequently spread throughout the world. It was perhaps one of the greatest moments in human history, as it gave rise to industrialization and the switch from manpower to machine power. It completely revolutionized the world and forever changed the course of humanity. However, many scholars and historians believe that the Industrial

“I shall not stay here… Up before day, at the clang of a bell and out the mill by the bell - just as though we were so many living machines” (Hopkinson 37). Many girls, between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five, worked at textile mills during the Industrial Revolution for eleven to twelve hours a day, with little time to catch their breath and fresh air. The Industrial Revolution started in Europe in the eighteenth century and spread to America during the nineteenth century. Eli Whitney’s invention of interchangeable parts and mass production helped lead the American Industrial Revolution, which started after the War of 1812 and peaked during the 1870’s. During this time period, many factories, mills, and factory cities were constructed, one of which was Lowell, Massachusetts, and employed women because their salaries were lower and therefore cost less. The conditions of the mills and boarding houses that the girls lived in were unpleasant and crowded, and they could easily become ill. Eventually, after the height of the Industrial Revolution, women fought for their rights and better conditions in their workplaces. The Industrial Revolution changed women’s roles in society, as it made jobs that were filled by girls, put them in challenging settings, and united them to work for change in the workforce.

Lucius Beebe critically analyzes Edwin Arlington Robinson’s, The Mill best. Beebe’s analysis is from an objective point of view. He points out to the reader that what seems so obvious may not be. She notes “The Mill is just a sad little tale of double suicide brought on by the encroachment of the modern world and by personal loss.” Thus meaning The Mill carries a deeper underlying theme. Lucius Beebe expresses that a minor overflow of significant details has been exposed over Edwin Arlington Robinson's "The Mill," much of it concerned with whether the miller's wife did indeed drown herself after the miller had hanged himself. Another, even more provocative question has never been asked: did the

True womanhood created an ideology that was very beneficial to the textile industry (Hapke, 2001) as it was based strictly on a profit driven management system, which viewed its workers as factory hands rather than domestic workers.  Lowell Mills was a company that used this ideology to it’s full potential.  The making of a product was broken down into specific categories so that each person had a specific task and repeated that task over and over and over again.  Instead of one person making a product from start to finish, each person was given one task to perform repeatedly.  For example one person would be spinning the yarn while the next worker would be weaving cloths (Hapke, 2001).  This would increase productivity so that products could be manufactured at a more efficient rate that would generate more profit.

Lucius Beebe critically analyzes Edwin Arlington Robinson's, The Mill best. Beebe's analysis is from an objective point of view. He points out to the reader that what seems so obvious may not be. She notes "The Mill is just a sad little tale of double suicide brought on by the encroachment of the modern world and by personal loss." Thus meaning The Mill carries a deeper underlying theme. Lucius Beebe expresses that a minor overflow of significant details has been exposed over Edwin Arlington Robinson's "The Mill," much of it concerned with whether the miller's wife did indeed drown herself after the miller had hanged himself. Another, even more provocative question has never been asked: did the Miller actually hang himself? Beebe