Realism In Life In The Iron Mills

It is Deborah’s love for Hugh that prompts her theft of Mitchell’s wallet. A silent observer during the rich men’s conversation about Hugh’s talent, the woman has overheard Mitchell’s somewhat

For my final project I will be examining the role that gender plays in the Blithedale Romance, specifically how Brook Farm as a utopia looks to represent the roles of men and women in society. I will examine how the Brook Farm looks to change the societal norms surrounding gender. My argument will be centered on the idea that although these utopia communities, specifically Brook Farm, looked to change or eliminate the typical gender roles that existed at the time, they ultimately cannot. I will delve into why they cannot, specifically focusing on the idea that the reason these communities cannot change or redefine these roles is because ultimately these utopia societies are set to fail from the get-go, as we see in the Blithedale Romance.

Both the stories, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and Life in the Iron Mills, comment on moral and social responsibility of the characters directly associated with the two main characters, Bartleby and Hugh Wolfe. The lawyer in the second story takes the moral responsibility of Bartleby, but doesn’t succeed when his social responsibility collides. Many characters take moral responsibility, or directly neglect to do so because of their social responsibility, which directly affects Hugh Wolfes life.

In Maury Klein's. “The Lords and the Mill Girls,” industrialization is attempting to rid itself of the horrible standards adhered to at most European and other New England factories through the endeavor of the Lowell Mills. The Associates, who open the Lowell mills, attempt to create an atmosphere which is the best of both worlds. They want to create profit, but don't want to abandon their virtues and principles by creating an industrial district which, “degraded workers and blighted the landscape”(Klein). The key to their success is their working population. They seek civilized workers, who save money, attend church, and adhere to the pious principles of religion and culture(Klein). They find their laborers in women of the New England farmers,

Rebecca Harding Davis was a groundbreaking author whose work, Life in the Iron Mills, examined a socioeconomic system that failed some while keeping others empowered. The issues of power and social class that are embedded in the work prompts readers to look closer at the unskilled immigrant laborers, whose living and working conditions were deplorable, and compare them to the capitalists and wealthy mill owners whose financial success rested mainly on the workers who were being marginalized. The narrator’s call to the readers, “Stop a moment…hide your disgust, take no heed to your clean clothes, and come right down with me,” is actualized through the eyes of the middle and upper class gentlemen who visit the mill on what the narrator refers to as “the crisis of [Hugh’s] life” (Davis). Though the narrator’s voice eases the

It includes the description of houses, the impact of immigration, the effects of urbanization into the tenements, and specific reasons to why the poor had low wage jobs, sqaulor living conditions, and the cause of such high rates of crime during the Progressive Era. To help support my thesis, I will use these details to correlate Maggie to the Guilded Age setting of the book and further support my argument as to why women continuously suffered in life.

Around the time of 1874 the south began to realize that some things had to change. Some of those things being: tobacco, coal, iron, railroads, sharecropping and voting rights. The south began to agree that the cash crop and the plantation economy wouldn’t work as efficiently as having an industrial capitalist economy. This transformation was to be led by the Democratic Party, or, better known as, the Redeemers.

The world in the mid-late 19th century underwent vast economic, social, and cultural change as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Not only was this era characterized by the radical transformation of multiple countries into industrialized powerhouses, it also saw the development of new schools of thought. One of the most prominent movements that emerged during the mid-late 19th century was Realism, in which it called for authors to create literature that depicted contemporary life in a completely detailed manner. English novelist Charles Dickens was highly influential in portraying this new literary mode in many of his works. In my opinion, with the help of his novel The Old Curiosity Shop, Dickens profoundly changed his world of the Industrial Age with his descriptions of the dismal conditions in urban England that paved the way to social and moral reform at the turn of the 19th century.

In a world that is coming apart, due significantly to the 1930’s Depression, family life deteriorates when jobs becomes lost as well as do those whose sense of worth is bound up in them. In both stories, the coping mechanism in males deprived by stress of job loss leads inevitably to a loss of dignity rendering them less able to function as heads of the family. It is at this juncture that women feel the threat to family life is endangered and instinctively cope with the situation, however they can. Lastly, hope, which was sustained, for a time, diminishes for both families, leading to the breaking apart of all that each envisioned. Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and Howard’s Cinderella Man demonstrate how quickly a family can disintegrate when its hopes are unrealized.

Rebecca Hardy Davis’ Realistic Approach to Society in “Life in the Iron Mills” Initially published in 1861, Rebecca Hardy Davis’s “Life in the Iron Mills” was printed in a time when the United States was at war. Although the story itself does not speak about war, the story does depict the reality of life in mid-nineteenth century America. It speaks about the moral and social costs that industrialization has wrought to the divided nation. Concisely, it evokes realism and it is one of the literary movement’s greatest pieces.

Throughout Cultural Perspectives, many influential texts have been read, analyzed, and discussed. One text, Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis, integrates the thoughts of quite a few authors that have been discussed this semester. Through employing a Marxist view of history—there are always the “haves” and the “have-nots”—one can see that Life in the Iron Mills exemplifies the struggles that face many “have-not” citizens throughout history. One can then see the clear connections to various authors such as Mary Wollstonecraft, W.E.B. DuBois, Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels, and Adam Smith.

In the 20th century, the average home life in rural Oklahoma was full of hard workers in the pursuit of the picture-perfect home surrounded by plentiful land. The sun rose over the land, signaling the commencement of the day ahead. The farmer had already been awake since before the sun broke the horizon, preparing his little equipment and his animals for his land’s work. The farmer’s wife was in the kitchen, cooking her husband a warm breakfast as a sign of her gratitude. Their children woke and soon were running into the kitchen, bellies growling. After gobbling up the breakfast, they ran outside to play and do chores of their own. The rest of the farmer’s wife’s day was spent cleaning, cooking, and looking after the kids until the sun went down and it was time for bed. Set in this time, The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, holds contrasting female characters. Some characters show the defiance of the gender roles at the time, while others adhere to them. In some instances, a female character can surpass the expectations set upon her by the patriarchal society in which they live she lives, setting her free to use a voice she never was allowed.

Feminism and gender roles play a huge role in our everyday lives, even if you do not quite notice right away. It can be anything from men having more power than women in, work areas, or political equality. It can be seen in stories, movies even newspaper articles to this day. One story in particular is Cinderella by the Grimm Brothers (1857). This essay will provide an in-depth look of feminism and how it is seen in the story such as; not being able to choose your own husband in certain situations, to women have to wear tight clothing, and the most obvious women not having the power men do.

Being a single woman with a family to support in the 1930’s was not an easy job. Especially when society had so many chips stacked against them. Tillie Olsen’s “I stand Here Ironing” is a short story that addresses feminine social disorders and inequalities as well as economic disadvantages that people of lower circumstances have to overcome to survive. In the short story it is basically an autobiography of Tillie Olsen’s life told by the narrator (Emily’s mother). Throughout the story the narrator is reflecting the way she brought up her daughter during a depression and feminist era. She feels very regretful reflecting 19 years late because of the decisions she was forced to make because of the absence of Emily’s father. This story can be seen in a feminist perspective as well as a Marxist perspective; even though they are very different from one another both perspectives help interpret Tillie Olsen’s short story. The Marxist perspective helps illuminate Tillie Olsen’s “I stand Here Ironing” when the narrator explains how the capital system negatively affected Emily and her Family. In a feminist perspective the narrator describes her different encounters with men that abandoned her; causing her to have to take on a male dominated role. Because of the societal characteristic she had to take on it caused her to turn away from her daughter in order to survive.

Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte explore social class in a number of different ways throughout their novels Pride and the Prejudice and Jane Eyre. They do this through the use of stylistic devices which in turn appeals to their different audiences. Both Jane and Charlotte are notable writers for their remarkable texts. Jane Austen is known for playing a revolutionary role in the generation of English female literature, which was counteracted by this piece- and Charlotte Bronte also developed her feminist thoughts, which have been displayed throughout her novels. By analysing social class in Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre this essay will compare these two women writers’ texts and display how social class is presented