The Washhouse: A Short Story

The factories housed the latest technology of the Gilded Age, such as the assembly line. The mass production that the assembly line brought about made the rich richer, but did nothing to help the poor. They were working long hours in sometimes extremely dangerous conditions. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was considered one of the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city. Since, the owners locked the doors to the stairwells and exits - due to theft and unauthorized breaks - many of the workers were trapped with nowhere to go. As a result 147 garment workers died from smoking inhalation and falling to their deaths. In response a newspaper published an article titled “Fire Trap Victims Buried Draft New Law to Save Shop Workers,” covers the stories of the survivors and witnesses as well as questioning who was at fault and what further actions would take place (Document

The location of the story plays a large role in understanding the character’s interactions.  The story opens with instructions on cleaning clothes upon a “stone heap” (Kincaid 118). In 1983 America, most households would have already had washing machines or at least a wash board and bucket rather than the older form of washing clothes at the river and utilizing stones. The next

Not only were the workers not treated well, the building was also very unsanitary and unsafe. They worked on top of each other in cramped spaces where there were just lines and lines of sewing machines. The exit doors were locked in order to stop the workers from leaving to go to the bathroom. Only the foreman had the keys to unlock the doors.There were four elevators that had access to the factory floors but only one of them were in working condition. In order to get to the working elevator, the workers had to go down a long narrow hallway. This elevator was only able to hold 12 people at a time. Factory floors had no sprinkler system and the entire building only had one fire escape that was not big enough for all of the people in

It twas the night before Christmas and all through the house a creature was banging on the door Yolanda the magical Christmas hippo of dreams.

Dwelling about my own feelings led the direction of frustration and anger as I grew older, feeling for anybody’s feelings or situations, almost non-existent; don’t miss-understand, I had marvelous times and a caring person to an extent. Growing slowly into a person whose true character lived in a cage, confined to prison and when released, it was madness, not intending to only injure, I wanted to see blood, tasting this flavor in my mouth before a confrontation. Choosing who I wanted to associate with and if others left me alone there was no problem, although, at the end of the sixth grade the nestling soul fell asleep. There was a boy in school that began tormenting me every day walking home; undesirable name calling. Eventually deciding to

It was eleven o'clock of a Spring night in Florida. It was Sunday. Any other night, Delia Jones would have been in bed for two hours by this time. But she was a wash-woman, and Monday morning meant a great deal to her. So she collected the soiled clothes on Saturday when she returned the clean things. Sunday night after church, she sorted them and put the white things to soak. It saved her almost a half day's start. A great hamper in the bedroom held the clothes that she brought home. It was so much neater than a number of bundles lying around.

All these conditions are something that the workers didn’t really like to do. One of them was how they would spend long hours in the fields that was very tiring for them. For example, a day in the fields would usually last 10 hours and 12 hours in the mill. The workers who would work the hardest would be the ones who would strip the canes of sharp-edged leaves because they come home with cuts and blisters on their

The working conditions were terrible factories were not the best places to work. The only light present was the sunlight that came through the windows. Machines spit out smoke and in some factories, workers came out covered in black soot by the end of the day.  Shifts were usually 14-16  hours a day for six days a week, with extra time required during busy periods. Workers were often required to clean their machines during their mealtimes.  However,

The workdays began before dawn in the coal country.When the men and boys got ready for work,they wore different clothing. The men wore rubber boots with coveralls,as the boys pulled on caps,overcoats, and laced up hobnailed boots.The young boys worked in the breaker.The breaker was the tall,gloomy part where coal was broken and

The workers had to share a room with someone they had never met. Sometimes the owners would cram up to 40 people into a room. Everything that they did was strictly regimented, from the time they ate to the time they went to bed and woke up.

I am glad to hear you are looking at Oxford Houses. I know they are all over San Antonio as well as other cities. I looked at their openings today and there are many. There was even one in our old neighborhood Braun Station. They are a great program. You should keep looking into them. There are many options open for your future. You just have to learn to use the tools to get there. Something you said in your letter said a lot more than you had intended. You said for you to go to Oxford House you needed us to get you out of jail. You said if you had to do a year in jail then you were going to go back to a life on the streets. That sounds like you are trying to hold me an emotional hostage. Damian if what you want is my

Throughout the entirety of Marilynn Robinson’s “Housekeeping”, the idea of darkness, loss, and despair is of no new idea for any of the Stone family, this story surrounds the idea of change. The Granddaughters of Sylvie Stone, Ruth and Lucille, continue to be orphaned by the deaths. Exposed to changes such as being uprooted from their lives in Seattle only to be dropped off just prior to their mother’s own suicide, to the loss of their grandmother. These girls have been exposed to two drastically different parenting styles. Up until the introduction of their aunt Sylvie, their aunt has been elusive herself. In chapters one and two, you see this narrated description of the differences they have been exposed to because of deaths they have suffered.

The living conditions of the miners were worse in comparison to their work environments. Among many, there were only two mines that had shower facilities for its workers. The miners and their families referred the mine houses, as hovels in comparison to the village of Bienfait as they were forced to live in them so as to maintain the status of a permanent employee that guaranteed work for the miner. The houses were shacks with no lighting, insulation, or plumbing and were often infested with

Spinner girls watched rows of bobbins spin swiftly and tied threads together that had snapped on the bobbins. These girls did these same, boring tasks for at least seventy hours every week. Doffer boys, who also worked in the textile mills, replaced empty bobbins. Both spinner girls and doffer boys could lose their fingers when working with the machinery or strain their nerves and eyes. Inside textile mills, there was poor ventilation and the humid air that was filled with lint led to the spread of diseases among the workers such as bronchitis and tuberculosis. (Wagner)

The lad stormed off after placing the hog and his belongings down to go check out the well out in front. The boy approached the stone well, and checked to see if everything was still in tact. It was, there was even more than one bucket. Jessime rotated the lever to uprooted the small bucket from the water below, he checked the water to see if it was any good and hauled it back to the church. He decided it would be best if he bathed after he finished with the swine.