Summary Of Life In The Iron Mills
In antebellum America, radical change metamorphosed the nation towards equality in both class and race. Despite these formations, fire began to float from city to city burning the underprivileged as only those with money and power were left unscathed. Working class people were focused on living day-to-day, rather than saving for a day scattered of flames pouring from the skies. Lofting safely in a small town—more than likely, Wheeling, Virginia—Rebecca Harding Davis writes a depressing, eye-opening novella centering around the life of poor workers slaving away to keep their bosses happy and rich titled, Life in the Iron Mills.
When it was published in 1861, the country was more focused on slavery and the economy, as the Civil War was beginning to brew in the border states. Funnily enough, this story takes place in a border state. Contrary to popular belief, the story became a beacon for the nation as it opened eyes on the “other,” but also people of their same race. Poverty-stricken people were focused on the idea of just living day-to-day, while their bosses were living in posh circumstances. Elitists tended to think that these penniless paupers were none of their concern (Davis 3129). Davis’s story is set around working …show more content…
This view that white waged slavery is a sentence worse than being black demonstrates that the upper class did not give a damn for them and saw class as a bigger divide than skin color. This idea that “blackness is widely understood in the mid nineteenth century as a state of becoming” tells the reader that class is a construct where once cannot move in society; conversely, the reality is true (qtd. in Pfaelzer 50). Skin color cannot be changed; but class placement can and should be worked
When it was published in 1861, the country was more focused on slavery and the economy, as the Civil War was beginning to brew in the border states. Funnily enough, this story takes place in a border state. Contrary to popular belief, the story became a beacon for the nation as it opened eyes on the “other,” but also people of their same race. Poverty-stricken people were focused on the idea of just living day-to-day, while their bosses were living in posh circumstances. Elitists tended to think that these penniless paupers were none of their concern (Davis 3129). Davis’s story is set around working …show more content…
This view that white waged slavery is a sentence worse than being black demonstrates that the upper class did not give a damn for them and saw class as a bigger divide than skin color. This idea that “blackness is widely understood in the mid nineteenth century as a state of becoming” tells the reader that class is a construct where once cannot move in society; conversely, the reality is true (qtd. in Pfaelzer 50). Skin color cannot be changed; but class placement can and should be worked