LITR 5535: American Romanticism

Student Presentation on Reading Selections, summer 2002

Rebecca Harding Davis, Life in the Iron Mills (1861)

Reader:  Dendy Farrar
Recorder:  Kellye Nye 

Background:

Rebecca Harding Davis was born in 1836 in Washington Pennsylvania.  Her family moved to the industrial town of Wheeling West Virginia and that is where she got a first-hand account of the industrial workers’ harsh conditions.

Life in the Iron-Mills was first published in 1861 in “Atlantic Monthly”.  It is considered a transitional piece in between Romanticism and Realism.

Objectives:

1A, 1B, 1C, 2B, 2F

Passages:

p. 1213 – 1214 describes the town in gothic terms.  “A cloudy day … vileness for soul and body.”

This offers a catalog of smoke, boats, etc.

Davis piles on the words and makes them heavy in order to mimic the heaviness of the setting

p. 1216 the main characters, Deborah and Hugh are described in gothic terms.  “Deborah groped … almost a hunchback.”  This is a highly grotesque image that includes the interplay of dark and light.

p. 1218 the mills are described in gothic terms.  “The road leading … a street in Hell”.  The city is seen as negative and we see a strong avoidance of the city, “city of fire”.  The prescience of the red light and the stirring of cauldrons are eerie and gothic.

p. 1219 we see the equality/class struggles, and the gothic.  “If you could go … God has given you.”  The gothic aspect is the mention of the “shadow of death.”  The class issue involves the strong desire for equality, while being separate from the masses.

p. 1220 we see the extent of Hugh’s separation from the masses.  Not only is he separate from society, but also he is separate from the mill workers who are part of his class.  “When his learning …”  He is alienated from his own sphere.

p. 1222 we see the effects of industrialism and the inequality between the classes “The rain did not cease … his face.”  p. 1223 this inequality is described as a  “social riddle”

p.  1228 we see the journey toward transcendence and the desire to self-invent.  “Wolfe had not been vague … as he might become.”

p. 1231 we again see Hugh’s personal journey.  “There were times … mill hands?”  We also see the evident class separation, and Hugh’s strong desire to invent himself.

p. 1231 we see an instance of the sublime, in the pleasure/pain sense “a wonderful pain”. 

p. 1232 we see the sublime in the “larger than life” sense.  Hugh’s faith is describe as sublime.  “He was a Christian … furnace tender’s grasp …”

1238 we see the influence of popular culture.  “Do you want to hear the end of it? “  This is much like today’s reality, or rubberneck television.

1238 we see the avoidance of the city and the appreciation of nature.  “Thee sees … bury him tomorrow.” 

Aspects of Realism

1248 “characters are from … a good deal of bad luck”

Darwin’s theory which American businessmen accepted

Industrialism – like the law of nature

1249 “Biology … “

1250-1251 “Outside of literature … lived.”

These aspects of Realism could be applied to “Life in the Iron-Mills.”  So my question is, “Is this work largely Romantic or Realistic in nature?”

Discussion

Jennifer – I can’t pick one, the subject is realistic, but there are gothic elements present.

Dr. White – It’s like we are moving between the two

Jennifer – It’s not solely one

Kayla – It’s like it is British literature at the beginning of Romanticism

Dr. White – The influences were British.  Page 1211 explains that Elizabeth Gaskill was a major influence on Davis.

Krisann – It reminds me of Gaskill’s North and South in that it details a class struggle like this story does.

Dr. White – Do they compare?

Krisann – They are both depressing and they both have characters with aspirations but they don’t get there, and instead they die.  They are tragic.

Jennifer – It reminds me of Dreiser’s Sister Carrie

Lynda – And Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Dendy – I think that the idea that Hugh is a product of his environment is largely realistic

Dr. White – yes, the fact that he is limited by environment but born with something greater is romantic, though, also.  We have a Realistic/Naturalistic setting and Romantic characters.

Lynda – Like Frederick Douglass

Dr. White – In Realism/Naturalism we have a sensitivity to classes, but the characters are discussed as individuals.  Even in modern culture it is easier to talk about individuals. 

Jennifer – Leaving the environment to develop talents distinctive to classes between male and female characters

Dr. White – Yes, the same way Dendy is describing Hugh as wanting to move beyond.  It is always about individuals instead of social initiatives. 

Dendy – What do you make of his art being made of korl, which is essentially garbage?

Beth – I think it was originally titled “Woman of Korl” but he was forced to change it

Dr. White – yes, I like the way you said that – the art is made out of waste, or garbage.  Does anyone want to comment on that?

Lynda – well, what else does he have with which to work?

Beth – I saw it as a parallel to his life

Jill – the treasure is hidden – one man’s waste is another man’s treasure.  The treasure is inherent in the material.

Lynda – it’s interesting that the owners see the workers as trash

Dr. White – yes, dismissive

Krisann – the mill owners see the mill workers as hands it is like they are saying “if you only see me this way, then I will create something with my hands to show what I’m worth.”  Almost like a sort of rebellion. 

Dr.  White – yes, we can link that textually on page 1215 – “Both hands …”

Jennifer – meaning field hands

Dr. White – It is called synecdoche

Krisann – the part representing the whole

Natasha – almost like metonymy – strongly by association.  For example, white house

Dr. White – “tropes” or figures of speech usually take the form of a figure.  The Greek words, synecdoche, metonym, and metaphor are closely related.  Synecdoche – part stands for the whole (hands).  Metonym – a word stands for an idea (white house to stand for executive branch)

Dendy – to expand on what Krisann said earlier about the mill workers only being “hands” there is a line on page 1224 that uses the word “hands” to describe the mill workers.  “Have you many such hands …”  This supports Krisann’s idea.

Dr. White – yes, those lines combine both elements well.  There is another on the next page “these men who do the lowest part of the world’s work should be machines, -- nothing more, -- hands”

Beth – there are several instances of machines in the text

Dr. White – Here is where Realism and Romanticism continually run into each other.  This is like Thoreau’s ideas about the machinery of society.  Here the iron mill represents machinery.  Romantics resist this “We resist the idea that men are machines.”  It’s like the different views of jail from Thoreau to this story.  Here is where you go to die.

Jill – it’s not even called a jail; it's a "stone house."

Lynda – the honest man is in jail

Dr. White – he’s not really the honest man.  We just want to support him.  Thoreau was willing to give up material comfort, but Hugh wanted “full development” not “self-restraint.”  The mill owner told him what he needed – money – this is a preview to Realism.  You have to have a standard of living before you can give something up.  Hugh didn’t have that.

This is a transitional piece and the characteristics of Romanticism and Realism almost stand up and announce themselves.  City = Hell, disease and poverty.  The country = heaven, decent lives.

Lynda – Like during the Depression.  The people in the country could survive because of their gardens.

Kayla – the Quaker lady is described.

Dr. White – yes the Quaker meetinghouse = simplicity

Dendy – Deb’s association with the Quaker lady makes her more domestic.  One of the Romantic objectives involves the “domestic romance” (Objective 2D)

The discussion ends after Dr. White reviews Davis’ use of the gothic in the selection.