Rebecca Harding Davis

Jozi Lucha

10/01/09

Life in the Iron-Mills

"A dirty canary chirps desolately in a cage beside me. Its dream of green fields and sunshine is a very old dream,--almost worn out, I think"(Davis).

"I dunno,"he said, with a bewildered look. "It mebbe, Summat to make her li, I think,--like you. whiskey ull do it, in a way"(The Atlantic doc).

This story is about life as a poor worker in a factory and in an Iron-Mill. Deborah and Hugh, cousins that are in love with each other work hard day in day out. Some of the days they have enough food others day don't. Hugh is a sculptor and creates a sculpture of a woman who resembles Deborah. Hugh asks for help so that he can become and sculptor and set him and Deborah free from their poor life, by not working in the mills anymore. He doesn't receive the help that he wanted. Deborah then steals someone's wallet to try to help them out and set them free, but Hugh gets blamed for it and they both end up in jail and really lose their freedom. In the end Hugh dies and his is finally free but at a cost.

Desperation can sometimes lead us to do certain things that we later regret. Being poor and consistently struggling for food and things of necessity can create a feeling of being worthless. It seems to me that even in today's date, the poor people seem to work the hardest and suffer the most. When Deborah brings Hugh his dinner and walks through the rain and cold and then ends up sleeping like an animal at the mills, I felt so bad for her. She must have been miserable. But for her to steal to try to make life easier, there is no excuse. Life is one of those things that you have to get through it and there is no way around it.