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Life in the Iron Mills

hi 39). Davis describes this town as if it were the underbelly of some great machine. Her description is relentless as she writes, "the sky sank down before dawn, muddy, flat, immovable" (Davis in Tichi 39). The smoke is "clinging in a coating of greasy soot" (39). Only the last sentence yields a little, the "dream of green fields and sunshine is a very old dream - almost worn out, I think" (40).

The first Wolfe that Davis introduces is Deborah, the cousin. Although down-trodden, she is not inclined to drink as her companions are and seems to be kept alive by some hope. Davis, however, implies that this hope could be lost in a moment and then Deborah would take to drinking because, "man cannot live by work alone" (43). In writing this statement, Davis is referring to the verse in the New Testament where Jesus states that "man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). This sets up her premise that factory workers need more than shelter and food.

The second Wolfe, Hugh, is introduced as working in a dark, fiery place, "it was like a street in Hell" (Davis in Tichi 45), a sentiment that is repeated by Deborah as well as the well-to-do visitors that arrive that evening. Hugh is described as being even more soul starved than Deborah. Davis refers to it as "a symptom of the disease of their class. . .a reality of soul-starvation" (47). Davis uses the woman carved out of korl as the symbol for this starvation that a passive middle and upper class will never understand (54). She then proceeds to bring Hugh down to the lowest point in his life as he is confronted with the crime that Deborah co

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Life in the Iron Mills. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 09:30, June 17, 2025, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1687528.html