Rebecca Harding Davis Groping Through The Iron Mills

Groping Through the Factory: Parallels of Sexual and Industrial Oppression
Though producing iron ore may not immediately evoke thoughts of sexual exploitation, the two may be tied more closely when considered in tandem. In Rebecca Harding Davis’ Life in the Iron Mills, nuanced language laced with sexual connotations foregrounds the exploitive nature of capitalism.
Life in the Iron Mills tells the tale of two Welsh immigrants, Hugh and Deborah Wolfe, and in the process presents subtle suggestions regarding the oppressive and one-sided benefits of 19th century factory work. In considering this language of reluctant sexuality and its relationship to capitalism in the text, it is imperative to tease out the tennents of capitalism that create

In the scene in which Deborah bring Hugh a pail of supper at the mill, Hugh invites her to stay with him there for the remainder of his shift, a request with which she obliged. He tells her, “Ye’re tired, poor lass! Bide here till I go. Lay down there on that heap of ash, and go to sleep” (Davis 9). This heap of ash Hugh is directing his cousin to lay on is a by-product of the iron making process. Deborah’s position on the unwanted remnants of the Capitalist’s spoils juxtaposes the laborer and the capitalist process in one setting. The narrator continues, “He threw her an old coat for a pillow, and turned to his work. The heap was the refuse of the burnt iron, and was not a hard bed; the half smothered warmth, too, penetrated her limbs, dulling her pain and cold shiver.” Again, the verb “penetrated” conjures up sexual imagery, though this sentence does more than just that. The ash, a proxy for capitalism, is simultaneously causing her pain and soothing it away. The warmth of the makeshift bed warms Deborah, though the reason she is cold is because she is in the factory. Without the factory, she would have neither the shivering, nor the remedy for her chills. This paradox is emblematic of the issue at the heart of the text. Industrial capitalism provides a living for those at the bottom of

Following Deborah’s journey to the mill, the narrator rhetorically asks “Deeper yet if one could look, was there nothing worth reading in this wet, faded thing, half-covered with ashes? no story of a soul filled with groping passionate love, heroic unselfishness, fierce jealousy?” (Davis 9). The curious intertwining of industrial capitalism and sexuality continues into this line, as the ashes again represent the waste and unused scraps of the factory process, and the “groping” suggests a degree of unwillingness or discomfort from our proxy for the labor force--Deborah. The ashes covering her are smothering her in the oppression of industrial capitalism, and barring her from leading a truly “passionate”