LIFE IN THE IRON MILLS
...umans shall not permit such a division because all man kind is done spiritually equal. Davis questioned the reader: “What do you make of a case like that, amateur psychologist” (Davis 40) she is challenging the reader to get involved with the worker’s drama, the reader must take some action on what she is describing. It is not a psychologist who she is talking to, it is rather to that one that believes can analyze situations deeper but have not analyzed working class situations because does not think it is important enough. Davis is about to prove the strength of the working class. The writer certainly states the differences there are between the high class and the working class, but it is always clear that it never suggest a difference in the human nature of any group, instead she claims equality and reflection about the current situation on the social class behavior. The author is very clear when identifies the role of each personage, Deborah is a clear example of the rejected woman whose motive for living is the love she feels for Hugh, at the same time Hugh just dreams about being out of the mills. Hugh is in love with another woman, Janey. This connection echoes the fact that the working class has motivations. Since a stimulus exists, then their lives are not as plain as rich people believe they are. Davis bases the problems of this milieu, on money. Hugh’s dream of being an artist is never going to become real because of his lack of wealth. He cannot have the woman he wants because he has nothing to offer her. The message of Davis is that poor people have issues and ‘the others’ do not care. In the story there is a point where the interaction between the two branches is inevitable; Davis show both perspectives when Mitchell and Hugh meet. It is relevant to the story because the reader can appreciate the way the wealth blinds Mitchell and make him believe that he is a good person because he has employed miserable people. Without him they would have died, but instead he provided them with a job that contradictorily he qualifies as Dante’s Inferno. He believes that it would be a hell for him but since Hugh, and the other workers, are used to it, they should see it pleasantly. During one single moment Mitchell intended to understand Hug’s statue, but he did not completely. Hughes states this idea in his essay when he says: “Mitchell enters this realm by descending into Hugh’s torment- seemingly to cross the gulf. Perhaps he will cool the suffering man’s parched tongue.” (Hughes 143) Walter Hughes pretends that Mitchell with his only presence will relief workers spiritual pain. This is a taunt for the working class. Hugh, on his side, feels that he is in that inferno, he lives in it and he will never escape. “So long ago he began, that he thinks sometimes he has worked there for ages. There is no hope that it will ever end.” (Davis 48) This quote entail the fact that Hugh wants his life to change, he is not happy with his routine, he is no thankful for the opportunity rich people have given him to work in Dante’s inferno, Mitchell would never see it from this perspective and nor would the high class. For wealthy people this situation is not that important, but Davis captures the attention once again by presenting the Korl woman. It is a piece of art made out of the trash from the iron mills, it was made by Hugh. He had this strange ability of an artist, the rich men looked at her and asked who did it and what was it. Hugh answers and gives his interpretation. Davis put out a symbol of the life in the iron mills; the Korl woman represents all the people living in there but specially Hugh. She is strong and beautiful. “A work of art by Hugh Wolfe, Davis’s working-class hero, raises the question at the heart of the story most explicitly” (Hesford 99) Walter Hesford sees on the Korl woman a direct talking to the well-off; an argument that look for a retort. The Korl woman is hungry but not of food, she is hungry of satisfaction, happiness and success. May and Kirby find the sculpture nothing like what Hugh describes. They do not quite understand what he is saying because they have not lived it. It is reasonable that they do not get the point of Hugh, but what is not acceptable is that after seeing something on that sculpture they simply ignore it and continue to think about money. ”The misery is not to bee explained, but experienced through imaginative realization.” (Hughes 145). Sheila Hassell Hughes gets the same idea from this novella; she means that Hugh’s story would not be understood if not lived with him. Rich folks would never do this. Kirby is clearly shown as uninterested on whatever a ‘hand’ is doing: “I have no fancy for nursing infant geniuses.” (Davis 54) He will not even discuss the talent of Hugh, his reaction instead demonstrates that if Hugh is an artist he does not care and it has nothing to be with him. It is sarcastic the way workers provide the iron to construct something they are never going to use. It is sarcastic also, how Davis presents an ignorant rich person in front of a poor artist. The superficiality of Mitchell and May are needed to show that positions on life can be changed. A person without education and knowledge of the privilege of art is actually creating it; and a rich smart and bilingual man does not understand it. The crudity of life gives people growth of critical thinking and appreciation of life. Hugh is nothing else but a person that had lived enough to get experiences and externalize them through art; the Korl woman expresses him. Empirical knowledge is one of the implements that Davis uses to give working class a sufficiently strong image and, based on this; prove they are as interesting as the high class. She finds in workers something rich people lack of. Wealth make people not appreciate what they have, dreams for them are reachable. For Hugh a dream is on the air, it is intangible and almost impossible to attain, and that magical idea gives him the sensitivity he needs to create. Art is no longer a privilege of high class nor is dignity. In the story an event happens that confirms the situation on real life of Davis time. Deb becomes a thief and gets some money for Hugh; this gives him the opportunity to accomplish his dream, he now can be the king he has always wanted. He now can get out of the mills. But at the begi...