English 48A
Journal for Davis
Oct. 6, 2011
Author Quote
"I dare not put this secret into words. I told you it was dumb. These men, going by with drunken faces and brains full of unawakened power, do not ask it of Society or of God. Their lives ask it; their deaths ask it. There is no reply."
Internet Quote
"Throughout her lifetime, Harding Davis sought to effect social change for blacks, women, Native Americans, immigrants, and the working class, by intentionally writing about the plight of these marginalised groups in the 19th century."
Brief Summary of What the Author is Saying
It seems that Harding Davis wants change the way that the middle or lower class of America is regarded. A great part of America is lacking a voice and Harding Davis wants to give the rest of the world a perspective of how other people live.
Your Idea/Reactions/Responses to the Author's Ideas
When comparing these workers to today's middle and lower classes, I speculate parallels. For instance, I believe that the average blue-collar workers are written off as either ignorant or stupid from the perspective of people of higher socioeconomic status. In Life in the Iron-Mills, Davis demonstrates this idea clearly when Hugh is given false hope in regards to his sculptures, and later, nothing is to come of them. It is because most blue-collar workers have mundane lives and lack variability in their lives that even a slight glimmer of something new triggers excitement. Today, it seems as though people aren't given a voice because they are believed to have no meaningful thoughts. This dehumanization in itself is very disgusting; human beings are demeaned into insignificant machines that perform basic labor and little else. The only thing to bring them an ounce of something familiar to happiness is alcohol, which is merely an illusion for what can never be.
20/20 But what about Art, in addition to Alcohol? Isn't that the whole point of the story?
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