Harriet Hanson Robinson
I am beginning to understand Life in the Iron Mills much better after reading the text for today. In all honesty I wasn't at all interested in the editors introduction or the novella by Davis which made it very difficult for me to get through. However, I really enjoyed the readings for today and I think that I came away with more knowledge, understanding, and interest than I did with the aforementioned texts. The passage that I enjoyed the most was the Anonymous, "My Experience as a Factory Operative", because she talks about both the positive and the negative experiences of being a factory girl. For example she speaks of how, "if the hours of labor had been only eight instead of thirteen, I should prefer working in the mill to house work, enjoyed the society of the girls, and the noise of the machinery was not displeasing to me; but after one has worked from day until dark, the prospect of working two or three hours more by lamp light is very discouraging." (Anonymous, 173). The entire motivation of her letter is to get the hours reduced for other women workers who also want to attend school.
I also enjoyed her writing style. It almost makes the reader feel what she is feeling and I liked that very much.
The second passage that I enjoyed was the one by Harriet Hanson Robinson because it was almost as if she did not mind working at all. I admire her almost upbeat attitude. She portrays this very well when she says, "I did not think such long tasks a burden, nor of my work in the mill as drudgery. Perhaps it was because I expected to do my part towards helping my mother to get our living, and had never heard her complain of the hardships of her life." (Robinson, 165). She was clearly a strong woman who took pride in her work. She had a good role model in her mother and did her part to earn her living. I respect all of these women that I read today because I'm not sure that I could work as hard as they did, for as long as they did, and keep getting up everyday to do it over and over again.
Robinson, Harriet Hanson. From Loom and Spindle. Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis. Bedford Books, 1998.
Anonymous. My Experience as a Factory Operative. Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis. Bedford Books, 1998.
I also enjoyed her writing style. It almost makes the reader feel what she is feeling and I liked that very much.
The second passage that I enjoyed was the one by Harriet Hanson Robinson because it was almost as if she did not mind working at all. I admire her almost upbeat attitude. She portrays this very well when she says, "I did not think such long tasks a burden, nor of my work in the mill as drudgery. Perhaps it was because I expected to do my part towards helping my mother to get our living, and had never heard her complain of the hardships of her life." (Robinson, 165). She was clearly a strong woman who took pride in her work. She had a good role model in her mother and did her part to earn her living. I respect all of these women that I read today because I'm not sure that I could work as hard as they did, for as long as they did, and keep getting up everyday to do it over and over again.
Robinson, Harriet Hanson. From Loom and Spindle. Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis. Bedford Books, 1998.
Anonymous. My Experience as a Factory Operative. Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis. Bedford Books, 1998.
posted by Maria at 8:56 PM
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