Life in the Iron Mills
by Rebecca Harding Davis

Life in the Iron Mills: Frame Story 1 key example

Frame Story
Explanation and Analysis—Dirty Canary:

In this scene from the very beginning of “Life in the Iron Mills,” the narrator uses anthropomorphism to link the image of a woebegone canary to the idea of impoverished mill-workers. In addition to being an affecting image, it’s also an important part of the short story’s frame narrative:

Smoke everywhere! A dirty canary chirps desolately in a cage beside me. Its dream of green fields and sunshine is a very old dream,—almost worn out, I think.