Life in the Iron Mills
by Rebecca Harding Davis

Life in the Iron Mills: Genre 1 key example

Genre
Explanation and Analysis:

Like much of Davis’s work, this short story could be shelved within several different genres of literature. Firstly, the story is most clearly an example of the 19th-century social realism genre. This is visible in its detailed portrayal of everyday life and its focus on the struggles of lower-class workers in the horizonless world of industrial production. Mill workers are not merely faceless laborers in this tale, but people with inner depths and real aspirations. This genre is meant to inspire the reader to activism and social reform. By highlighting the dismal lives of people like Deb and Hugh Wolfe, Davis encourages readers to consider their own roles in effecting societal change.