Life In The Iron Mill

Rebecca Harding Davis: The Pioneer of the Realism Movement In the 19th century the transition from romanticism to realism was one of the most important time pieces in American literature, Rebecca Harding Davis pieces led the realism movement by exposing real and daily life events in American society. Rebecca Harding Davis pioneered the realism movement with her work “Life in The Iron Mills”. Davis influenced many woman and men thereafter to get involved in the realism literary movement. She paved the way for women to have voices in a time were men were the famous authors. Many of Davis`s pieces wrote to inform the country of the actuality that was happening in everyday life in America. What makes her so unique is that woman’s` roles in 19th
Which primarily is the characteristic that sets her apart from other authors in this time period. Davis wrote to give the American people an insight to women’s issues, rough labor conditions, and African American struggles at the plight of the Abolitionist movement. Most of Davis`s pieces featured issues pertaining to the underrepresented class in America. Her reoccurring themes are: American Civil war, Women’s issues, and African American hardships. In Davis`s autobiography “Bits of Gossip” she stated that “every person should write "not the story of his own life, but of the time in which he lived, —; as he saw it, —; its creed, its purpose, its queer habits, and the work which it did or left undone in the world. Taken singly, these accounts might be weak and trivial, but together, they would make history live and breathe". She explained this is why she wrote about the political and social issues before and after the civil war, which came to be known as the realism
It is stated “While she critiqued the industrialism she saw consume her hometown of Wheeling, she also explored various other 19th-century social causes, such as Abolition, Woman’s rights, and Temperance movement becoming a so called “parlor radical.” Davis`s beliefs shaped the way for realists. Her writing “In the Market” highlighted women’s issues in the 19th century. In this piece she tells of sexual discrimination and unfair forced marriage upon American women. It lets American society hear a side of women that was never available to them before. She states that “She felt that the social conditions for Victorian women were “...a tragedy more real than...any other in life.” Her story “Waiting for the Verdict” theme is based upon interracial relationships. Which were very uncommon at the time, racism and the systematic oppression of African Americans and their plight unto American life after the emancipation proclamation. Stated in her bibliography “Davis was also among the first to write realistically about the Civil War and racial prejudice, as well as incorporate African-American characters as