The paper that we consistently use has a long restless process involved in its making. The paper that we sometimes waste by balling up and throwing away has the sweat of the restless people producing it embedded. We do not stop to think how much work is involved into making the “blank” paper in front of us. In Melville’s “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Titarus of Maids,” the labor required to make paper is exposed. The machines that were used to make the paper were referred to as “iron animals” (1271) as they did not operate themselves, but rather by humans. The women that worked in the factory had their lives taken by their labor for the machines. “Rows of blank-looking girls, with blank, white folders in their blank hands,” was the description that provided the setting to the paper mill. It was evident that the women working did not have a life outside of the factory. Their life had no purpose beyond their labor in the paper mill and that is why they are described as blank. The blankness in their life was reflected upon the blank paper that they processed.
What caught my attention the most was that the women in the paper mill were referred to as girls. At first, I thought that the workers were indeed girls until the narrator questioned the boy who was giving him the tour of the paper mill. His response was that “the fact of their being generally unmarried” did not give them the title of women, but rather girls. In today’s society, a female is no longer considered a girl after they reach the age of sixteen. After, they become teens and then woman. The factory wants only steady workers that work twelve hours a day year round. The women who worked their basically had to decide if they wanted to have a family or job. That to me was extremely inconsiderate on the employer’s behalf because every person is born with the right to one day have a family if they choose. The women in the paper mill had to decide if they wanted to work to make a living or create a family. The employer’s conditions were extreme and unfair because the women were turned into maids of the machines. The machines were kept running by the service that the women provided, but yet the machines seemed to reeive more appraisal than the women. The women and their labor were unappreciated which I think is morally incorrect.
Lupe I agree with you and you made a great observation. It is interesting that some girls have already had “rule and wrinkled” (Melville 1271) brow, and by this description, we can infer that some girls might already pass their proper marriage ages. Those girls are attached to the machines and living in “blank” lives, and it is unacceptable especially in the society in the late 19th century. Most girls are expected to marry early and take care of their family. However, the girls in the factory are basically married to the machines, instead of caring care of husbands and children.
I concur with your claim that Melville portrays females as the unappreciated voice of the industrial age. While the male made machines received applause, the women that made them operate were put aside. Furthermore, the fact that the unmarried women are referred to as girls, make them appear as subordinates to the male superior. In other words, they are not meant to entangle themselves with the prosperity and leisure meant for the mature and rich. These women will always stay in their “playground” since they will never age (marry) at this point, which is proved by historical evidence. Though unfair, at this time women were in no position to do otherwise, considering the limited “existence” of women’s rights.