Life is undefinable and therefore invaluable. Rebecca Harding Davis highlights the pricelessness of a life through all of her characters, whether they are a street light worker, an iron mill employee, or a doctor.<\/p>\n
Wolfe is introduced to the reader as an iron mill worker who has been employed there for as long as his mind allows him to remember. He finds no hope in his routine lifestyle ever altering and his job ever changing. Wolfe is trapped in his daily slump working by the fireside. Davis describes, \u201cThere are moments when a passing cloud, the sun glinting on the purple thistles, a kindly smile, a child\u2019s face, will rouse him into a passion of pain\u201d (Davis 2270). Though he dreams his life would be more successful than it currently is, Wolfe has established that the days will never get easier.<\/p>\n
As a group of men later tour the mill, they stumble upon a carving Wolfe has made of a woman with open arms, wanting something. When asked, \u201cBut what did you mean by it?\u201d Wolfe responds, \u201cShe be hungry [\u2026] Not hungry for meat [\u2026] Summat to make her live, I think, – like you\u201d (Davis 2773). Though the men argued about the woman\u2019s hunger, Wolfe\u2019s intention behind the carving was to portray a woman hungry for a better life, one outside of the mills and poverty. Doctor May goes on to tell Wolfe that he has the power to become a sculptor, he tells him, \u201cMake yourself what you will. It is your right,\u201d to which Wolfe responds, \u201cI know\u201d (Davis 2775). He finally gets the confirmation he needs that his life actually does have the potential to get better.<\/p>\n
Wolfe let\u2019s this hope control his actions as he steals money with the hopes of making his life finally worth more than an iron mill wage and the inability to put enough food on the table. But, he consequently lands himself in jail and ends his life with the little hope he began the story with. Just before his death, Wolfe recalls Joe Hill, the street lamp lighter who would say hello and a joke to every passerby. He remembers this man fondly as he gave Wolfe a reason to be happy, at least for a short while. However, Wolfe feels that his life has hit its bottom and is no longer worth living since he has no chance of escaping jail or succeeding through upward mobility. Even Deborah, though she yells for him to not take his life, does very little to convince him otherwise, as if she too knows his life is not worth dragging on.<\/p>\n
It is impossible to put a value on a life the same way one would price an item at a store. Wolfe committed suicide because he believed his life was worth very little, while someone living with the same circumstances may feel completely differently. Davis forces the reader to question how he\/she values a life and whether Wolfe made the right choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Life is undefinable and therefore invaluable. Rebecca Harding Davis highlights the pricelessness of a life through all of her characters, whether they are a street light worker, an iron mill employee, or a doctor. Wolfe is introduced to the reader as an iron mill worker who has been employed there for as long as his<\/p>\n