Throughout \u201cLife in the Iron Mills\u201d Rebecca Davis draws attention to the struggles of women. Davis emphasizes women\u2019s struggles when Wolfe builds the korl statue. The statue goes against the typicality of a female. The statue was of a woman but was \u201cmuscular, groan coarse with labor\u201d(Davis 2773). The statue represents the struggle of the typical working class woman. She was not beautiful, graceful or happy, the typical qualities defining a female. She was instead compared to qualities of a man. This statue expected and longed for something out of her life. Wolfe claimed the statue was hungry, not only for food, but also for life. The woman was not content, and wanted to be more than a meager female in her lifetime. This emphasizes the women\u2019s low role in society and how one day they hope to grow out of this stereotypical role and create a more meaningful fulfilled life.<\/p>\n
Contrary to what the women of this society crave to become, the males keep the term ‘female’ under submission. While Hugh Wolfe grows weaker, more haggard and is not able to fight in the cockpit, he is referred to as \u201cMolly Wolfe\u201d (Davis 2769).\u00a0 When the males in this society call Wolfe a female name, they emphasize women as inferior. They underscore females to be not as strong and unable to do the work males are able to do. Davis even compares Wolfe\u2019s face to a \u201cmeek woman\u2019s face\u201d (Davis 2769); again his weak demeanor is automatically equated to a female.<\/p>\n
However at the end of the novella, when all the people gather around Wolfe\u2019s jail cell, there is a Quaker woman there. She is the one to comprehend Wolfe, to give him a proper burial and to assure Deborah that life will move on.\u00a0 Davis perhaps adds in this strong female character to allude to a future of gender equality. The women in this novella are struggling throughout and want to gain more out of their life, and the Quaker women shows that this someday will be able to happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Throughout \u201cLife in the Iron Mills\u201d Rebecca Davis draws attention to the struggles of women. Davis emphasizes women\u2019s struggles when Wolfe builds the korl statue. The statue goes against the typicality of a female. The statue was of a woman but was \u201cmuscular, groan coarse with labor\u201d(Davis 2773). The statue represents the struggle of the<\/p>\n