Life in the Iron Mills 319of overcoming his situation. Dr. May tells Hugh, “A
man may make himself anything he chooses. God
has given you stronger power than many men—me,
for instance.” Yet when Hugh asks him to help him
achieve exactly this, he refuses, saying that he does
not have the money. “Money?” Hugh asks. “That is
it? Money?”
Deborah, Hugh’s cousin, takes Dr. May at his
word and robs Mr. Mitchell, one of the other visi-
tors. She does not entirely understand what Hugh
wants, but she is willing to do anything to help him
attain his desires, so she steals the money. Although
she understands that what she has done is wrong,
her lack of ethics does not bother her. What devas-
tates her, however, is the realization that Hugh has
decided to kill himself in prison.
Hugh’s ethical deliberations, on the other hand,
are more complex. His immediate reaction upon
receiving the money is to go look for Mitchell,
planning to return the money. However, during the
course of the night, he reflects again on his situation.
Although he is honest, he is tempted by what he
believes the money can do for him—to give him the
ability to change his life; to change the lives around
him; and, most important, to fundamentally change
the way he perceives his own worth. He realizes the
world’s willingness to label him a thief is negligible
in comparison to what he believes the money can
achieve.
Still, however, he is not entirely convinced that
he truly has a right to the money, so he enters a
church hoping to find justification for his actions.
He perceives that the church as an institution, in
spite of its preaching of empathy toward the poor
and the meek, treats the sins of people like him-
self as abstractions. He is the only person who can
change his life, even though doing so goes against
all the ethical behavior he knows. Consequently,
his resolve to keep the money becomes even stron-
ger. The guilt he feels, however, is still not totally
assuaged. Later, after he has been imprisoned, he
reflects again: “[W ]as there right or wrong for such
as he? What was right? And who had ever taught
him?” To act ethically in the circumstances in which
he finds himself seems impossible.
Those in power have the ability to act ethically
but refuse to do so. In spite of his professed belief in
reform, Mitchell reports the theft to the police, thus
ensuring Hugh’s imprisonment. Doctor May, on
reading of Hugh’s arrest in the paper, is appalled at
what he perceives as Hugh’s ingratitude, an ingrati-
tude that he believes comes from the type of person
he is, rather than the fact that he has been cruelly
duped with the prospect of a better life. His refusal
to understand Hugh allows him to placidly continue
to uphold a system whose injustice ensures Hugh’s
death. Like so many things in Life in the Iron Mills,
ethical behavior seems to be governed solely by
social position rather than inherent honesty.
Helen Lynne SchicketanzGuilt in Life in the Iron Mills
One of the ironies in Rebecca Harding Davis’s Life
in the Iron Mills is that everyone who should feel
guilty about Hugh’s situation does not. In the story,
which is set in an unnamed industrial town at the
beginning of the Industrial Revolution, Deborah’s
theft of Mitchell’s money raises questions for all
involved. There seems to be no doubt in Deborah’s
mind that what she has done is wrong. She says, “I
shall be burnt in hell if anyone knows I took it,” but
the question of justice clearly is more important
to Deborah than the question of honesty. Conse-
quently, she does not seem to feel guilty for what
she has done, but merely worried about what might
happen should she be caught.
Her cousin Hugh works as a puddler (one who
purifies molten pig iron to produce wrought iron)
in the iron mill and is a very talented sculptor. The
mill has, just this night, been visited not only by its
owner but by wealthy members of the outside com-
munity and the press who seem to have an interest
in its success. After nearly running into a piece of
Hugh’s sculpture, the men comment on his talent
but refuse to help him, even though they clearly have
the resources to do so. Even worse, they acknowl-
edge that he has the right to better himself, but
rather than help him act on that right, they mock his
yearning. Mr. Mitchell comments, “Let them [mill
workers] have a clear idea of the rights of the soul,
and I’ll venture next week they’ll strike for higher
wages. That’ll be the end of it.”
Significantly, although Hugh initially does feel
guilty about keeping the money that Deborah has