Realism
has been portrayed heavily throughout “Life in the Iron Mills” specifically class limits and greed. Davis uses the mill as this symbiotic symbol of hell which are due in part to harsh working conditions and the practices of industrialized life styles. We have the lower class workers who seem to be spending eternity working hopelessly but also not having the ambition to escape such conditions. These lower class workers are believing they are living this notion of the American dream but instead are pouring all this hard work to capitalism instead of really believing or helping others succeed. A perfect example of such struggle is when Hugh is told he could make something of himself, though when he asked for help they had no obligation to assist him. All of which were distractions in my opinion of the true reality of the upper class being greedy and working the lower class to death and portraying it as an hellish environment.
Naturalism can also be argued in “Life in the Iron Mills” due to class struggle. The center point which makes this naturalist would be Hugh’s artistic ability and passion for sculpting. Even though the work in the mill was harsh there was some ray of hope that Hugh just so happened to bring out through his sculptor of the women. This sculptor which Davis used to represent a craving for life in the middle of hell was captivating but still did not boost ambition for fellow workers. Davis used Hugh as this Christ like figure the whole time representing redemption for lower class struggle.
Both realism and naturalism share the same domain of the haves and have- nots. Throughout “Life in the Iron Mills” Davis presents this religious ambiguity with Hugh being the Christ like figure bearing the toughest hellish working conditions compared to others in the family. Yet realism and naturalism share common ground with class struggle, we can suggest that both play a major role in the making of Davis’s controversial writing of industrial hardship for lower class immigrants and the evil perception of the upper class.