In the case of the Lowell Mill girls, some young women felt liberated, but some also felt subjugated in the cruel environment. The Lowell girls were young female workers who came to work in industrial corporations in Lowell, Massachusetts during the Industrial Revolution in the United States. While their wages were only half of what men were paid, many were able to attain economic independence for the first time. For many of the mill girls, employment brought a taste of freedom. They escaped parental authority, were able to earn their own bit of money, and several educational opportunities.
Although the Lowell Mill girls were able to gain some independence and wages, many believed that the wage-labor factory system as a form of slavery with the harsh working conditions and long hours. The Harbinger mentions, “The atmosphere of such a room cannot of course be
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As well as staying in public cramped rooms and working around thirteen hours a day, the girls suffered very strict discipline. They had thirty minutes to eat breakfast and dinner without the time they had to run to their boarding houses and return to the factory. Along with those conditions, the girls rarely experienced little companionship with each other. Harriet Farley notifies us about this by saying, “ Excepting by sight, the females hold but little companionship with each other. This is why the young girls rush so furiously together when they are set at liberty.” (Editorial: Two Suicides,” Harriet Farley, Pg 2, Paragraph 5) This citation reveals that the girls were never really social with each other, leading them to eventually become lonely. As the “Editorial: Two Suicides,” by Harriet Farley reveals two Lowell Girls committed suicide, there could be numerous things that boosted their death within this factory life, proving how they were subjugated and put in bad working conditions. One of the