Welsh factory worker and proto-artist Hugh Wolfe was the subject of Life in the Iron Works, hailed as a forceful condemnation of rampant industrial capitalism and an excellent example of the early stages of American realism (Mambrol, 2021) . Rebecca Harding Davis’ story uses the allegorical technique perfected by older contemporary American writers, for example, but Rebecca Harding Davis’ story, whose Much of the enduring poetic influence comes from the use of allegorical strategies perfected by older contemporary American writers. Sentimental magazine fiction of the time, often focused on self-sacrifice, hidden feelings, and moral scruples confined to the narrow framework of family and romantic relationships, differed significantly from Davis’s in important respects (Mambrol, 2021). These novels attempt to support an ideology of personal responsibility, the belief that willpower and morality, or lack thereof, determine the circumstances of their lives. continue…