Davis Prompt

"It's easy to be good when you're not hungry," writes Rebecca Harding Davis in her tale of the desperate poverty of immigrant mill workers at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Davis, a writer known for her use of Realism, critiques the "real life" of American workers.

We've seen our other writers critique humanity. Stowe, Jacobs, and Douglass criticize the institution of slavery, and Poe explores the fragility of the human mind (just to name a few). How is Davis's critique of the average, working American more/less powerful? Davis, like others, is arguing for change-- but what change is she promoting? How do you think this text was received among its contemporaries? Remember to use the text in support of your answers to these questions.