The Devil's place

Gustavo Quintero
December 7, 2007
English 48A
Journal #29 Rebecca Harding Davis


Quote:
"Fire in every horrible form: pits of flame waving in the wind; liquid metal-flames writhing in tortuous streams through the sand;wide caldron's filled with boiling fire, over which bent ghastly wretches stirring the strange brewing...(Davis 2603).


Summary:
Davis is describing the area in which all the steel milling takes place in.


Response:
All I can say is just how miserable I would be if I had to work in these types of conditions. Fortunately we have unions and workplace regulations that would prevent this type of work to happen. Aside from my initial comment I want to say just how exceptional a job Davis does at personifying the inanimate objects. She brings the fire and molten metal to life. She makes it seem as if the dammed souls from hell are screaming from the agony in hell through the fire and metal. She really does a great job freaking the reader out. On top of all this is the vivid imagery that compels the reader to move forward and keep on reading. I have always felt that if someone can take an object or thing in this case fire, and give it such lifelike qualities than that person is a magnificent writer. When I read this passage I could visualize the flames crawling and wreathing there way out of the caldron's with the thousand cries and pains of the dammed. This really is some strong imagery. It is almost as if they are on a terrestrial hell. They are constantly breathing in the noxious fumes and are handling extremely hot metals. All this just so that these poor people can have something to eat on their kitchen table and food in their stomachs. It really makes you stand back and make you notice just how easy and care free your own life is.