Life In The Iron Mills

This story is written in the first person omniscient point of view and is told from the perspective of the narrator, who offers a story involving several different characters. While Hugh Wolfe is the central character and it is his story that the narrator imparts, his perspective is interspersed with that of Deborah—his fellow mill worker—and even with the Doctor, one of the visiting men at the mill.

These perspectives often shift in an unpredictable way. Even though Wolfe is the central character in the story, he is not the direct and immediate focus of the narrative. Readers instead come upon him gradually, as filtered first through the anonymous voice of the opening pages and then through Deborah, taking his dinner to him at the mill. Following the events of that night, the perspective shifts briefly to the Doctor, one month later, reading about Wolfe’s arrest in the paper. The perspective then shifts again to Deborah, in prison in the room alongside Wolfe’s; and then to Wolfe’s again when he commits suicide.

These shifting perspectives help to create a feeling of suspense and disorientation in the story, but also serve a purpose thematically.