Immigrant Girl Point of View

My name is Esther Klein and I am a 17-year-old who works in a textile mill in the United States. It’s 1892 and conditions for me and for people like me are not so good. I came to this country in search of the “American Dream.” This is an idea that anyone, regardless of ethnicity and social upbringing, can make a decent living in America. Of course, when I finally came to America, my experience was very different.

I came here like everyone else, on a steamship, because my home country is struggling economically. Because I am Jewish, I also wanted to leave because I suffered from political and religious persecution in my homeland. That is why I was so desperately seeking to come to America; the so called “Land of Opportunity.”

As an immigrant woman, I experienced very little satisfaction when I finally had settled here. When I was working on my parents’ farm in my home country, I never experienced working in industry or outside of my home for that matter. Here, I was introduced to the textile mill and sewing trade. This is among the few jobs offered to women here. Mostly, we either are allowed to work in factories or as domestic servants. We can never move up in the job position that we are in. That is because of the sexists views of the higher power held only by men. Not to mention our wages are so low that we are stuck in poverty. Also, there are many dangers that come with working with the machinery that scare me. There have been accidents before. I just hope that it never happens to me. Day by day, my hope of ever having or being more than this is slowly dying.

Not only am I a poor woman, I am also a Jewish immigrant and is not respected at all in this country. It’s as if there is nothing here that is different from my home country. I am still seen as nothing more than labor. People look at me and my people as if we’re diseased. Their looks make me feel dirty and worthless. Like I am not worth the money I earn every day. I feel unwelcome all the time.

I think about standing up and challenging the authority over me. I want to take a stand. I want my work to be seen as more. But, after seeing and hearing about other workers organizing against the owners of the companies we work for and failing, I begin to have second thoughts. A lot of the labor unions here try to improve the working class. They demand eight hour work days, and higher wages. These demands go unheard and then the workers begin to get restless and violent. They hold strikes that sometimes end up with many workers dead. Owners even fire off the strikers who work for them. The government does not care either way. They are always on the side of the owners. They don’t care about the poor.

I want to band together with the other girls that work in the textile mill with me and rise against the company owners. But, as much as I want to do this, I cannot. I cannot afford to lose my job in the textile mill. I need all the money I can get. This fear that I have is so overwhelming that I stay where I am and all I really have left is the hope for a better day than the last.

Reaction to Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism is the belief that there is a natural class system that places the strongest on top and the weakest on bottom. This belief is based on Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection among animals in nature. The species that can adapt to their environment and survive evolves while those who cannot inevitably die. The same way of thinking directly correlates with society of the Gilded Age.

Scholars, businessman, and modern-thinkers alike used Darwin’s theory to explain the economic, racial, and social happenings of the time. They believed that the competitions between various industries like oil, transportation, banking, and electricity were inevitable. Those who could “buy-out” the competition or expand their own businesses were put into power. Wealth decided who was in control in that society. A good example of this is the wealth that Andrew Carnegie accrued after buying out every small business around him. Although he became the second richest man in the United States, he was eventually bought out by another entrepreneur of sorts, J.P. Morgan. Even though Carnegie rose above the surrounding competition, he still was beat out by Morgan.

Darwinism also can relate to the racial and social occurrences during the Gilded Age. After the civil war, African-Americans, although being free from the chains of slavery, were still considered lesser than the white minority. Many white southerners believed that African-Americans were meant to be below and separate from them. Not only were African-Americans considered low in class but the poor factory workers and small business owners were also. If you made less than a certain amount in any industry, you were consider lower class citizens and were given very little respect from the bigger business owners of higher class.

In today’s society, Social Darwinism still has somewhat of a presence. Yes, we still have a class system and there are some who are better off than others; however, people of the lower class have been given opportunities to excel in society through means of economy and education. Many who would typically not be able to make their mark in the world are now given the chance to do so.

I think regardless of where are you, you always have people who have more and who have less either by circumstances or by choosing. In some aspects, Social Darwinism holds true to the theory that in order to be in power, you have to climb your way to the top. Power is not handed out to you. You have to gain the knowledge to acquire it. Unlike during the Gilded Age, the government and several other businesses are helping more and more people have the opportunity to be great through all types of aid. Unfortunately, not many take that chance. The resources are there for everybody. It’s up to them to decide what they want to do with it.