Synthesized answer
Gorky's repeated use of dehumanizing language, such as the factory "ejecting its people, like burned-out ashes" [1], serves as a critique of industrial society by portraying workers as disposable and lacking individual worth. This imagery suggests that the factory consumes their energy and then discards them, reducing them to mere byproducts of production. The workers are described as moving "like frightened roaches" [1] and are subjected to deafening machinery sounds and the "dissatisfied snort of steam" [1] upon their arrival, further emphasizing their diminished status.
The specific aspect of industrial society challenged through this portrayal is its reduction of individuals to interchangeable cogs in a machine. The passages indicate that the "machine sucked out of men's muscles as much vigor as it needed" [3], implying that their bodies and labor are exploited without regard for their humanity. The workers' lives are dominated by work, with their days "swallowed up by the factory" [3] and "blotted out from life, not a trace of it left" [3]. Their conversations and thoughts are "closely and manifestly connected with their work" [2], with only "faintly" glimmering sparks of…
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From the book
street. With somber faces they hastened forward like frightened roaches, their muscles stiff from insufficient sleep. In the chill morning twilight they walked through the narrow, unpaved street to the tall stone cage that waited for them with cold assurance, illumining their muddy road with scores of greasy, yellow, square eyes. The mud plashed under their feet as if in mocking commiseration. Hoarse exclamations of sleepy voices were heard; irritated, peevish, abusive language rent the air with malice; and, to welcome the people, deafening sounds floated about--the heavy whir…
to be able to eat they drank, long and deep, goading on their feeble stomachs with the biting, burning lash of vodka. In the evening they amused themselves idly on the street; and those who had overshoes put them on, even if it was dry, and those who had umbrellas carried them, even if the sun was shining. Not everybody has overshoes and an umbrella, but everybody desires in some way, however small, to appear more important than his neighbor. Meeting one another they spoke about the factory and the machines, had their fling against their foreman, conversed and thought only of…
eeth. But now there was animation in their voices, and even gladness. The servitude of hard toil was over for the day. Supper awaited them at home, and respite. The day was swallowed up by the factory; the machine sucked out of men's muscles as much vigor as it needed. The day was blotted out from life, not a trace of it left. Man made another imperceptible step toward his grave; but he saw close before him the delights of rest, the joys of the odorous tavern, and he was satisfied. On holidays the workers slept until about ten o'clock. Then the staid and married people dressed…
is sucked out of them just as ours is, and they are no more regarded as human beings than we are. That's the way it is. But they have set one part of the people against the other, blinded them with fear, bound them all hand and foot, squeezed them, and drained their blood, and used some as clubs against the others. They've turned men into weapons, into sticks and stones, and called it civilization, government." He walked up to his mother and said to her firmly: "That's crime, mother! The heinous crime of killing millions of people, the murder of millions of souls! You…
ment is anti-human; it is hostile to us; we cannot be reconciled to its morality; its double-faced and lying cynicism. Its cruel relation to individuals is repugnant to us. We want to fight, and will fight, every form of the physical and moral enslavement of man by such a society; we will fight every measure calculated to disintegrate society for the gratification of the interests of gain. We are workers--men by whose labor everything is created, from gigantic machines to childish toys. We are people devoid of the right to fight for our human dignity. Everyone strives to utilize us,…
More questions about this book
- Gorky describes the factory as a "tall stone cage" and the workers as "frightened roaches." What specific impact do these metaphors have on the reader's immediate perception of the workers' lives and their relationship with their environment, and how do they establish the novel's central conflict?
- The opening paragraph is rich with sensory details (sounds of the whistle, sight of grim houses, feel of mud). Choose three distinct sensory details and explain how Gorky uses them to create an oppressive atmosphere, and what implications this atmosphere has for understanding the characters' daily existence.
- Based on the stark depiction of the workers' suburb and their somber routine, what overarching social or political themes do you anticipate Gorky will explore in "Mother"? How does this initial chapter lay the foundation for these broader discussions?
- Beyond merely describing the environment, how does the "smoke-begrimed and greasy atmosphere" and the "chill morning twilight" function as an active, oppressive force shaping the workers' physical and psychological states? If this setting were benevolent, how might the opening chapter fundamentally change?