Chapter 8

Quiz for Document 8-3: Lucy Larcom, Among Lowell Mill-Girls: A Reminiscence (1881)

Reader Quiz

Chapter 8c

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Question 1

What does Lucy Larcom’s Reminiscence reveal about how the industrial revolution altered the lives of American women in New England during the 1830s and 1840s?A. Factory work gave Larcom and her mother a new sense of freedom and independence.
B. The Industrial Revolution increased single and widowed women’s economic opportunities.
C. The emergence of factories narrowed the options for women who sought to earn money.
D. Textile mills deprived women like Larcom and her mother of their autonomy and pride.

Question 2

According to Lucy Larcom’s account, what attitude toward factory work prevailed amongst New Englanders prior to the establishment of the Lowell mills?A. Ambivalent attitudes toward the new and the unknown
B. Negative attitudes based on Jeffersonian ideals of agricultural labor
C. Negative attitudes based on “Old World [European]” conditions of factory labor
D. Positive attitudes based on Puritan ideas of the morality of hard work

Question 3

In Larcom’s reminiscence on her time at the Lowell Mills, the aspect of the mill’s mechanism that most impressed her with its almost god-like power was theA. flying shuttle.
B. weaving room.
C. spinning frame.
D. water wheel.

Question 4

Lowell management established a reputation for “good order, morality, [and] piety” from the very start of operations, most likely from a need toA. attract the labor of young women.
B. discourage labor movements.
C. follow their guiding religious principles.
D. maintain the mills’ profitability.

Question 5

According to Larcom, the Lowell mill agent agreed to accept her as an employee at her unusually young age on the condition that sheA. accept half the wages of the older girls.
B. continue her prescribed elementary education.
C. follow strict religious observances.
D. work only part-time hours.