The Jungle - Week 4

[Lori, Moderator]

This was a busy section. We see the results of the impossible situation Ona had been placed into – she and Antanas are dead, and Jurgis was unable to find work in Packingtown, while the boss got away with sexual assault. Sadly, this is also something that continues to happen, especially to poor and immigrant women and families.

What is a settlement worker?

Jurgis has worked in a few different industries now. How are they similar and how are they different?

Why did Jurgis become a “tramp”?

Why did he return to Chicago?

Do you think we’ve seen the last of Elzbieta’s family and Packingtown?

What are Jurgis’s prospects now?

[Nancy]

This section was heart-wrenching. Ona’s death was difficult for the entire family, but especially for Jurgis who loved her so much. As a widow, I was very moved by Sinclair’s writing in this section; he captured the emotions of a newly widowed person very well. I believe that the only reason Jurgis went on with his efforts to find work was that he loved Antanas and wanted to provide for him as his last real connection to Ona. Then, with the shocking death of Antanas, he simply had to flee the horror of the meat-packing area, the city, and the hopelessness of that life. Nothing was left to him, not even hope. He fled to the country, where he had an emotional breakdown. He lived the life of a tramp, but he also found work, made money as needed, was reasonably well-fed, and seemed relieved to be out in nature; however, he was not truly happy and took to drinking so much that he disgusted himself. Finally, with the onset of winter, the farm work that had sustained him disappeared, and he decided to return to the city o find work.
Jurgis finds another job, this time digging tunnels beneath the city which are supposedly for telephone wires but in reality are to assist in moving goods throughout the city by underground rail in order to break union efforts. Jurgis’s previous jobs have all involved hard and dangerous physical labor, and this one is no different. He is injured on the job, hospitalized, then released with a broken arm, no job, no money, and (again) no hope. He must either beg or die.
I hope we see Elzbieta and Marina again. Jurgis does not seem to think of them or feel much guilt at having left them, but I think he is beyond caring for anyone else. He can only do what he must to survive.

[Lori, Moderator]

I was completely shocked that Antanas died. I don't blame Jurgis for "breaking" after that.