Chapter 16

Prompt 1

      As we all know by now, Jurgis sort of beat the living daylights out of Connor. At the moment he did it, he felt a big amount of gratification, only to be shortly replaced by regret and fear; not just for himself, but his family too. When he went to beat up on Connor, he was too caught up in the moment to really think out the situation and what would happen.

      Once he gets arrested, he realizes that his family is going to be in more misery and suffering due to his absence and not being able to help provide for them. In the book, it stated, "A maddening procession of thoughts that lashed him like whips upon his naked back". For Jurgis, this probably applies to him in the fact that he's thinking about how much more terrible his family must be doing, and it's all his fault because of a hasty action. He cares about his family, and knowing that they're going to be struggling so much just kills him (metaphorically, of course). At one point in the chapter, he realizes that for Christmas, he'll be in prison with food, water, and a warm place to be; whereas his family, who hasn't done anything wrong, has very little compared to him, which made him very upset.