Chapter 25

Prompt 1
      In this chapter, Jurgis finally gets a stable flow of income coming in. His job isn't exactly- normal. It's not even legal. He's turned to a life of crime to make money and stay alive. Time and time again, Jurgis has tried to make money with normal jobs, but he didn't have any luck with them. I feel like him turning to this dangerous, illegal job was sort of a last resort. He had lost so much already and had tried so many times before, he probably wasn't concerned about the fact that the 'work' he was doing was, in fact, illegal.

      Near the end of the chapter, Jurgis gets an actual job, but it's more of a front that anything, I believe. It's just really sad that he turned to a life of crime to make money and survive.

Chapter 24

Prompt 1

     I think Jurgis was very confused by the young, rich man who was VERY drunk. After they had talked, the man (Freddie Duane) decided to take Jurgis to his house. This house was like a mansion; when Jurgis walked inside, he was very alarmed by all of the expensive things inside of it. All of his life he had never experienced that kind of luxury, so I imagine he must've felt a little bit jealous. Freddie ended up giving Jurgis $100 cash, which was shortly followed by the butler kicking Jurgis out. 

      When Jurgis arrived back in Chicago, he went to a saloon to have his $100 broken into smaller bills. So, the bartender said that if he bought a drink he would. Jurgis did that, but the bartender only gave him a small amount of change. This caused a bar-fight, which led to Jurgis being arrested... again.

      

Chapter 23

Prompt 1

      Once Jurgis gets back to Chicago, he starts walking around the city in search for a job. After about a month, he finally got a job digging tunnels underground for telephones. This job was going fairly well for Jurgis at first, but as one might imagine, it has some possible dangers to it. Premature explosions, falling rocks, and crushed supports are some of the things they had to look out for. Unfortunately, Jurgis became victim of an explosion which sent him to the hospital with a broken left arm.

      After getting out of the hospital, he very little money and a broken arm, so he couldn't work. This lead to him going around and begging for money while being unsuccessful most of the time. He says in this chapter at one point that he feels like a "wounded animal in the forest". Which really was true for him. He was a helpless, wounded, man barely scraping by and surviving.

Chapter 22

Prompt 1

      So, in this chapter, we see Jurgis abandon the rest of his family once Antanas dies because he drowned. He hops aboard a train car, and leaves for the countryside outside of Chicago. Once he starts wandering, he gets offered multiple jobs by various farmers, declining them all. He only wants a job that will provide him money all year; he just wanted a stable job.

      After he had been roaming for a while, he decided to just be a tramp. So, until the next fall (I believe), he walked around the countryside, begged, stole, and worked. Once he had been doing it for a while, he ran into some other men who had been living the same lifestyle that he had. They taught him so tricks and gave him advice: who to beg from, who to steal from, etc. Jurgis enjoyed this sort of life for a while, but after a certain amount of time, he didn't find much joy in it anymore. That's when he decided to go back to Chicago.

Chapter 21

Prompt 1

      In today's society, risking your life or helping someone in need is usually seen as brave or valiant, especially if the situation is dangerous; however, in the time period that Jurgis was in, no one really thought of it that way. At least, no one who had the lifestyle he did. While Jurgis was working, he tried to help a man, but ended up hurting himself in the process. Nowadays, a lot of people would've thought that what Jurgis did was so brave and *swoon* about it.

     But the situation that most of the people were in was a 'every man for himself' thing, so they really weren't concerned about if someone else was about to burn to death and stuff like that. It's really awful that that's how those times were, but a majority of people could barely take care of themselves, nevertheless another person.

Chapter 20

Prompt 3

      At the end of this chapter, things are finally looking good for Jurgis. He finally found a job, which was probably very exciting for him, because he likes to help his family and it gives him a sense of self-pride when he can do that.

      This job is so much better than any of the other jobs he's had. At the one he has currently, all he does is stand in a line with other people and turn bolts. That sounds pretty boring, but the working conditions of the factory itself aren't terrible like the Durham's slaughterhouse and the Packingtown. Those two jobs were just completely awful- and smelly... However, Jurgis' happiness ceases when he's leaving work and finds out that his department in the factory was going to be closed until further notice. UGHH

Chapter 19

Prompt 1

      In this Chapter, Ona dies trying to give birth to her and Jurgis' child. Jurgis found some scraggy old midwife to come and help her, and thought that Ona would be okay. But after about a night once Jurgis had come back from the saloon, the midwife told him that it was too late to help Ona and that she should've gotten help sooner.

      It was very unfortunate that she died, but there wasn't much that could be done for her. Jurgis (at the time) was in jail, so they didn't have much money at all coming in, which would've made it hard to hire a doctor to help Ona before things took such a bad turn. And with Marija's cut hand, she wasn't any help either; so there wasn't a way for them to help Ona. By the time they got some help, it was too late.