1. What are the results of Stanislovas getting caught in the snow with Ona?
2. What has happened to Jonas? What is the effect on the family?
3. Describe the work experience of Vilimas and Nikalojus. What values do they learn at their work? From whom do they
learn the “ins and outs” of their trade?
4. What is Jurgis’s experience returning to work?
5. Summarize the description of the demise of the working man.
5. Summarize the description of the demise of the working man.
ReplyDeleteThe demise of the working man was one that you don't see at first. The book explains that a stronge new man comes on the scene and the bosses take notice and want you then. Then you look good and healthy and new. Once you have had work and lost it, for whatever the reason, you were seen as damaged goods and it made it real hard to find work. They also point out that it would bring you physical demise as well. They explain that the health of a worker would also go straight down the whole and they could even give you you a timeline in which they would die from the poor conditions they were working in. The bossess didn't care, they would work you until you died and then go and replace you.
Jurgis' demise is so obvious to me in the last few chapters. His wife doesn't even know if he loves her,he beats the little boy, his muscles have gone soft, he is crabby and mean all the time. It is very sad, I think.
Delete1. What are the results of Stanislovas getting caught in the snow with Ona?
ReplyDeleteThe boy was screaming with pain. His fingers were all frosted and frozen. Stanislovas spent most of the day in horrible agony. Jurgis had beaten the little boy Stanislovas with a stick. The consequences of this episode was that the first joints of three of the little boy's fingers were permanently disabled, and another he had to be beaten before he set out to work.
2. What has happened to Jonas? What is the effect on the family?
Jonas disappeared and did not come home. Jonas's supervisor said he collected his week's pay and left. The family was not sure if it was true because sometimes the meatpacking plants will not tell the families the truth if one of their workers falls into the rendering tanks and gets processed into lard and fertilizer. The family feels that Jonas was fed up and left.
and they lose a lot of their household income--making it even harder to survive
DeleteI think Stanislovas is the saddest character in this book. My heart just bleeds for him
DeleteFrom beth: Chapter 12
DeleteWhat happened to Jonas? He never returned home one night and the people at that packinghouse said he got his check and left but hey suspect that he had been killed. The family is upset and they lose a big part of their income.
4. What is Jurgis’s experience returning to work? Jurgis is turned away due to his injury and having been out as the packers were unable to hold his position. He realizes that he is just as vulnerable as the "mob" of other unemployed men on the streets and seeks out the Union for assistance to find him work, they too however are unable to help him and he is turned out to fend for himself.
ReplyDelete5. Summarize the description of the demise of the working man. The demise of the working man encompasses that he was once valuable and treated as such, cared for and paid accordingly to support his family as it was the just and civil thing to do. The working man was prideful and able to feel confident in his employer and the job he had done. Packingtown was the polar opposite of this, working men were replaceable labor and cheap to come by. The labor force was turned over time and again for new men who were stronger, faster, and could reap greater profits for the Beef Trust. The working man became a thing of the past and each immigrant came to the United States under the false impression the employers valued their "working men".
3. Selling newspapers, they learned from people trying to swindle them how to swindle others.
ReplyDelete4. Jurgis is not as eager to work as he was before and his position has been replaced.
ReplyDelete