The Jungle #2: Capitalism

The consumption is a disease of the lungs, how does a disease make you cough up blood? Wouldn't that be more of someone killing you?

I agree with you, I think the author is talking about how capitalism is evil. He is trying to get this out to the readers to help them understand what was happening at the time. I feel bad for Marija. She loses her job then finds one but gets paid half wages because she is a girl. This must have been horrible for her family. Especially with Ona waiting for Jurgis’s baby, the loss of money must have made it difficult for them to get by.

I can’t even begin to imagine how much mud is on the streets. Marija is worried about sinking in the mud after she sewed her money to her clothes. She must have had a lot of money in the bank. Having your child die from meat when you work in a meat family must be frightening.

The cheep labor and the lack of faith in the women working must have frustrated everyone. Unless they were unaware of it, they could of just thought that was how much they were getting paid. Well, except for Maija, getting paid half as much because she was not a man, only being hired because she had the strength of a man. I suppose others knew about what was happening, they just chose not to say anything in fear of losing their jobs.

The Jungle #2: Capitalism

I think the author here might be trying to point out, albeit in a very roundabout way, how capitalism is evil. Those with corrupt morals are the only ones who can truly succeed. Their success pushes others into the mud, in turn causing their morals to degrade simply because it’s necessary for them to survive. In addition to this, Sinclair points out how it destroys family morals as well. Teta Elzbieta’s child Kristoforas isn’t missed at all when he finally dies, because he was a drain on the family’s resources. In any better situation, there would have been many tears for his death because it wouldn’t affect the others’ chance at survival. Furthermore, those who run the whole system lose all sense of morality as their success greatens. Because they are profiting so much, they end up committing one of the seven deadly sins--greed.
     Having been written at the time when this was actually happening, I think the book was definitely meant to bring the issue of the cheap labor industry to the attention of the everyday American. It’s likely that a lot of people knew about what was going on, but they just chose to ignore it. Other people probably knew about it, but were profiting from the suffering of the people at the bottom of the chain, and so chose not to do anything about it.
     As a random tidbit, I watched Moulin Rouge a few days ago, and the main character died of consumption. So yes, I’m pretty sure it’s a disease of the lungs that makes you cough up blood.

The Jungle #1: Perseverance

I agree with you Maddie, the family seems very optimistic when in America. This surprised me because of what they get put through with the labor jobs. If I was put through that I would be very depressed, not as happy as them. I couldn’t believe how horrible Jurgis’s wedding was. When the people take advantage of the food and make no donations to them. Jurgis is very open-minded. He seems so confident when his new wife talks about not having enough money from people not donating. He says he will just work harder and get more money. How could anyone do that? Perseverance does seem like it will be an important theme throughout the story. This will be especially true if the family never gets a better life. They will have to preserver throughout their whole experience in America. If they do not continue their perseverance their lives would fall apart. This is a possibility of the story ending sadly, having the family fall apart. Consumption, no I am not quite sure what they are talking about there. I think they may be saying something about the family members getting tuberculosis, having some disease in their lungs. That would definitely affect they family latter in the story if that is what they are talking about. The family could die off; this would change the perspective of the story and affect the theme of perseverance. The people would then be persevering to survive rather than fight through the work.

The Jungle #1: Perseverance

It really is fascinating how optimistic this family is when they make it to America. They all get horrible labor jobs, with no mercy of any kind, and yet they are as happy as can be. The perseverance of Jurgis in particular is truly amazing. He can’t even afford to marry, and works 12-16 hours every day wading through blood, but thinks he is privileged because he has a job. In a way, he is privileged, because there are hundreds of other people in the same situation who can’t even find work in the cheap labor industry. His view is understandable, because he hasn’t known anything better than what he has now.

I get the feeling that perseverance will be a theme throughout the story. The only way to so survive is to never give up. If you do, there’s nothing to cushion your fall, and a lot breaks on the way down. From the tone of the book so far, I’m guessing there will be a lot more misfortunes heading towards the families of Jurgis and Ona.

I wonder if the family ever makes it to a more American standard life or if they just end up being the victim of so many different events that they fall to pieces. This seems like the kind of story that could definitely end in a really brutal way. The setting is certainly one of brutality.

            In chapter 6, Grandma Majauszkiene says that everyone who sleeps in a certain room in the house Jurgis’ family bought is sure to get consumption. Have you figured out what that is? It sounds like a sort of lung problem, because it mentioned that someone who had it was coughing a lot. I’m curious as to whether it will affect the family later in the story or not.