Free Sample Essays > North American
Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
family decides that they want to move into a real house. An advertisement leads them to find a house that seems to be in their price range. Since the contract has to be signed during the day, Jurgis cannot be present so Ona and Teta Elzbietha must go. The contract is written in a lot of legal jargon and is very difficult to understand, so they decide to consult a lawyer. Although they walk a long distance to try and find someone not in it with the agent, the lawyer greets him by his first name. The document is pronounced as it should be, and Teta Elzbietha reluctantly signs the contract and gives the agent all of the family’s savings as a down payment. Jurgis is furious at the arrangement and tries to find a lawyer that will tell him exactly what the contract says, but to no avail. After buying their first house Jurgis and Ona decide to furnish it by buying furniture on an installment plan. Jurgis walks two miles twice in one night carrying all of their processions on his head. Such a sight is apparently not uncommon to the neighborhood.
Antanas finally finds a job after agreeing to pay the man who will hire him a third of his paycheck, also not uncommon in the neighborhood. The family starts to realize that their jobs were procured at the cost of others. They also start to realize that the conditions they are working under are not all that sanitary. Antanas is moping the floor at Durham’s “pickle room” where all the unusable parts of the animal, and the canning chemicals are mopped off the floor to be used in canning and pickling. Jurgis learns that when cows that shouldn’t be slaughtered are scheduled to be, the bosses distract the government inspectors and the killing is done quickly. Also, animals that died before they reached the slaughterhouse are butchered late at night, after the inspectors leave, and then mixed with the healthy meat later. The family then learns that their house is not new, but fifteen years old and was made at a fraction of the cost they paid for it. Then they learn that they must also pay interest on the house, so Teta Elzbietha’s son Stanislovas, gets a priest to falsify his age so he can work at five cents an hour, just enough to cover the unexpected cost. Jurgis and Ona have already waited two years to be married, and now it looks as though they may have to wait some time more. Ona decides to get a job to try to speed the process.
Ona’s labors pay off and the couple is married in November, however, the guests do not chip in to help pay for the feast and the family is put into terrible debt again. Dede Antanas dies that winter and Jurgis negotiates the best he can to get his father the bare minimum funeral. [next page]