20, 21, 22

Chapter 20:
In this chapter Jurgis begins looking for a job, for his son's sake. The book then reveals that he is not capable of receiving a job any where in Packingtown because he is blacklisted. This family just cannot catch any good luck, is what I was thinking, until Jurgis found a job two weeks later. Thanks to his acquaintance,  it was at a factory with MUCH better conditions than previous work. After reading this I was so pleased and excited for Jurgis, for him getting a job and beginning to learn English, until the section of the factory that Jurgis worked in was about to be closed down until further notice. How devastating.


Chapter 21:
Because of Jurgis' lack of job, the children's income must keep the family from starving. I can't imagine what it would be like if my family's survival depended on me working. That is just crazy. Things begin looking up once again in this chapter, only to end horribly again. The crippled child goes to the dump in search for food, where he finds a rich lady that is curious about his life style. She graciously write Jurgis a letter of recommendation for a job at a steel mill that her fiance owns. Because the job is far away, he must only come home on the weekends to spend time with his baby that he loves so dearly. One weekend he comes home, only to find that his child had died. It really is appalling how terrible these people's lives are and how that can just continue to get worse and worse and worse.


Chapter 22:
Jurgis is devastated at the death of his son, and at the first glance of his dead body, he leaves without one word. Jurgis goes to the country by train. The air, and calmness is just a breath of fresh air for him. He cleans his clothes in a near by stream, then finds a farmhouse and tries to buy food, but the owner refuses to sell food to a "tramp". Jurgis finds a kind farmer that gaurunteed him a job till November and let him sleep in the farm, but Jurgis takes down the offer because he wants work all winter long. He then explains the struggle of finding a job in the city during the winter season. Later on, Jurgis works for two weeks, and receives a considerable amount of money, that previously, would have meant a fortune to him. Sadly, he spent it all in one night on alcohol, and women. This is so incredibly frustrating to me, because he finally had a chance to do something good, and he caught a stream of good luck, but he just wasted it.