Chapter 6-13 of The Jungle

I was one of the people who had to read chapters 6 - 13 of The Jungle, which I was kind of happy about since that way I would not have to skip any chapters after our first assignment of reading chapters 2 - 5. 

Finishing chapter 5 left me with a sense that Jurgis and his family would have no more problems with the house and that the rest of the book would be focused on them just struggling with their jobs. This was partly true. Unfortunately, the house situation situation was not to end so easily, which is what I had been scared of. 

Though the housing agent may not have lied to them about not having to rent the house forever, he did leave out many other things. The biggest of these, which the family was most shocked to hear about (from their new friend Grandmother Majauszkiene) was that they had to pay interest. After that revelation, there was no way that Ona and little Stanislovas could avoid getting jobs any longer. The law was that no one under the age of 16 could work, though, so they had to lie and say that Stanislovas was two years older than he actually was. However, the bosses could have cared less about the law anyways. The younger the person, the less they thought they had to pay them. Stanislovas was paid about a third less than the average adult where he worked. This extra income helped Ona and Jurgis to get married in a manner that was acceptable to Elzbieta, who had grown up as a person of importance and, therefore, had certain standards for things of that nature. 

The part of this section of reading that really affected me was when winter time came around. 

Winter is a time that very few people enjoy in the first place. Add in having to work in negative degree conditions, and then coming home to a house that is almost just as cold because you cannot afford heating, and suddenly winter is unbearable. Poor Stanislovas even had to witness another young boy that he worked with have his frozen ears snap off. 

To avoid freezing themselves, many of the workers would try different tactics to warm up. Here is a section from one of the chapters that shows the extremes they would go to:
"Now and then, when the bosses were not looking, you would see them plunging their feet and ankles into the steaming hot carcass of the steer, or darting across the room to the hot-water jets. "

It was especially dangerous for workers who used knives. They could not wear gloves and, therefore, ran the risk of their fingers going numb, which led to accidents. 

Jurgis' father, Antanas, ended up dying from a cough and other ailments that he actually contracted from working in such conditions and around chemicals. However, as the saying goes, the end of one life leads to the beginning of another. Ona gave birth to a strong baby boy and this happy event brightened Jurgis' whole world, but also gave everyone a reason to work harder.