Chapters 6 and 7

Chapter 6

In chapter 6, we meet a new dreadful and very negative character: Grandmother Majauszkiene. She tells them how they have been fooled like many before them. She tells them that they are going to have to pay interest and as soon as a payment is missed they could be evicted. This changes the mood from a hopeful and cheerful family to worried and sorrowful victims.

Grandmother Majauszkiene however, is safe with her current situation.
"her son was a skilled man, who made as high as a hundred dollars a month, and as he had had sense enough not to marry, they had been able to pay for the house"
This is symbolic of every immigrant family in Packingtown. They come to this foreign place with the idea that they will be living the American dream and getting rich in no time at all, but they get married and get caught having to support a family and having nowhere else to go to get a job. Jurgis is already beginning to find himself in this situation. His biggest dreams are being crushed and things are taking a turn for the worst. Jurgis believed he could support the whole family by himself and now everyone is having to work. Stanislovas even has to lie about his age to work.

Child labor was a very common thing in the early 1900's. Although some states were finally adding laws and regulations child labor was still a problem. In the 1900's child labor peaked and started to decline because unions and socialistic ideas and movements were fighting to bring a stop to this torturous thing. It would seem like a good thing that child labor was being stopped but many families relied on the extra income that their children brought in to keep the family alive, such as Jurgis's family's case. It was overall a great thing, especially for children, but it also caused many families to struggle. There are pros and cons to every decision.

Chapter 7
The book takes a total turn to a sad and depressing mood. A time that supposed to be filled with lots of love and joy, a time Jurgis and Ona have been dreaming of, their wedding comes but turns out to be just more trouble for them and leaving them more in debt.

"They had opened their hearts, like flowers to the springtime, and the merciless winter had fallen upon them. They wondered if ever any love that had blossomed in the world had been so crushed and trampled!"

The author even adds this simile to describe their situation and their feelings. It does seem that they have faced the worst possible circumstances, but things get worse from there. Dede Antanas dies and winter comes to make things worse and worse.