chapter 31

this chapter made me happy and sad. i am happy because this is the last chapter and we can all finally move on. but, i feel sorry for jurgis' sister, marija. she is still a prostitute and plans on being one for the rest of her life. because she is addicted to morphine, and being in poverty, the brothel is the only place where she can get morrphine. i know it sounds like im am promoting it, but the truth hurts. in this time there was no rehab, esspecially for those in poverty, so marija has no choice but to stay at the brothel. but i dont see why that journalist or whatever from that magazine went with jurgis. he does not support socialism but he goes anyway. i think that this says alot for jurgis because it must have taken alot of persuasion to get a capitalist to come to a meeting. i am not suprised though, that there really is no happy ending. jurgis throughout the entire book had never had long lasting good luck. so it comes to no suprise to me that nothing has changed

chapters 27-29

these chapters were really sad. although i was happy that jurgis had gotten some money, i was really suprised at first, then mornful for marija. she is not only a prostitute now, but addicted to morphine. he found her at a brothel right before a police raid, which he found due to a lady who gave him her address. but jurgis did a good job hiding his identity at the court room where he avoided being fined or even put in prison for assaulting phil connor. then sinclaire introduces socialism into the story when jurgis goes to another political meeting where a lady urges him to listen to the speech instead of sleeping. i bielieve that is is not only a turning point for the charatcter but also one of the biggest moments in this book, if the authors arguement is for socialism and to show the wrongs in capitolism, this is where he starts. i am dissapointed though, in the timing of this argument. we've been reading for 29 chapters of unfourtunate times only to read hints toward socialism until now. but otherwise, with this new idea, i think that the story is coming together nicely now, instead of just sob stories of an immegrant and his family (not trying to be harsh)

the jungle chapters 20-23

the internet at my house wasnt working and neither was it in ms. O's room so i have to do it now. what really stuck out to me was that they just had ona's body laying in the middle of the floor. i know that they had no money for a funeral but you'd think that theyd at least put a blanket over her or put her in another room but thy just kinda left her in the middle of the floor. and jurgis just sat next to her in silence along with everyone in the room. its hard fot me to grasp the fact that they all are still enduring these hardships even though alot of people have died. but what else can they do? they have no money to leave, no help from jurgis, and why would they let all that work go to waste?

the adventures of huckleberry finn

For my individual novel, I chose the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; I chose it because when I was picking books, I was reading the backs to see which sounded interesting. When the back read of Huck and a slave boy building a raft to head down the Mississippi river and the adventure that shall be packed full of danger, I expected it to be an interesting book. But so far the book is just really, really sad. In the first book, the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huck becomes really rich after stopping some robbers. But in this book, Huck’s dad comes back and expects Huck to give him all of his money for booze, wants him to drop out of school so Huck doesn’t become smarter than his father. So Huck, realizing that his father is going to beat him until he does it, decides to give all of his money to judge Thatcher so Huck wouldn’t have to give it to his father. When the widow hears of this she tries to gain custody over Huck and become his guardian, but despite their efforts, a new judge doesn’t allow it because the judge refuses to take a boy from his father, so Huck’s father takes Huck out to a cabin that he lives in and locks him in whenever he is out and about. When I think about it, I don’t think I could continue to live in the conditions that Huck is forced to be living in. I would take any chance possible to run away from the father. I feel sorry for Huck, trapped in his father’s house doomed to stay here until he is old enough to leave, and by then, he wont be educated enough to get a job, so I really hope that Huck can find a way out of this miserable place he is in.

the jungle

In the reading we had to do for the jungle, jurgis and his family are still trying to adapt to this new, American life style. They are all starting to get jobs and make money, I love how they are so happy and optimistic even in the horrible conditions in which they have to live in. the man who was trying to sell the house to jurgis’ family seemed very untrustworthy. He avoided a lot of questions and ignored others so, if it was me, I would have never even thought of buying that house. But with the low price, and the fact that they’d be owning their own home, they count up their saving and decide to go ahead with it. In chapter 5, jurgis and his family are all getting jobs and things are swell. Jurgis does not want the women to work because “he is not that kind of man”. This did not make much sense to me because it does not indulge in what the author is trying to say, so I assume that the author is trying to tell us that jurgis believes that working is a man’s job, not a woman’s or child’s. Jurgis wants his kids to go to school and get an education before even thinking about working. I think that is very noble of him to believe that men should be able to support his family. Jurgis’ family is so far undergoing success in their strive toward personal success. Everyone’s getting jobs, the family is being fed, and they have a new, crappy house.

questions/comments
1are jurgis and ona really married? on page 55 it says they will be married soon but they got married in chapter one
2 i think its great that they are so happy having so little and considering the conditions they must live in.
3why was the man at his work trying to get jurgis to join a union?
4 what exactly is jurgis' job? the book talks about killing beds but doesnt explain his actual job
5i think its really greedy to hire someone to replace someone else so the boss gets more money

essay topic

my essay topic was how owning a slave can change a person. i must use frederick douglass' narrative to prove my points. my main argument is that people become cruel and make those around them cruel also. there are countless names in the narrative that describes the person as cruel, or, that person becoming cruel by either owning the slave or being with or around those who do. this new found cruelness is like a plauge, once you get it, you can spread it to other people, like when the master turned his misstress cruel when she tried to teach douglass how to read.

frederick douglas: the final chapter

i especially liked this chapter, not necessarily because he escaped but because of the way he used his words and explained what happened. his enthusiasm in his writing is not like the other chapters, in this one he seemed glad to be writing this, which is understandable considering the former chapters, it seems like he is so enthusiastic that he is trying to paint a picture for you with his story. i could very much so understand and picture what was going o in this chapter rather than the others. and on top of that, he escaped!

he first explains that he did in fact escape and that he did not want to explain how in fear that slave owners would know how he escaped and would be more prepared for other slaves escaping. but then he resumes his narrative by explaining his planning and contemplation for escape. one of the reasons is that which his owner gives him six cents every time the money comes, one would think that this would enlighten him, but rather, it infuriates him know that Mr. Hugh is only doing this to make himself feel better about treating slaves like this. and i love the way he describes it too; "giving me a few cents would ease his conscience, and make him feel himself to be a pretty honorable sort of robber. i liked this because he is telling the reader that no matter what Mr. Hugh gives, he is still a robber.

his escape is, again, never really explained but i like that he did it. and i can understand why he would not like the underground railroad either, because when people show off that they did it, it only encourages the slaveholders to try and keep the slaves from escaping even more. he understand that the underground railroad is a way for slaves to escape, but it also creates a danger of the slave catchers to want to recapture the slaves more than before.

his fear of being free is also understandable, because even though he is free, he must begin to take after himself. he must find shelter, food, and money which were provided for him in being a slave. i believe it was ruggles who would turn his life around, and would eventually send him to new bedford after Douglass married anne.  i also enjoyed new bedfords residents, there is no poverty and everyone is equal, how it should be.i think that an astonishing part in his life is when he subscribes to the liberator and actually reads of anti slavery movements

comments:i don't think Mr. Hugh shouldn't have discontinued his work because of some thing that wasn't his fault.
it was nice of ruggles to take douglass in at his time of need.
questions: why did he want to work?
when he was alone, poor, and starved, did he ever think of just going back to the plantation?