Sunday, January 19, 2020
economic systems in copan compared to other ancient cultures :: essays research papers
à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à Economic Systems à à à à à Throughout history there has been a common theme of progression towards more complex societies. The advent of agriculture enabled population sizes to increase, and allowed permanent settlements to arise. As extensive cultivation of farmland progressed, a surplus of food was created that enabled some people within a society to be non-food producers. These people who no longer were required to farm in order to survive were able to develop marketable goods that they could exchange for food. This transition towards interdependence, (craftsmen depending on exchanging their goods for food), brought with it an opportunity for the government within each society to exact some tribute for monitoring the economy, and making sure that exchanges went smoothly. This led to societies with a well-defined hierarchy and slowly led to the abolition of the egalitarian societies where everyone engages in the same means of production. Within these aforementioned egalitarian societies t here is some occupational specialization, but it is based on the skill of the craftsmen, and no one is a full time specialist. The differences in the economies of Copan, Teotihuacan, and ancient Rome, can illustrate why and how economies increase in complexity, and what criteria are necessary for large-scale economic specialization. More specifically, what factors limited Copan and Teotihuacan, preventing them from attaining the population size, and economic complexity of ancient Rome. Teotihuacan was a huge metropolis in what is now southern Mexico. It became a large city before 100CE and reached the height of its size from about 600-650CE. At its height it was home to roughly 125,000 inhabitants. There is a permanent springs nearby the ancient city, and satellite photos have indicated the presence of a possible irrigation system with canals used to water farm sites. Although the age of the irrigation canals has yet to be established it seems to be highly probable that this canal system was created concurrently with the development of the city. This conclusion is also supported by a lack of rural population, which would have been necessary to provide food for such a large population if there wasnââ¬â¢t agriculture within the city. Because the food was not brought in from a great distance, the travel expenditure to get the food to the population would have been low. This allowed there to be a dense population concentration within the urban area. The expense of m oving goods in the new world seems to have been a factor that limited the size of cities.
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Commedia All’ Italiana
Commanded Alternating Films that are made In Italy are well-known worldwide, especially the Italian-style comedy, which has won a lot academic awards and earned enormous applause and praises. However, there are something behind the laughter tries to tell the audience within the Italian-style comedy. Comedic Alliteration thrives for its uses of innovative and bold subjects and contents, and a profound and twisted ending; besides, humor in Italy are manipulated as a tool to expose social issues of different fields while reflecting poverty and misery.Comedic Lithuanian starts from a street performance, and it works its way toward the stage of world. The origin of Italian-style comedy can be traced back to the birth of Comedic delegate in 1 1 century, which becomes influential to the development of comedy In 15 century (Turner). Soon, Comedic delegate spreads to Europe for Its uses of music, dance, humorous dialogue In stage performance and even slapstick and lay foundation for the Comed ic Alternating. After World War II, the enactment of the Marshall Plan directly affects the prosperity of Italian-style modem.According to Turner in her article, ââ¬Å"Comedic Lithuanian: Comedy, Italian- Styleâ⬠, the growth of the economy significantly improves people's living conditions and stimulate the development of art, and she exposes that the most prosperous and memorable period of Italian film industry is around the late 1 sass and sass (Turner). The booming and success of Italian film industry introduce the unique perspectives of art of Italy as a name card to the world, and they start to attract the attention and popularity from the worldwide audience. The success of the ComedicLatitudinal Is that films are boldly using the sensitive subjects and contents from the society Instead of acting Like a clown only. There are lots of things a film Is trying to tell the audience through every scene and laughter. Comedic Allotments Is famous for its ending, which is always tw isted into a kind of imperfect ending. From a famous comedy film called Eel not did Siberia (The Nights of Siberia) tells a dramatic story of a young prostitute named Siberia who pursues her true love through several stories, but unfortunately, all the endings of those stories are tragic.A woman, who lives in the bottom of society and has a not respected Job, devotes everything she has into a way of seeking true love as traditionally as a common woman does in reality should deserve what she wants in return. But, the ending is not like what it is wished to be so; instead, the ending Is sad, but it also happens in reality. Comedic Lithuanian is trying to remind people that there will not always have a happy ending even though one has tried his or her best; and there will be something negative potentially happens In reality. A director named Francesca Commencing says, ââ¬Å"There Is no happy ending, only lots of loose ends.Italy has lost, but doesn't know Itâ⬠¦ That's why a film l ike this is necessary, so people can become awareâ⬠(Evolved). Things always change people in Italy there is no such thing which is destined; to be aware, it is not yet a dream world. Besides telling the truth of reality, the Comedic Lithuanian is used to mock the social issues. ââ¬Å"The Italian-style comedy was able to talk about social problems and still be popular,â⬠said Peter Bandoleer, ââ¬Å"It was a way of having a illegal about what was going on in Italy, of addressing questions that were not being discussed in the governmentâ⬠(Grimes).An Italian-style comedy called ââ¬Å"Divorcee: Italian-styleâ⬠tells that a Sicilian gentleman wants to murder his wife because he wants to marry his younger and prettier cousin. The reason that he has such an evil purpose is that divorce was against the Italian laws at the time because of the strict religion's requirements in Italy. Therefore, this gentleman chooses to have an honor killing because ââ¬Å"honor was so important in society, the legal enmeshment for this special kind of murder was oh-so lenientâ⬠(Turner). It is so ironic that a person takes such a method to get divorced.This film successfully attracts the public attention, not only for it is an Italian-style comedy but also for it makes the government and the public to reconsider the restorability of the legislation of outlaw divorce. The issues which always make no sense and bother and perplex people are subject to be talked about in Comedic Lithuanian and it is easy to be accepted by government. Comedic Lithuanian is considered a special communication between society and government, which people are reflecting what is happening in their lives to government.Because of the Comedic Lithuanian, a scene of Joking something tragic becomes a part of the Italian culture. Mr.. McNeill, known as the king of Italian comedy, defined Italian humor as something ââ¬Å"lack of a happy ending, seemingly antithetical to comedy,â⬠and he comments that themes make Italians laugh ââ¬Å"stem from poverty, hunger, misery, old age, sickness, and deathâ⬠(Grimes). It may be considered strange if a person laughs at something sad in some other countries, but the whole Italy is mocking itself with distress. ââ¬Å"The goal is to consider the reality around you, from the point of view of the humorist.I think you need to look deeper to make people laugh at things that aren't ridiculous or funny,â⬠said Mr.. McNeill (Torah). Italians look at misery of life from a different view but a humorous view, and thus, it is considered as a complaint to the society and life. Comedic Lithuanian is to only something makes ones laugh but also something makes ones think, such as a famous film named ââ¬Å"Life is beautifulâ⬠, directed by Roberto Benign, which describes how a Jewish man create a wonderful family and protect his son in a Nazi concentration camp with uses of his humor.Mr.. McNeill admits that ââ¬Å"you can ma ke people laugh at the most horrible of things. It's hard, but it's more profoundâ⬠(Torah). Life is always full of things that are too sensitive to be mentioned, but through humor, they can be talked about directly in public, and even worldwide. Italians know here is something seriously horrible happening in reality, and they are able to criticize those issues by Comedic Lithuanian and Italian-style humor; this unique comprehension of misery of life gradually becomes a part of Italian culture.
Friday, January 3, 2020
Chinas One Child Policy Essay - 886 Words
According to the U.S. Census Bureau the worldââ¬â¢s population consists, of more than 7 billion people. China resides as the worldââ¬â¢s leading populated country with more than 1.3 billion people. Because, of this over population it maintained fears of their food, resources, and living spaces (International Data Base). The Chinese government then implemented the one-child policy to slow their growing population. The one-child policy has prevailed effectively in slowing down the population growth, but it has caused great anguish among Chinese families. Matt Rosenberg explains how one of the problems facing China in recent years is overpopulation. The Chinese government needed to make a policy to cope with the growing numbers of Chinese citizens.â⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦Their taxes become raised and they no longer receive free health care. The parents who do not pay their fines Family Planning would confiscate their pigs, cattle, ransack their homes and even seize their children (Hays). ââ¬Å"We were always terrified of them,â⬠one villager told the Los Angeles Times. If I lived in china I would be terrified of the Family Planning officers. Parents who abide with the one-child Policy receive money from the government and also free healthcare. To be eligible to have a child couples must have a marriage certificates and have their residency permits in order. Women must be at least twenty and men twenty-four years old (Hays). Women sometimes are forced to have abortions or inhumane acts are being forced upon them. Approxima tely, 500 women in china a day commit suicide, which is three times higher than the rate among men. It subsists the highest rate of suicide of woman in the world (One-Child Policy). The one-child policy has caused females to abort, neglect, abandonment, and even infanticide (Impact of One Child Policy of China). Often times abandoned children, and women, who became pregnant were being forced to go into hiding so that the family planning officers wouldnââ¬â¢t find them (Impact of One Child Policy of China). Chinas one-child policies are also forcing many parents to put their daughters up for adoption. The reason because parents want a son toShow MoreRelatedChinaââ¬ËS One Child Policy648 Words à |à 3 PagesSophy Huang DSOC Essay 5 Revision 9 April 2012 Itââ¬â¢s time to change a manufacturing model In the last two decades, Chinaââ¬â¢s economy has grown rapidly, becoming the worldââ¬â¢s second largest economy after the U.S. China has gained this achievement by becoming the factory of the world and exporting cheap products to oversea markets. However, recently China has been losing its advantages in the export sector, which its economy is heavily reliant on. New data shows a visible slowdown in manufacturingRead MoreChinaââ¬â¢s One Child Policy1305 Words à |à 5 PagesChinaââ¬â¢s One Child Policy There are more than 1.3 billion people living and building families in China. Until a century ago, many Chinese families included multiple generations living in the same household. Today, though, its no longer the norm. A typical Chinese family today includes a married man and woman with one child, and this is generally known as the core family. The percentage of core families continues to rise above other types of family units. This not due to a social coincidenceRead MoreChinas One Child Policy954 Words à |à 4 Pagespopulation containment by way of a ââ¬Ë One-Child Policeââ¬â¢, to alleviate its social and economic problems (Jiang, 2010). The population had been well-controlled during the past 30 years and according to the National Bureau of Statistics, the policy has helped prevent 400 million births and contributed greatly to economic growth (Government net, 2011). However, the one- child policy is like a double edged sword. Although there are positive outcomes, Fro m the policy, there are also many negative issuesRead MoreChinas One Child Policy971 Words à |à 4 PagesChinas one child policy China has had a one child policy since 1980. The one child policy limits the fertility rate that each woman can have only one child in efforts to cut down the population, and undo what Mao Zedong did to early China. Maoââ¬â¢s goal was to make China the next superpower nation by encouraging people to have many children. Unfortunately, Mao did not know that he was moving China backwards with this kind of thinking. In 1949 after a long civil war over who controlled China, MaoRead MoreChinas One-Child Policy3129 Words à |à 13 PagesChina who has one of the largest population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, has taken a stance against over population. By introducing Chinaââ¬â¢s One-Child Policy (Family Planning Policy) in 1979, China hopes to decrease its countryââ¬â¢s annual population growth. China has implemented the policy by many different ways; propaganda, taxation, and multiple forms of birth control. Though Chinaââ¬â¢s intentions are to give its citizens better living conditions by enforcing its policy, many controversialRead MoreChinas One Child Policy4037 Words à |à 17 PagesChinaââ¬â¢s One Child Policy; Impacts on the Society, the Economy, and the People. By David Goheen Due: December 14, 2007 Executive Summary During the years before the implementation of the One Child Policy, the leaders of China were involved in wars, a great leap forward, and an industrial revolution. In the last twenty five years Chinaââ¬â¢s One Child Policy has affected the country in every way one can imagine. This paper will attempt to explore the major ways the policy has affected theRead MoreChinas One Child Policy Essay1134 Words à |à 5 PagesGovernment Action on Population Control and Chinas One Child Policy One of the more extreme measures taken in an attempt to control population has been Chinas one-child policy. Population advocate Garet Hardin suggests the rest of the world adopt similar policies. This paper is to show a countrys government acting on theories that Hardin is popular for and the ethical and environmental effects that it had on people and the land. Hardin fails to see the ethical problems laid out by governmentsRead MoreEssay On Chinas One Child Policy766 Words à |à 4 PagesA Policy for the Better China, in the late 1970s, had an unbelievable population; close to one billion. With such an alarming number of people and limited resources, even in such a large nation, there had to be an even larger change. Chinaââ¬â¢s one-child policy was a remedy to this problem, and helped Chinese citizens in many ways. Without the policy, China would have many economic problems and serves all of China with its rules. Chinaââ¬â¢s one-child policy was an excellent idea for China and its peopleRead MoreEssay On Chinas One Child Policy1195 Words à |à 5 PagesChinaââ¬â¢s one-child policy made it illegal for most Chinese couples to have more than one child. It was the culmination of the governmentââ¬â¢s long struggle to control population growth. The policy was enforced mainly through financial incentives and punishments, but in rural areas brutal enforcement techniques like non-consensual sterilization and abortion were sometimes used. While the policy did reduce the population, it also caused problems such as an unbalanced male-female sex ratio and ââ¬Å"4:2:1 familiesRead MoreChinas One Child Policy Essay1616 Words à |à 7 Pagescontribute significantly to the nations poverty levels and restrain its potential for economic growth. (Gu 42) Chinas one-child family policy was first announced in 1979. In a 1979 speech, Deng Xiaoping drew the first outlines of a policy to limit population growth, Use whatever means you must to control Chinas population. Just do it. (Mosher 50) Basically the aim of Chinas one-child family policy was to help slow population growth to 1.2 billion by the year 2000. It was hoped that third and higher
Thursday, December 26, 2019
MacBeths Loss of Innoncence - 1464 Words
Fair is foul, and foul is fair. (Act I, Scene I, line 10) With this opening paradoxical quote, Shakespeare opens the tragedy of Macbeth. Macbeth is the tragic hero of this tragedy, as his ambitious actions place him in a downwards spiral until he loses everything that was once precious to him. He sacrifices his innocence, his conscience, and his peace of mind for the endless power and control he pursues. The introduction of the play begins with the description of a king under the pressures of war. Duncan, the king of Scotland, hears of Macbeths bravery in battle against a Scot who took sides with the enemy. Scotland is currently at war with the King of Norway, and the country is rather divided, as traitors begin to surface. One suchâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦In the chaos that follows, Malcolm and Donalbain rush to leave Scotland, fearing a price on their lives. This casts suspicion upon the two heirs, and Macbeth is quickly crowned king at Scone. The nobles sense no suspicion in Macbeth and follow him as king. However, Macduff is not fooled and flees for England. Act III brings some suspicion, as Banquo has knowledge of the weird sisters prophecies. Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all, As the weird women promised, and I fear Thou playdst most foully fort. (Act III, Scene I, lines 1-3) It is the knowledge that Banquo has that causes Macbeth to turn his hands red with blood again. The king is suspicious, if not afraid, of Banquo and decides the only way he will be free of his worries would be to kill him. Macbeth also shows jealousy of Banquo, as he wonders why he will not lead a line of kings, rather than Banquo. Macbeth also begins to feel anger towards the weird sisters, as he begins to believe that he has been chosen to do the dirty work, while it is Banquos descendants that will reap the benefits. It is the sum of these two matters- Banquos loyalties and Macbeths line of heirs- that he chooses to kill once more. Furthermore, his decision to hire the murderers and exactly how he gets them to turn against Banquo is another step towards the darkening of his soul. He uses the technique that Lady Macbeth used on him to murder Duncan; Macbeth told the murderers of Banquos wrongs
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Business Types And Advantages Within The Music Industry
In this section I will be assessing different business types and the advantages and disadvantages within the music industry. the business types I will be researching are sole proprietorship, partnership, corporations and limited liability company. Sole Proprietorship Most small businesses tend to start out as sole proprietorships. These companies are owned by one person. This individual normally has the day-to-day responsibility for running the business. Sole proprietors own all the assets of the business and all the profits generated by it. They are also completely responsibility for any of its liabilities and debts. In the eyes of the law, you and the business are one entity. The advantages of a soleâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦If looking for someone to invest money or be part of your business you may struggle to find people with vast knowledge of the industry you are in as it may feel like to much of a risk for them. Employee benefits such as ownerââ¬â¢s medical insurance premiums are not directly deductible from business in (only partially as an adjustment to income). If you earn à £20.000 in one year 10,000 of this is taxable (depending on current pre tax earnings) Conclusion In conclusion if you are confident in your business and you don t mind the risks the sole proprietorship is by far the easiest way to set up a business. I know a few people that do this and they have said that it is best to always run within their means, which in a way is a good way of doing things. However it does not leave room for you to make your business grow Partnership A partnership, Consists of two or more people who share the ownership of a single business. Like in a proprietorship, the law does not distinguish between the business and its owners. The Partners should have a prearranged agreement of how decisions will be made for their company, the profits will be shared, how disputes will be resolved, how new partners will be brought into the partnership, how partners can be bought out, or what steps will be taken to dissolve the partnership when needed. Although it sounds silly thinking about dissolving the company before its started, many companies break up in times of
Monday, December 9, 2019
Criminal Behaviour Among Young People
Questions: 1. Submit your findings from the set task? 2. What are the differences in offending between male and female young people? 3. What factors are thought to influence whether a young person becomes an offender? 4. Define a young offender? Answers: 1. About 36% of the offenders are found that they have been disaffected from school. About 52% of the offenders were drug users. 80% of them were found hanging in the public place. 64% of the offenders aid that there have been influences of delinquent friends or acquaintances on them. 47%. 47% of the offenders were found to be the victims of poor parental supervision. 16% of the individuals were persistent truants. The other rates of crimes that can be observed is intricately associated with mental health disorders. 4% had emotional disorders as they had terribly from anxiety and depression. 5% of the children were noticed to exhibit inappropriate conducts such as aggression or antisocial behavior. 1% was found to be hyperactive. From Youth and Crime Case study, one can say that schizophrenia may be one of the main factors but stated that it was a rare disorder which had affected the children to be offenders in adolescence 39% of the offenders have suffered from family breakdown or divorce, 34% had lost contact with important people of lives. 20% required special educational needs, 49% had an experience of care system breakdown and 49% had issues like drug or alcohol abuse. The prevalence of offending among the young people is often found to differ from one nation to another. Similarly, the proportion of young people found offending also varies among both the genders. Different surveys conducted over the years have found that that the average age when offending starts among young people is 13.5 for males where females start offending mainly after the age of 14. However before that particular age, 12 and 13 year olds are found in similar number among both the genders who commit crimes. If one considers a particular cohort, one can find no distinction between the proportions of youngs from both the gender who pick up the habit of drinking. However from the age of 14, a marked difference is observed in the patters of their committing crimes among the males and females. It is astonishing to find out that this same cohort of people on reaching 17 shows activities where females offenders are outweighed by male offenders. This usually happens in the ratio of 3 .1 (Male: female) 2. If one wants to ponder over the kinds of crimes committed by the offenders of both the genders, then one can find that there is also a marked difference in the kinds of crimes committed by males and females. It is found that the young offenders from the female group under the age of 16 mainly performed crimes which were based on buying goods which were stolen. Others involved fighting, shoplifting and criminal damage. The same girls when crossed the age of 16 committed less crimes like less criminal damage and shoplifting (Broidy et al. 2015). However the habit of buying stolen foods and fraud based crimes were found to be conducted at constant rate. In the cohort of girls of 21 years age, reduction of different types of crimes was observed in females. However the habit of fraud and buying stolen goods persisted even at this age. If one wants to notice the kind of crimes committed by the boys, it could be stated that their crimes and kinds are very different from each other. In the 14 to 15 year cohort, boys were found to be easily getting involved in fights and assaults. Buying stolen goods and frauds were also common just like that of the girls of the same age (Young et al. 2015). About 1 in every of the 8 boys are found to be associated with offences which imposed a serious threat o the image of the nation. Boys of cohort 16 to 17 had lessened involvement in criminal damage, buying stolen goods and other theft whereas the girls rate of such activities was constant in this age group. Boys were however more involved in fighting at this stage unlike that of the girls. Another interesting feature that was observed in their young adulthood of 18 to 21 years, there was an increase in the fighting but there was complete decline in the habits of criminal damage and shoplifting unlike that of the girls. However the y picked up a new habit of workplace theft and fraudulence (Piquero, Schubert and Brame 2014). 3. A number of factors persist that have the power enough to alter a good human being into a young offender. These factors are different types of peer group pressure, peer involvement in different problem behavior, parental criminality and high proportion of unsupervised time with peers. The other factors also involve poor parental discipline and supervision, low family income, alienation and social isolation (Shaffer et al. 2015). All of them have a serious impact on the emotional and mental aspect of the growing children and they tend to judge the differences between right and wrongs. Similar factors which also affect such people are family conflict, drug and alcohol misuse, mental illness, troubled home life and poor educational attainment (Bowen et al. 2014). Other factors are lack of different skills, unemployment leading to frustration, truancy, disruptive behavior like aggression, hyperactivity and bullying also affect such individuals forcing them to commit crimes. School disorganization, school exclusion, deprivation of proper housing and homelessness results them to commit crime for survival. Lack of social commitment, early involvement in problem behavior, community disorganization, opportunity of crimes, availability of drugs and high percentage of children in community make them vulnerable to become offenders (Stockdale, Olver and Wong 2013). 4. A person within the age group of 10 to 17 when are convicted for crimes that he had conducted, then the person is often called as a young offender (Howell et al. 2013). However the age group mentioned varies among different nations. Different nations have their own set of criteria, laws and punishments for referring a young individual as an offender. The legal systems and the courts of every nation however follow one common characteristic. Each of the nations handles their cases of young offenders and their way to treat them is very different from the adult offenders (Carr et al. 2014). They are not given same punishments as that like adults and their way of handling issues of young offenders are also sensitive. For example in UK, a child from 14 years of age is considered to be responsible for their actions. Different factors always remain associated of a child turning into offenders. The nation has to take the responsibility to handle the different, social, economic, and emotion al factors sensibly to reduce the ever growing number of young offenders with time. References: Bowen, K.L., Morgan, J.E., Moore, S.C. and van Goozen, S.H., 2014. Young offenders emotion recognition dysfunction across emotion intensities: explaining variation using psychopathic traits, conduct disorder and offense severity.Journal of psychopathology and behavioral assessment,36(1), pp.60-73. Broidy, L.M., Stewart, A.L., Thompson, C.M., Chrzanowski, A., Allard, T. and Dennison, S.M., 2015. Life course offending pathways across gender and race/ethnicity.Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology,1(2), pp.118-149. Carr, Saunders, A.M., Mannheim, H. and Rhodes, E.C., 2014.Young offenders. Cambridge University Press. Howell, J.C., Feld, B.C., Mears, D.P., Farrington, D.P., Loeber, R. and Petechuk, D., 2013. Bulletin 5: Young Offenders and an Effective Response in the Juvenile and Adult Justice Systems: What Happens, What Should Happen, and What We Need to Know (Study Group on the Transitions Between Juvenile Delinquency and Adult Crime). Piquero, A.R., Schubert, C.A. and Brame, R., 2014. Comparing Official and Self-report RecordsofOffending across Gender and Race/Ethnicity in a Longitudinal Study of Serious Youthful Offenders.Journal of research in crime and delinquency, p.0022427813520445. Shaffer, C., McCuish, E., Corrado, R.R., Behnken, M.P. and DeLisi, M., 2015. Psychopathy and violent misconduct in a sample of violent young offenders.Journal of Criminal Justice,43(4), pp.321-326. Stockdale, K.C., Olver, M.E. and Wong, S.C., 2013. The Validity and Reliability of the Violence Risk ScaleYouth Version in a Diverse Sample of Violent Yo Young, S., Moss, D., Sedgwick, O., Fridman, M. and Hodgkins, P., 2015. A meta-analysis of the prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in incarcerated populations.Psychological medicine,45(02), pp.247-258.
Monday, December 2, 2019
The Jungle By Upton Sinclair Essays - Meat Packing Industry
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair There are many characters in The Jungle. These characters vary widely in their professions, social status, and economic status. The main character in the novel is a Lithuanian named Jurgis Rudkus. His wife is Ona Lukoszaite, also a Lithuanian. Their son is named Antanas. Mike Scully is a powerful political leader in Packingtown. Phil Connor is a foreman in Packingtown, politically connected (through Scully), and a man who causes much trouble for Jurgis. Jack Duane is an experienced and educated criminal who is also politically connected. A man called Ostrinski is a half-blind tailor who teaches Jurgis about Socialism. There are also the members of Onas family, each of whom play minor roles in the story. The story opens with the feast at Jurgis and Onas wedding in America, but soon flashes back to the time before they left Lithuania. Jurgis met Ona at a horse fair, and fell in love with her. Unfortunately, they were too poor to have a wedding, since Onas father just died. In the hopes of finding freedom and fortune, they left for America, bringing many members of Onas family with them. After arriving in America, they are taken to Packingtown to find work. Packingtown is a section of Chicago where the meat packing industry is centralized. They take a tour of the plant, and see the unbelievable efficiency and speed at which hogs and cattle are butchered, cooked, packed, and shipped. In Packingtown, no part of the animal is wasted. The tour guide specifically says They use everything about the hog except the squeal, (The Jungle, page 38). Jurgiss brawny build quickly gets him a job on the cattle killing beds. The other members of the family soon find jobs, except for the children. They are put into school. At first, Jurgis is happy with his job and America, but he soon learns that America is plagued by corruption, dishonesty, and bribery. He is forced to work at high speeds for long hours with low pay, and so is the rest of the family. He is cheated out of his money several times. The children must leave school and go to work to help the family survive. This means they will never receive the education they need to rise above this. Ona is not permitted to take a holiday, even for her own wedding. After the birth of her first son, Antanas, Ona soon becomes pregnant again. She becomes very upset, but will not tell Jurgis why. After she fails to come home one night, Jurgis confronts her. She breaks into tears and tells Jurgis that a foreman named Connor has forced a sexual relationship on her. Jurgis curses her and runs off to find Connor. After beating Connor to a pulp, Jurgis is sent to jail for thirty days. The judge refuses to listen to Jurgiss story seriously. When Jurgis is released, he finds that his family has moved to an even poorer neighborhood, and Ona is in labor at that very moment. Neither the baby, nor Ona, who went into labor two months early, survive. Jurgis pulls himself together for the sake of Antanas and gets a job. When Antanas drowns in the mud-filled street, Jurgis gives up on Packingtown and his family. He hops aboard a passing train, and leaves Chicago. Jurgis enjoys a hobo life, wandering across the country. When winter comes, he is forced to return to Chicago. He gets into a fight in a bar and is sent to jail. In jail, he meets Jack Duane, an experienced criminal. After being freed from jail, Jurgis and Duane team up in a luxurious, but risky life of crime. Jurgis learns about the connections between criminals, police, politics, and big business. He becomes a member of this complex network and moves into politics. He runs into Connor again, and beats him to a pulp a second time. Connors political connections cause Jurgis to lose all his acquired profit. Jurgis is back to wandering the streets. To keep warm, Jurgis walks into a Socialist meeting. After the meeting, he is introduced to a man named Ostrinski, who teaches Jurgis about Socialism. Jurgis agrees completely with the political partys ideals, and becomes an active member.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)