In Lithuania, its custom that guests at a wedding-feast leave money to cover the cost, but since they were in America, many of the guest leave the feast without leaving any money since money was being budgeted amongst each person due to the lack of jobs available. Jurgis, who has great faith in the American Dream, vowed that he will simply work harder to make more money so that they may pay off the debt and continue living in America without struggling. Jobs in Packingtown involve back-breaking labor, however, conducted in unsafe conditions with little regard for individual workers. Therefore, Jurgis quickly finds work since he is young and eager to work. The family signed an agreement to buy a house, but the house was poorly maintained so it was full of repairs which evidently would cost money that they didn’t have.
Along the way however, the way in which the characters lived changed as well. During Kracha’s time, money struggles dominated his life. During his efforts to obtain stability, he worked on the railroad, then moved to the steel mills, where years later, proceeded to open and own a butcher shop, then finally ended up back at the mills. His interests were not in updating and owning a home; rather, they lied in drinking, cheating on his dying wife and leaving three children on the backburner. Mike, however, was committed to his family and did not like the idea of keeping boarders to obtain more money for he didn’t want his wife, Mary, to overexert herself.
Chris’s father never truly yelled at him for what he did just because of how cute he was as a child, Chris was usually allowed to do whatever he wanted this gave him this sense of empowerment but at the same time caused him to grow this self-independence. As Chris grew older he started watching an SNL favorite (Saturday Night Live) John Belushi who soon became Chris’ Idol, all he wanted to do was to be just like John Belushi. Through Chris’s High School years he started to become a little more active through football
In the two short stories it seems as if the sons’ relationships with their father were quite different, but they also had their similarities because both of them cared for their son. In the story “Powder” the father took good care of his son for he continually tried to give his son what he thought was best. He fought for the privilege to see his son after he already snuck him into a jazz club to see Thelonious Monk (Wolff 1). He was a good dad, for as his son says “He wouldn’t give up. He promised, hand on heart, to take good care of me and have me home for dinner on Christmas Eve” (Wolff 1).
He was the student that teachers dreaded having in their classroom: boisterous, unruly, and indifferent to authority. Mike had many brushes with the law throughout his high school years, for crimes ranging form vandalism to public drunkenness. Mike dropped out of high school to take a job as an oil-change technician at a local garage; he spends most of his free time and money at local bars-- at least the one's that haven't banned him from starting fights. Mike's current legal trouble surrounds two of his ex girlfriends, who are independently taking him to court for child support. mike is unfazed, however; he laughs with his friends that they'll never get a dime from him.
He initially chose Purdue as it was reputed to be one of the best wrestling schools around. This did not turn out well for him because he did not meet up the standards required by this institution. Dispirited with his failure he returned to his hometown and started working in a garage run by Stanley. Stanley saw Matt’s dismay and decided, along with Matt’s mom to mortgage their home in order to finance Matt’s education at R.I.T. With hesitancy, Matt accepted this new opportunity.
The owners of certain dairies are underpaying their workers and using verbal abuse to keep the employees at bay. One employee at a dairy in California says that he works very long hours with no time off; if he does not work he does not eat. So the worker chooses to sleep very little in order to keep food on his family’s plate. Due to the low pay the workers need to work these long hours and with very little
Adam has finally has his father and son moment with one of his children that he is grateful to express himself to his son Cal. By saying he trusts Cal he has gain even more love and forgiveness for not being with his children for many years. Plus, Adam is able to not be like his father but instead be the opposite with just one of his children. Cal – “He though sardonically of telling him about his mother, to see how he would handle I, but he withdrew the though quickly. He didn’t think Aron could handle it at all,” (Steinbeck 586).
Shmuel’s hatred of the soldiers is finally justified, and to Bruno, a boy who idolized soldiers, such as his father, the abusive soldiers were anything but idols. Bruno then comments that he “doesn’t like it here”, to which Shmuel replies “neither do I” (page 208) It is at this point in the story that the reader realizes how innocent Shmuel is. Although Bruno has been shielded by his parents, Shmuel has had to experience hardship and suffering, giving him the image of a child who had forgone his innocence. However, like Bruno, Shmuel is unaware of the situation he is in, which is shown when he
Because of the malnourishment and poverty they lived in, Richard was not able to have a happy, bright, normal life as that of a child born during the 21st century. Not only did Richard not have a normal life, his life revolved around getting a job to help maintain his family at a very young age. When Richard was less than five years old, his father left him and his brother in his sick mother’s care. Although Richard’s mother looked after them, she needed her husband’s help financially. “You ought to be ashamed…Giving your son a nickel when he is hungry.