The Jungle

Having already waited more than a year, Ona and Jurgis are eager to marry, but Elzbieta insists that they have a traditional Lithuanian ceremony. To raise the necessary money more quickly, Ona considers looking for work.

Around this time, the family has an alarming conversation with a neighbor named Grandmother Majauszkiene. Her son works for the company that built all the houses in the neighborhood, and she tells them that the homes are built with the belief—usually correct—that the residents will fall behind on their payments, allowing the company to foreclose on them. The Rudkus-Lukoszaite family’s own house has been resold multiple times, often after its residents contracted tuberculosis.

To their horror, Grandmother Majauszkiene then explains that the family will not only have to pay the twelve dollars a month they expected but also seven dollars’ interest on the outstanding debt: “As if in a flash of lightning they saw themselves—victims of a relentless fate, cornered, trapped, in the grip of destruction. All the fair structure of their hopes came crashing about their ears” (76-77).

After confirming Grandmother Majauszkiene’s words with the housing agent, Ona secures a job sewing covers on hams. The family also decides that Elzbieta’s oldest child, Stanislovas, will need to find work, which requires getting a certificate claiming he’s older than he is.