Chapter Summary Of Packingtown

This book takes place in an immigrant enclave in Chicago, known as Packingtown during the turn of the century. While this book is fictional, it looks at the difficult living conditions immigrants faced coming to America and finding work during the beginning of the 20th century. This book looks at the exploitation of these workers from con men preying on their naiveté to their own employers providing workers with very dangerous and appalling working conditions with poor compensation in return. This book begins with the wedding of Jurgis Rudks and fiancé Ona Lukoszaite. The wedding feast is held in a hall at Packingtown. As customary with Lithuanian weddings, guests help pay for the feast by giving what they can since these feasts are expensive,

This move was inspired by Jonas who knew someone who made his fortune after moving to America. However, when Jonas arrives to Chicago, he finds out these claims were untrue, and that he was struggling financially. Using the rest of their savings, Jurgis and Ona’s family move into a rundown boardinghouse in a very impoverished part of Chicago, known as Packingtown, which is where most of the meatpackers worked. After moving in, Jurgis looks for work at Brown’s, a

Despite this, Teta insists they uphold their old traditions and have a lavish wedding feast despite their financial troubles. Their neighbor, Grandmother Majauczkiene tells the family about how the houses they bought are part of an elaborate scandal. Usually, the contract transfers ownership to the renter after years of monthly payments, however most of the time, renters go through a period of financial hardship and miss only 1 month of payment, they are evicted. Later, the family becomes worried as they find out that they have to pay interest on their debt and that their monthly house payment is more than they expected. This forces Ona and Stanislovas, one of Teta’s children to look for work. Despite all of this turmoil, Jurgis and Ona are still optimistic about their new lives in