Jurgis Rudkus Timeline and Summary

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• Jurgis Rudkus falls in love with a girl from a nearby town, Ona Lukoszaite.
• Jurgis, Ona, Teta Elzbieta, Teta Elzbieta's six children, Marija Berczynskas, Antanas Rudkus, and Jonas all decide to head to America.
• The family arrives in Chicago.
• Jurgis heads straight out to the stockyards.
• He is big and strong, and he finds employment right away.
• Once Jurgis, Antanas, Marija, and Jonas all have work, the family decides to buy a house.
• Unexpected interest payments crop up, and Ona and Stanislovas have to join the work force, too.
• Jurgis and Ona get married.
• Jurgis's father develops a persistent cough and dies.
• Ona is about to have a baby, and Jurgis works his butt off to earn money for a doctor.
• Ona gives birth to their first child, a healthy baby boy. They name him Antanas in honor of Jurgis's father.
• Summer comes and work picks up.
• Jurgis gets injured on the job and has to stay in bed for a couple of months.
• Jurgis grows increasingly frustrated with his injury and takes it out on his family (especially young Stanislovas).
• The family has no choice but to send Teta Elzbieta, Vilimas (eleven), and Nikolajus (ten) out into the workforce.
• Jurgis begins to notice that Ona is having hysterical fits of crying.
• Jurgis finds out that Ona is upset because she has been sexually harassed and raped by her boss, Connor.
• Jurgis goes straight out and attempts to strangle Connor.
• Jurgis gets thirty days in jail for assault.
• Jurgis meets Jack Duane, the gentleman safe-cracker. Duane gives Jurgis his address so that they can stay in touch.
• Jurgis leaves prison to find Ona in premature labor with their second child. Both Ona and the baby die.
• His family members have also lost the house for which they sacrificed so much. They missed one monthly payment and were evicted.
• Jurgis tries to stay sober and employed for the sake of his young son, Baby Antanas.
• Baby Antanas runs out into the street one day and drowns in a pothole.
• Jurgis leaves Packingtown to become a hobo for the summer.
• Jurgis eventually returns to Chicago once winter comes and there is no more farm work.
• He gets thrown into jail a second time for assault, this time on a bartender who stole money from him.
• Jurgis meets Jack Duane again.
• Jurgis has given up all hope of a better life. He becomes a criminal once he is released from jail.
• Jurgis and Jack Duane start mugging people.
• Jurgis works for crooked millionaire Mike Scully to rig the next municipal election.
• Once the stockyard unions go on strike, Jurgis keeps working and becomes a factory foreman.
• Jurgis has managed to put aside three hundred bucks in savings thanks to all of his unethical activity.
• Jurgis happens to walk by Connor one day and attacks him once more.
• Jurgis manages to get away on bail, but it costs him all of his savings to do it.
• Jurgis is reduced to begging yet again.
• Jurgis meets Marija once more. She has become a prostitute, and the rest of the family is living off her profits.
• One night, Jurgis stumbles in to a Socialist Party meeting that is free to the public.
• Jurgis becomes an ardent socialist.
• Jurgis gets a job as a night porter at a hotel run by socialist Tommy Hinds.
• Jurgis tries to convince Marija to leave the brothel and join him in socialism, but she has lost all hope for the future.
• Jurgis believes that he can improve the lives of all working men by helping the socialist cause.