Ch.+16

Chapter 16 Summary

Jurgis goes to jail for beating Phil Connor. Once Jurgis’s senses cleared he realized the severity of what he had done and he continued to worry about his family. His bond was posted at three hundred dollars. When Jurgis is in jail he hears music and realizes that it was Christmas eve. He felt even worse knowing that he could not spend time with his family on the holiday. Jurgis thought that his family suffering was enough of a punishment for the crime that he had committed. He continued to think about how the justice system was so screwed up.

Character Jurgis Phil Connor Ona Teta Elzbieta Pat Callahan

“But then, little by little, as his strength came back and his senses cleared, he began to see beyond his momentary gratification that had nearly killed the boss would not help Ona- not the horrors that she had borne, nor the memory that would haunt her all her days. It would not help to feed her and her child; she would certainly lose her place, while he – what was to happen to him God only knew. (153-154)”

“There would be none for her – he knew that he might pardon her, might plead with her on his knees, but she would never look him in the face again, she would never be his wife again. The shame of it would kill her – there could be no other deliverance, and it was best that she should die. (155)”

“They put him in a place where the snow could not beat in, where the cold could not eat through his bones; they brought him food and drink-why, in the name of heaven, if they must punish him, did they not put his family in jail and leave him outside- why could they find no better way to punish him than to leave three weak women and six helpless children to starve and freeze? (160)

“There was no justice, there was no right, anywhere in it – it was only force, it was tyranny, the will and the power, reckless and unrestrained! They had ground him beneath their heel, they had devoured all his substance; they had murdered his old father, they had broken and wrecked his wife, they had crushed and cowed his whole family; and now they were through with him, they had no further use for him – and because he had interfered with them, had gotten in their way, this was what they had done to him! (160)”