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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the child's death presumably caused be?

2. How long is their house to be rented for?

3. What is used in the sausages at the factory?

4. What is the name of the collective group of businesses in Chicago?

5. What is Marija's new job?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the problem when Jurgis shows up for his first day of work?

2. What happened to those who had a sore on their hand and they then got pickling brine on it?

3. What does Elzbieta's factory do?

4. Why is Stanislovas afraid to go out into the snow?

5. What does Jurgis begin to do in order to deal with the horrors of his situation?

6. Why can't Jurgis' father find work?

7. What is the suspected cause of Elzbieta's child's death?

8. Who does Marija fall in love with?

9. What causes Marija to lose her job again?

10. Why are the sausages the family eats not helping their nutrition?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The idea of not being able to speak English is one that hurts Jurgis and his family in the beginning of their time in the US. Describe three situations in which knowing English would have helped Jurgis and his family. What are some ways that the packing plant owners took advantage of the workers because of the language barrier? Do you think it was fair of the packers to take advantage of the workers? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

The deaths of the animals is not only shocking, but also horrifying. What do the animals symbolize in this story? What does their treatment have to say about society at this time? Do you really think the meatpacking bosses really just wanted to make a profit, regardless of the horrors? What does this say about these bosses? What does this say about society?

Essay Topic 3

The idea of love is one that seems to peek out of the story at times, causing the reader to realize the humanity of the story as well. Why do you think Ona and Jurgis love each other? How do they show their love to each other? In the case of Marija and Tamoszius, why were they included in the story? What purpose do they serve? What is Sinclair saying about love?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 665 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample