Part 1 of Essay
As I opened the cover of , I anticipated reading a tragic story about the cruelness inflicted upon a poor, working-class family. I had read an excerpt from the novel and had conversed with people who had read it; I thought the story was going to be solid, and perhaps even entertaining. I was incredibly wrong. The beginning ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... after the death of his young wife, and then the death of his only son. After his time in the country and working for the political machines of Chicago, he became interested in the idea of socialism. With the introduction of a socialist Jurgis, I wanted to put down the book. Where had the whole socialist movement came from? I felt it made absolutely no sense to be in this story. The story, at that point, needed to concentrate more on the reunited family of Jurgis rather than the radical ideas circulating thro ....