Kenia Torres, Ganna Sizikova, Omar Placencia, Ryan Chowdhury
Throughout the story Jurguis is constantly carrying a lot of weight on his shoulders— both literally and metaphorically. For example, starting in chapter one, Jurgis is forced to work harder and harder every time someone in his family finds themselves too weak to do their part.
Quotes:
Jurgis, without a word, lifts Ona in his arms, and strides out with her, and she sinks her head upon his shoulder with a moan…“Leave it to me; leave it to me. I will earn more money—I will work harder.”(Chapter 1)
As a result of this, little Stanislovas conceived a terror of the cold that was almost a mania. Every morning, when it came time to start for the yards, he would begin to cry and protest…In the end it had to be arranged that he always went with Jurgis, and came home with him again; and often, when the snow was deep, the man would carry him the whole way on his shoulders.” (Chapter 7)
“She did not tell half of her story at home, because she saw it was a torment to Jurgis, and she was afraid of what he might do.” (Chapter 10).
Knowing the weight on Jurgis’s shoulders, the family members don’t want to tell him about their struggles at work in the Packing town, leading them to even worse situations. Maybe Ona would not end up in a position where her boss raped her if she just spoke with Jurgis and they found the way out of there. “Miss Henderson’s plot. She hated me. And he—he wanted me. He used to speak to me—out on the platform. Then he began to—to make love to me. He offered me money. He begged me—he said he loved me. Then he threatened me. He knew all about us, he knew we would starve. “ (Chapter 15)
“Working in his shirtsleeves, and with the thermometer at over a hundred…. there was a frightful pain in the top of his skull, and he could hardly control his hands. Still, with the memory of his four months’ siege behind him, he fought on, in a frenzy of determination.” (Chapter 13)
But still she clung to him, wailing aloud in her despair: “Oh, Jurgis, think what you are doing! It will ruin us—it will ruin us! Oh, no, you must not do it! No, don’t, don’t do it. You must not do it! It will drive me mad—it will kill me—no, no, Jurgis, I am crazy—it is nothing. You do not really need to know. We can be happy—we can love each other just the same. Oh, please, please, believe me! – Chapter 15 pg.177
– this shows her apprehension on wanting to admit the truth of her sexual assault because she wants to protect not only her job but also her husband’s job. She is aware of the power that her boss has over her family as the consequences can snowball and lead to a life of poverty and homelessness. The decision of speaking up for her safety does not take priority for her as she cannot make decisions for herself as they will immediately affect her family.
Passage 2:
He tried to persuade his father to have nothing to do with the offer. But old Antanas had begged until he was worn out, and all his courage was gone; he wanted a job, any sort of a job. So the next day he went and found the man who had spoken to him, and promised to bring him a third of all he earned; and that same day he was put to work in Durham’s cellars
Chapter 5.
This quote specifically speaks on how gender ideals coincided with a man’s role in a family. Antanas felt like he was not worthy of being a man of the family if he couldn’t provide the same way that Jurgis does. His ego would be hurt if he stops working, he would feel as if in some way he is disappointing the family despite Jurgis’ efforts of wanting to be the “man of the house.” Antanas’ decision which ultimately led to his death could have been prevented if he didn’t feel the intense need to prove himself as a man that society deems as worthy of respect.
All these things were going on now, and the family was helpless with dismay. So long they had toiled, and such an outlay they had made! Ona stood by, her eyes wide with terror. Those frightful bills—how they had haunted her, each item gnawing at her soul all day and spoiling her rest at night. Chapter 1
This quote elaborates on how Ona could not enjoy her own wedding night due to her family taking advantage of the event and piling up her bills. Despite her love for family this creates obvious inner turmoil as she wants her wedding to be a great escape for not only her but her family. Sadly, her love for her family costs her an accumulation of stress and debt, limiting her joy on her special night.
Feb 9, we are signing up for “Welcome to the Week Presentations.” You will have time in class today. After today I will sign people up who are missing. If you do not like or want that slot, you must reach out to a peer to exchange it and notify me.
In class, using the following Google slides presentation for “Welcome to the Week” for The Jungle (5-10; 10-20), in groups, we will find 3 passages focussed on family in the text, namely how it can inspire and motivate and how it can become a burden. OR consider how Packington or the meat packing industry uses workers and what happens to workers bodies.
In groups of 3-4
Choose 1-2 scribes; 1-2 passage searchers; include all names first and last at the beginning of your post.
Consider how keeping the family together, and family relations inspire the group; what (specifically) are the ways family becomes a burden? Or Consider how and why the meatpacking industry uses workers. What is the logic for the industry? For workers?
For one peer with internet access, write a few notes or summarize your group’s thoughts about family.
Find and cite 3 passages for the ebook that reflect or connect back to your thoughts about family. At least ONE passage needs to be from chapters 5-10 or 15-20.
With each passage, explain how it relates back to your explanation of family or people in the meat packing industry.
There are different ways to create a video for “Welcome to the Week” (you can also write a blog and incorporate text and images if video is not your preference). In this blog post, I explain how to create a video using Google slides and Zoom’s screen share function, record it on Zoom and save it to your desktop, and upload the video to Youtube. I also suggest using youtube studio to help edit the video, if you so choose.
Creating Content for the “Welcome to the Week” Video (using close reading, cultural context, and images in Google Slides)
As you read the text that you are presenting on/ discussing, keep a word doc open so that you can copy and paste passages that interest you. You need at least 2 for full credit.
Cite the chapter or paragraph for shorter essays or lines for poetry for reference. Note the context or summary so that when you describe or read the quoted passage, you provide readers/viewers with a sense of where the quoted passage comes from.
Take notes on the patterns, connections, or alternative discrapncies or really stark differences across the reading, ideally as they relate to your selected passages. You may define and note certain literary devices or recoccruing themes. You also may connect to other texts that we have read.
Develop at least 3 questions based on your close reading notes OR based on cultural and historical context or contemporary parallels (e.g. similarities to our culture and society today).
After you take your notes and decide your questions, you are ready for Google Slides or Powerpoint.
In Google slides, create a title page that indicates what pages or text you are discussing and a subheading that reflects your points of focus.
With passages, try to have a font at least 15pts, so that it is easier for people to read and cite.
With questions, put them on separate slides.
Try to include 2-3 images (they can be directly related to the text and content or tools to highlight your points)
Include citations for resources (Or include links in your blog post).
Alternatively, if you do not want to record the video, use the same points above to create a blog post, but instead of slides, create subheadings in your blog post indicating themes, passages, and questions you want people to respond to. You are still encouraged to include 2-3 images, and you can hyperlink or “Command +K” resources, references, or points of interest.
Open your Google Slides presentation in a browser tab.
Select Share Screen on the Zoom menu bar.
In the Zoom screen sharing window, select your Google Slide presentation.
In Google Slides, select Slideshow on the upper right side of the menu bar. Your presentation opens in full screen and is shared with meeting participants. Meeting participants only see the presentation. Exiting full screen allows participants to see your browser again.
Drag the Speaker Notes page to a different screen if you don’t want it to be shared.
Instructor preferred approach (e.g. how she does it): To present in Presenter view with speaker notes, select the dropdown arrow next to the Slideshow button, then select Presenter view. Your presentation starts. Speaker Notes open in a new window.
To stop sharing your screen select Stop Share.
If you would like a full screen presentation, print out your speaker notes and follow the instructions on how to share your screen without speaker notes.
Screen Share with Powerpoint
Open the PowerPoint file you want to present.
Start or join a Zoom meeting.
Click Share Screen in the meeting controls.
Select your monitor then click Share.
(Optional) On the meeting controls menu, hover over You are screen sharing, then click the drop-down arrow , to view the screen shared with your participants. To stop viewing the screen shared, click the up arrow .
Switch back to Powerpoint and click the Slide Show tab.
Begin the presentation by selecting the Play from Start or Play from Current Slide options.
The green border indicates the monitor you are currently sharing.
Recording “Welcome to the Week” on Zoom
Once you have completed the slides, you are ready to talk/walk us through your “Welcome to the Week” for a short video.
Suggestion: Take pauses between sections while recording. It makes it easier to edit later. You can edit them out later on Youtube studio OR pause between sections while you go through the slides.
Here is a short video (3 mins) on how to record and pause in Zoom:
Local Recording saves your recording files on your computer. It is not possible to upload a local recording to the Zoom cloud. To store a video on Zoom’s cloud, you must use cloud recording.
However, you can share your local recording with others by uploading it to a third-party cloud storage or content/learning management platform such as Dropbox or Google Drive.
Note: We recommend you use a unique file name when saving or sharing meeting files, and that you do not use the words Zoom, Personal Meeting Room or My Meeting in the file name.
How to share a local recording
To locate the recording files on your computer:
Sign in to the Zoom desktop client.
Click the Meetings tab.
Click the Recorded tab.
Select the meeting you would like to view the recording for and click Open.
This will open the folder where your recording files are stored. The MP4 file is the video file. Note: If you only see the Open button, the meeting contains a cloud recording.
How to upload your to Youtube to create a Youtube link for the “Welcome to the Week” Blog post
Youtube makes sharing video and audio files easier because they easily embed into our blog posts on the CUNY Commons (or any WordPress) platform. YouTube is a free video cloud storage and streaming service from Google. Users will need to create a free, verified Google account in order to upload videos that are 15 minutes or longer in duration.
Look below for a quick step-by-step guide on how to upload a MP4 file to YouTube. For additional information, visit the YouTube Help Center Guide: Upload Videos.
The YouTube home page will launch; select the Create button [camera icon] > Upload Video link in the upper right-hand corner.
A window will display that will allow you to either Drag and Drop the MP4 files you wish to upload or Select Files from your computer or external storage device.
YouTube allows users to upload up to 15 videos at a time; be sure to click the Edit button [pencil icon] on each file to add your video details. If you close the upload experience before you finish choosing your settings, your video will be saved as a draft on your Videos page.
2. Add Video Details
Once your video file(s) have begun to process, you will be asked to provide basic information about the video and audience visibility.
Details
Title – Insert a title for your video. This field is required, and best practice is to list the name of the class and meeting date. (For example: “MATH-1324-050 | 10/13/2020 Class Meeting”)
Description – This will display below your video, and it is optional.
Thumbnail – This is the image viewers will see before clicking your video. If you do not select a thumbnail (or choose to upload a thumbnail image), YouTube will automatically select one for you.
Playlists – Add your video to one of your existing playlists, or create a new playlist. Best practice is to create a playlist for each of your courses to help keep your videos organized.
Audience – To comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), you’re required to tell YouTube whether your videos are made for kids.
Age Restriction (Advanced) – Age-restrict videos that may not be appropriate for all audiences. For most classes, you can skip this section, or check the “No, don’t restrict my video to viewers over 18 only” radio button.
Here is a video walking through the steps of uploading your zoom recording to Youtube. There are a few steps, though, you will not copy from the video:
Do not choose to accept money for the video
You can choose to make the video “Public” or “Unlisted,” which means we will only be able to access it by clicking on the link you provide or by watching the embedded video in your post.
. You do not need to choose an image for your thumbnail (Youtube will select one from random from the video content)
In The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, our main characters Jurgis and Ona are immigrants from Lithuania arriving in Chicago for work in the meatpacking industry. They are a recently married couple and just beginning to navigate life in America alone and with other residents of the tenements. Jurgis is pretty much a freak of nature and tall, Sinclair describes him as a young giant with thick black hair and eyebrows possessing the strength of multiple men (Sinclair, Chapter 2). On the other hand, Ona is presented as this young blue-eyed and very gentle and adorably small in built (Sinclair, Chapter 1). They can be thought of as polar opposites when it comes to physical appearance, however maybe not so much other aspects like personality. Jurgis seems to rely so much on his physical strength and ignores other areas of himself like intelligence. Sinclair sometimes portrays him as an idiot who is just happy to have found a job and content with it not looking to move up. Iona is like a cinderella who is provided for and protected by her prince, while she stays home and is beautiful. Jurgis reminds me of The Rock in his role in the “Central Intelligence” movie with Kevin Hart. The Rock plays this CIA agent who is being accused of murdering his partner and planning to sell satellite codes to foreign countries. He is very good at his job but needs someone who is good with numbers and has exclusive access to financial accounts of certain governments. Kevin Hart, who is his high school mate, is able to help him get that information but is troubled between the CIA’s side of the story and his friend’s version of it. They end up collaborating and revealing the perpetrators. The Rock did all the chasing, the fighting, and shooting at times even crying because behind that impressive physique of his there is a soft heart. Kevin Hart did the tech work and intruded into some systems.
“When he came home that night he was in a very somber mood, having begun to see at last how those might be right who had laughed at him for his faith in America.” Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to unravel and reveal the truths and cruel conditions to which low-wage workers were subjected to in the meat-packing industry. His muckracking novel not only depicts in detail the grotesque environments workers endured, but also explored the idea of the “American Dream”, the evils of capitalism and the experience of integrating into American society as an immigrant. At the center of the novel is Ona and Jurgis, Lithuanian immigrants that are married and are working to find footing in Chicago. Ona and Jurgis are introduced as complete opposites of one another, more so archetypes and representations of an immigrant, meant to represent immigrants as a whole, rather than complete individuals. Ona is described as “blue-eyed and fair”, seemingly soft, young, not even sixteen yet, while Jurgis is depicted as brute, strong, and large, with “beetling brows” and ” thick black hair that curled in waves. Ona is meant to be a contrast to Jurgis’s brawny masculinity, casted as the hard-working, persistent, stoic immigrant man.
I feel as though Jason Momoa and Saoirse Ronan are perfect contenders for the roles of Jurgis and Ona, respectively. Jason Momoa tends to be casted in more “masculine” heroic roles, such as Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones and Aquaman. Because Momoa is older now, and has expressed he intends to move away from more action roles, it would be great to see him play Jurgis in this historical drama. Jason Momoa is also 6’4″, making him the physical type as which Jurgis described being. I think Saoirse Ronan playing Ona opposite him, makes sense. She is a foot smaller than him, having the apperance described by Sinclair. Ronan has also been casted in historical pieces, and has been nominated for Oscars and Golden Globes. I would plan to do a close adaption to the novel, staying true to the details and filming in Chicago. I would also donate revenue from the movie to organizations working to unionize workers.
I would like the film adaptation to have colorblind casting. Since The Jungle is about the working class, I believe that casting two white actors to play the roles of Jurgis and Ona would just reinforce the typical historical narrative that white people are inherently hardworking and their stories are more important to follow. I would cast Zoe Kravitz as Ona, she is a very petite actress and she has an incredible emotional range. Ona needs to appear physically delicate, and I think Zoe would embody the physicality of the role very well.
“She was so young—not quite sixteen—and small for her age, a mere child; and she had just been married—and married to Jurgis,[1] of all men, to Jurgis Rudkus, he with the white flower in the buttonhole of his new black suit, he with the mighty shoulders and the giant hands.”
In terms of Jurgis, I think the one star in Hollywood who could really embody a working man of his size would be Jason Mamoa. I think the opening of chapter 2 embodies Jurgis’ attitude for casting.
“Jurgis talked lightly about work, because he was young. They told him stories about the breaking down of men, there in the stockyards of Chicago, and of what had happened to them afterward—stories to make your flesh creep, but Jurgis would only laugh. He had only been there four months, and he was young, and a giant besides. There was too much health in him. He could not even imagine how it would feel to be beaten. “That is well enough for men like you,” he would say, “silpnas, puny fellows—but my back is broad.” ”
Jurgis needs to be cast as someone who physically appears indomitable. I think Jason would take to this role very well. The contrast between these two physically would be enough visual interest on a movie poster, but I also think the acting capabilities and chemistry between the actors would show on screen as well. We need to portray the delight and dismay of new immigrants, so some actors with a slight edge to them would also help.
Below is a 15 min video covering several key topics for our class discussion. Please watch the video and post a 2-3 sentence comment response based on one or more of the questions featured in the video. Please note my video is a bit longer than the expectation for students, and in the video around the 6 mins marker, I note that the length and content at that point is comparable to what is expected of you all. If you have further questions, check out the following rubric linked here: “Expecations for Welcome to the Week.”
From the very beginning of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, we meet the novel’s main characters, Ona Lukoszaite and Jurgis Rudkus. To introduce us to the characters, the author shows us the contrast between them. Describing Ona, he emphasizes how small she is, saying, “she was so young – not quite sixteen – and small for her age, a mere child.”(chapter 1). To describe Jurgis author uses illustration rather than the actual description, “Jurgis could take up to a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound quarter of beef and carry it into a car without a stagger, or even a thought.” (chapter 1). Yes, we learn that he has “broad shoulders and giant hands” (chapter 1), but this kind of description does not provide enough image of Jurgis and of what he is capable.
Based on the description given to us as readers on the very first pages of the novel, Henry Cavill will fit perfectly for the Role of Jurgis since he is in the perfect physical shape to illustrate the strength and health of the character on the screen. For the role of Ona, I would like to see Mckenna Grace, who is the same age as the character, so that she can demonstrate the character’s youth and innocence on the screen.
I would stick to the close adaptation of the novel since the detailed description of the time and circumstances of the life of the characters is crucial for this novel. It was the author’s main purpose to bring readers’ attention to every single tiniest detail of both the living conditions and work environment of the people so the reader could “see” on the book pages what they will never see in their real life.
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or “Command +K” resources, references, or points of interest.
in the meeting controls.
, to view the screen shared with your participants. To stop viewing the screen shared, click the up arrow 
.
