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Similes
Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Run on the Bank:
Marijia is wrapped up in situational irony when a false run on the local bank leads her to withdraw all her money. Withdrawing her money turns out to be a big mistake:
[...T]oward afternoon she got into the bank and got her money—all in big silver dollars, a handkerchief full. When she had once got her hands on them her fear vanished, and she wanted to put them back again; but the man at the window was savage, and said that the bank would receive no more deposits from those who had taken part in the run. [...] The cause of the panic had been the attempt of a policeman to arrest a drunken man in a saloon next door, which had drawn a crowd at the hour the people were on their way to work, and so started the 'run.
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Chapter 24
Explanation and Analysis—A Rich Feller:
A drunken Freddie fumbles with his wallet, clumsily shuffling around a huge wad of cash as he complains to the homeless Jurgis about lacking funds. Sinclair brings a sense of realism and situational irony to the scene through both Freddie's words and his use of mid-century American English:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Looks like a lot, hey?” said Master Freddie, fumbling with it. “Fool you, though, ole chappie—they’re all little ones! I’ll be busted in one week more, sure thing—word of honor. An’ not a cent more till the first—hic—guv’ner’s orders—hic—not a cent, by Harry! Nuff to set a feller crazy, it is. I sent him a cable, this af’noon—thass one reason more why I’m goin’ home. ‘Hangin’ on the verge of starvation,’ I says—‘for the honor of the family—hic—sen’ me some bread. Hunger will compel me to join you—Freddie.’ Thass what I wired him, by Harry, an’ I mean it—I’ll run away from school, b’God, if he don’t sen’ me some.”
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Chapter 25
Explanation and Analysis—Agencies of Corruption:
When they describe the alliance between Chicago's lawmakers, its criminals, and its wealthy elite, Sinclair's narrator employs situational irony. The American judicial and financial system, in their view, is a brotherhood of thieves:
Unlock with LitCharts A+All of these agencies of corruption were banded together, and leagued in blood brotherhood with the politician and the police; more often than not they were one and the same person—the police captain would own the brothel he pretended to raid, the politician would open his headquarters in his saloon [...] On election day all these powers of vice and crime were one power; they could tell within one per cent what the vote of their district would be, and they could change it at an hour's notice.
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