I’m writing a little essay about this book and it was my understanding that only Jurgis’ in-laws were left after this plot Iron Maiden went off. I even got reprimanded for saying that his whole family is dead. But his mother is never mentioned and his dad died, so I’m assuming the mother is also dead. His wife is dead, and his only child died.
The only people that I can think of left would be unmentioned cousins or his in-laws which is kind of a stupid objection. “Yeah sure his whole immediate family is dead but his wife’s sister is still alive so it’s not his *whole* family!” Regardless of how dishonest that is, after your spouse dies you are no longer legally related to their family even if you want to be overly pedantic and technical. So I would be interested to know if Jurgis actually has family left.
A huge part of the book is how important it is to provide for his family which makes it more meaningful to me that he fails and they die. So I’m surprised there’s not more emphasis placed on that.
by Cautious-Scallion-26