Perseverance: Lessons from Jurgis Rudkus and James Braddock

“I will work harder” (Sinclair 22), a quote spoken by Lithuanian Immigrant Jurgis Rudkus. Jurgis is a fictional character in the book “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair. Whenever things get hard, he says these words and gives himself and his family hope. James Braddock is an American boxer who was most definitely making enough money to live, however with the great depression his life soon got turned upside down. James is a nonfiction character who was portrayed by Russel Crowe in the movie “Cinderella Man” which was directed by Ron Howard. A quote from James is “I have to believe that when things are bad I can change them.” When his family were threatened with starvation and losing their home, he did anything he could to lead them to a better life.

The fact that he is an immigrant helps him also, as they were easy to fool and manipulate. In the middle of The Jungle, Jurgis suffers a major injury. When he was moving out of the way of a runaway steer, he turned his ankle. This injury gets worse however, as when he is walking home it starts to hurt worse and eventually swells up (Sinclair 116-117). This is bad news for his family as his income was a great part of the families’ money. Without being able to work, Jurgis becomes miserable as his family suffers because of his injury. Lastly, in the end of the story Jurgis is crippled (Sinclair 276). He has multiple injuries and lives on the streets. He no longer has a real family to support, as his wife and children are no longer with him and he abandoned the remainder of his family. The only hope that he has left is socialism, which gives him some strength. James Braddock in the beginning of the Cinderella Man is strong and durable. His physical strength plays a major part in getting his job as a boxer. Then in the middle of the story he has an incident similar to Jurgis’s, in which he breaks his hand in a fight. This results in his right hand being significantly weaker than his left. His injuries

Even when he finds out that he has to pay more than expected, and with more unexpected events he always says this. He wants to do his best for his family. However, after more misfortune his outlook becomes more warped, as he longer sees America as a land of opportunity but instead a terrible system that chews people up (Sinclair 160-161). Lastly, as he becomes poor and crippled once more, he decides to stick by the last of his family. They give him a new source of happiness in the dire times that he is tine. However when things went wrong he also went to Socialist movement meetings. As his family progressively suffered more and more under an oppressive environment, he changed views progressively over the story (Sinclair 325). James from the very start is shown to be a family oriented person, as he comes home to his loving family. During the great depression his family is forced to move into a much smaller home. He believes very strongly that he will do what’s best to change his family’s life for the better. To support this statement is one of his famous quotes, “I have to believe that when things are bad I can change them”. Unlike Jurgis who blames the “capitalistic system” for his family’s tribulation, James takes full responsibility when his stock investment flopped. He says to himself that he made a poor investment. Eventually he gains another job opportunity as a boxer and builds his