Child Labor and Family Desperation

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This photograph is from the Lewis Hine archive. It was taken in 1915. This is a young boy named Freddie Kafer, he is selling newspapers to make some money. In the caption of the photo it describes how this bag is half of his weight, weighing 24 pounds. He is in the city by himself to try and scrounge up some money for his family. Freddie had to carry this heaving bag for several blocks by himself. I chose this photo because it reminds me of the children in The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. The children in the book were taken out of school and away from their family to go into Chicago to sell newspapers. They had to travel to and from by themselves and had no one to fed for them in the city. 

In my paper I am focusing on how desperate this family became due to the reality they had to resort to. They came to America in hopes of living the dream, in which they could get a job that would allow them to live comfortably. However, their lives were the complete opposite. They had to send their children out on their own to try and make some money that could possibly get them a little food. The children caught my attention because they were not the main characters, however I do think they served a dominant role in this novel. Through the children in Sinclair’s “The Jungle” they show how desperate this family was and the reality they had to resort to. 

The Jungle
Child Labor and Family Desperation