Winter rolls around and the companies don't provide any adequate heating for the workers. Because of the cold weather and disease it takes the weakened and old due to that Ona's father, Dede Antanas, passed. Many men become alcoholics, but Jurgis resists the temptations to protect and provide for his family.
A man named Tamoszius that is a musician begins to fall for Marija. He brings Marija to all his celebrations and brings the whole family if he is able. He brings great joy into the families lives. Despite the fact that their lives are getting on track, the canning factory gets shut down, and Marija losses her job. During the winter, many factories close down and many workers lose their jobs. Jurgis suffers from a cutback on the hours at his job, and then they realize they aren't getting paid for partial hours. The wage earners in the family join together to bring in other people for help. Jurgis attends night schooling to learn English, shortly after that he becomes a U.S. citizen. After going through the trouble of voting and then it being exploited, it happened to be one of the many vote-buying schemes in the country.
Jurgis later learns the corruption and greed spread by the likes of the local Irish politician, Mike Scully. He is shocked by the physical injuries and disease that overtake the labor force. He came to a realization that some dishonest meat companies sell diseased meat in label cans as "deviled ham " although the contents are a mixture of leftover pieces from a number of slaughtered animals. Marija regains her job at the can painting factory, only to lose it two months later for vocally protesting about being cheated out of a portion of her wages. Her lose of the job was extremely devastating to the family because Ona is now expecting Jurgis' child. Marija gets hired as a beef trimmer, she was hired because her boss thought she was a strong as a man, but her wages are half of a man's.
