Uprising

The novel moves back in time to 1910, entering the perspective of Bella, a young immigrant woman fresh off the boat from Italy. Bella has just moved in with her distant cousin, Pietro, who announces that he has found he found her a job at The Triangle shirtwaist factory.

Signora Luciano, the crude-mannered landlady, warns that Bella “will be fired inside of a day” (10) and offers Bella a job making false flowers for hats. Pietro protests that Bella can make more money at the shirtwaist factory, privately explaining that Signora Luciano would cheat Bella out of her earnings if she worked for her.

Pietro walks Bella to work the next morning. He explains to Bella that she is only a “learner” on her first day of work and will not receive payment. Bella is worried about sending money home to her starving family in Italy, and Pietro tells he she must accept how things work in America. He promises to send money home to her family next week.

Bella is quickly thrust into work at the factory. The foreman, Senor Carlotti, orders her to trim the loose threads off of shirtwaists. He is harsh with his workers, telling Bella “no talking” when she tries to introduce herself to another girl, and commanding her to work faster or her family will starve. This pressure makes it difficult for Bella to concentrate, and Carlotti scolds her for leaving a hanging thread on a shirtwaist. He threatens to fire her if she makes another mistake.

Without speaking, the girl next to Bella shows her a way she can trim the shirts more efficiently.

At the end of the day, a contractor incites the factory workers to strike. Bella does not understand what is happening because she doesn’t speak English, but the girl next to Bella urges her to rise to her feet and walk out. Pietro meets Bella at The Triangle to walk her home from work, and she describes what happened. Pietro cries, “You just lost your job!” (26).

After Pietro drops Bella off at the apartment, he goes back to The Triangle to negotiate with Signor Carlotti for Bella’s job. To prove she is not a “radical or an anarchist” (30), Signor Carlotti demands that Bella must work four more days without pay. Bella is horrified that she will not be able to send money home to her family.

The next section follows the perspective of Yetta, a Russian Jewish socialist. In this scene, Yetta argues at the dinner table with her sister, Rahel, who immigrated to America for political safety years before Yetta arrived. Yetta claims that now is the time for a strike, while Rahel is more cautious, explaining that the union has not saved enough money.

We learn that Yetta is the girl who was sitting next to Bella in the factory. Yetta recalls the scene earlier that day wherein a male contractor, Mr. Kline, incited the workers to strike. Yetta argues that this incident matters because it was started by a man, knowing his opinion carries more practical weight than 400 women combined. Rachel assures Yetta that they will get ready “so the next time something like this flares up” (37), they will prevail.

The next chapter follows the perspective of a wealthy young woman named Jane Wellington. Jane is late to leave for tea with young socialites Lilly Aberfoyle and Pearl Kensington because her governess, Miss Millhouse, finds fault in the way Jane’s maid has styled Jane’s hair. Miss Millhouse is anxious about Jane’s social performance because Jane’s family is new money.

As Jane’s car goes by The Triangle, Jane notices that the workers on break “[look] like they [are] having a lot more fun” (40) than she is. Jane expresses curiosity and her chauffeur, Mr. Corrington, starts to explain that his niece works in a similar factory. His story is cut off by Miss Millhouse.

Bored by the conversation at tea, Jane interrupts Lilly with a remark that she “saw some factory girls on the way here” (41). Jane wonders what factory girls thinks about, and the women at tea react as though she’s mentioned something “unpleasant and unmentionable” (41). Lilly dismisses the idea that poor people “think” like the rich do (42). Pearl jokes that Jane sounds like her cousin Eleanor, who has expressed “odd ideas” (42) since she began going to college at Vassar. Jane says she would like to meet Eleanor.

Bella’s daydreams help her cope with the dull work day. She alternates between fantasies of the food her wages will buy her family and dreams of kissing Pietro on the fire escape stairs. Her dreams are interrupted by Signor Carlotti, who asks Bella to fill in for a sick girl at the sewing machines. He promises she will earn $4.25 at the machines instead of her usual $4.00.

The machine moves quickly and Bella snags the first shirtwaist she works on. Carlotti warns that the ruined shirtwaist is coming out of her salary. At the end of the day, he only pays her $3.10. When Bella protests, he claims he has subtracted extra money because she was a “learner” on the sewing machine.

Bella attempts to navigate through the building amidst the rush of people. She tries to exit out the window down the fire escape stairs, which are hidden and face toward the back of the building. A guard accosts Bella, believing she is trying to steal shirtwaists. Bella is shocked that she is treated as a thief since she has done nothing wrong.

Pietro does not show up to walk Bella home from work. He is not at the Luciano’s apartment, and Signora Luciano frightens Bella with the suggestion that Pietro might’ve been injured at his job digging ditches. The Luciano’s ten-year-old son, Rocco, goes out to the bars Pietro frequents to see if he can learn what happened. Rocco returns with the news that Pietro’s boss has moved to South Carolina with his entire crew, believing he can make more money there. Because the boss paid for his workers to come to America, they did not have a choice in the move.

Yetta argues with Rahel about how they should’ve asked Bella to join the union. Rahel protests that Bella does not understand the union and is preoccupied with her crush on Pietro. Rachel tells Yetta that one’s perspective on life changes when one is in love. She suggests that Bella might get married and quit her job soon, so there may be no point for her to join their union. Yetta argues that Bella should still join their union and fight for the well-being of the daughters she might have.

Yetta and Rahel run into Mr. Cohen, a young man in Rahel’s English class. Rahel appears to be infatuated with Mr. Cohen and says she finds him handsome. Yetta continues to talk about work at The Triangle, sharing her theory that bosses deliberately drive Yiddish and Italian workers apart by spreading false rumors. She notices Rahel isn’t even listening because she is caught up in thoughts of Mr. Cohen.

Jane comes home late at night from a women’s rights lecture she attended with Eleanor. She tries to sneak past her father’s door, but his cigar smoke makes her cough. Her father emerges and yells at her for being so late.

Jane admits that she went to a lecture, but conceals the details her father would not approve of, including the subject of the lecture, the language Eleanor uses, and the fact that they went to a low-brow icecream parlor afterward. She defends herself by saying she’s home earlier than she would be if she’d gone to a dance. Jane’s father seems to forgive her late arrival when he learns she was with Eleanor, who comes from a wealthy family. He asks if Eleanor has a brother, hoping Jane might marry into the family.

Jane feels hurt by her father’s focus on marriage as a financial issue, thinking back to the lecturer’s words: “Women are not chattel, to be traded off like cattle or hogs!” (66). She recalls Eleanor’s conversation at the icecream parlor, wherein she pointed out the speaker’s own hypocrisies, explaining she forced her own daughter to marry a foreign duke against her will.

Jane’s father says Jane’s marriage could make a big difference for his business. Jane contemplates her father’s study and how certain spaces are not meant for women. She reflects back to an experience when her father scolded her for hiding under his desk during a childhood game of hide and seek. She mentions that she’d like to go to a college for women, like “Vassar, Smith, Barnard” (68). Her father says that the idea of a woman going to college is as absurd as women wanting to vote. Jane realizes she must hide her true feelings about women’s rights from her father.